POST GAME Round 8 - Broncos vs Rabbitohs

[Unbreakable]

berrell is garbage, waddell is much better and im reasonably confident wayne will go with him.

Probably not a great sign for Queensland and Australia that he's been in every U20 rep side over the last couple of years as the starting Hooker then, are we a bit light on number 9's coming through?

 

[Fat Gandalf]

Hopefully Blair isn't in too much trouble. Seems he might have broken Reynolds jaw (2nd time this season its been broken) so there would be a case for late/high tackle. Offa's tackle I doubt anything will come of it, he was sandwiched in and prevented from wrapping the arm around.

I heard last night that Burgess should get hit with a shoulder charge for his flop on Offa since he couldn't get his arm around underneath him. I personally would love to see that!

 

[Mister Wright]

Dammit! I had McCullough as first try scorer. Tried to convince the TAB that Niko as his replacement should count and give me my $135, but it didn't work.

 

[Kimlo]

After sleeping on that win...

I still think Souths are the grubbiest ***** in the NRL. That hit by Burgess wasn't a penalty IMO but those kind of shots are the thing only a cheap dirty grubby POS does. About 10 minutes later, Inglis was in the same position, Gillett tackled him normally. I respect good fair play, not grubs who just want to niggle and take cheap shots and dive every time their beard gets tickled.

I hope these grubs finish with the spoon or in the bottom 4 this year.

 

[Kimlo]

Also to add on to what [MENTION=1848]ningnangnong[/MENTION] mentioned, the referee situation is absolutely disgraceful. Every game we lead the penalty count (and we usually do because we're not dirty grubs) it always seems to even out in the second half. Load of BS and it seems like no one in the media really picks up on it and calls the refs out. Having a lopsided penalty counts is not unfair FFS.

 

[gordjw]

The apparent need to finish with a penalty count that's as close to even as possible is infuriating.

If you see a penalty, blow the whistle, it's supposed to be footy, not pre-scripted wrestling.
You're going to get rid of teams like the roosters conceding penalty after penalty on the try line, safe in the knowledge that the count will even up later on.

 

[bazza]

I'm not one to bag referees, but in all honesty, those clowns last night had no clue. Bill Harrigan should come out of retirement and referee each game in each round. Even set up a bunker on the sideline for him so that he can look at whatever he wants and can make his own decision then and there.

Like seriously, Maxwell, about 4 times kept telling Souths about what he was gonna do if they didn't control themselves, but did nothing in the end. There was a few times when we were getting a roll on, and Souths pull out another dirty cheap shot, and instead of sending one to the bin, he stops time, calls out Inglis and Burgess and warns them... again, killing all momentum we had. Souths were then able to reset their goal line defence and actually catch their breath.

In those instances, what should of been done, was blowing a penalty and getting on with it, and for repeat offences, just send one player to the bin, and letting play go on. Having a committee meeting and constantly chatting with the captains just achieves what Souths set out to do in the first place, i.e. slow the play down when they're under pressure.

This is not just Maxwell, but I feel all the referees too often feel the need to tell the players everything and explain their actions. Your the freken ref, your in charge, not the players. If it's a penalty, blow the whistle, if someone offside, blow the whistle instead of telling them their offside, if there is an obstruction stop the play then and there, if its a professional foul or sin-bin-able offence, use the sin bin. If a player keeps giving away unnecessary penalties, send him to the bin, don't tell him if he does one more than he'll send him to the bin (when in fact everyone knows they won't), just do it and get on with it.

 

[Nashy]

I liked Maxwell's quote of "You don't know what I'm going to do". Not even the NRL know what these idiots are going to do.

 

[Unbreakable]

I liked Maxwell's quote of "You don't know what I'm going to do". Not even the NRL know what these idiots are going to do.

I think you misheard, he said "I don't know what I'm doing".

 

[gordjw]

This was from the League Live app:


McCullough appeared to have hyperextended his knee in a 24th minute tackle by Tom Burgess and was helped off the field.

But Bennett said his rake had suffered a calf complaint with scans set to determine how long he would be sidelined.

"There are is no medial or cruciate (knee) damage," he said.

 

[Aldo]

I've got no problem with Burgess diving on a player on the ground but not in the over the top way he did it. As Lockyer said after the game, it's not in the spirit of the game. If Burgess wants to fire up his team, then smash an opponent when they are running at the line and not laying on the ground. All that did was fire the Broncos up.

 

[LittleDavey]

Oh look, I think we're all being a bit precious about SB flopping on Offa. Hodgo did it to BMorris(?) in Origin a couple of years back and guaranteed most of the same people laughed. Yes it didn't look great, yes it was a bit over the top, but it wasn't a penalty. Joe surrendered, SB was entitled to hit him with as much force as he wanted.

You could, however, make a case for a shouldercharge. There was no arm wrapping, he simply jumped and dropped his shoulder into Offa's back. Which, for mine, is the definition of a shouldercharge. And it's even funnier when you consider Joe himself is on report for a bloke running into his! Which should get dropped straight away by the MRC, that was a bullshit call. SB should have a case to face, however.

I think Blair is in trouble too. He'll be gone for a few weeks. It was late, period. High, you could argue Reynolds fell into it etc. But it was definitely late - and also not a good look IMO.

 

[rnabokov]

Just a few points I took away from this game:


- I think McCullough is a huge loss moving forward. Others may often criticise McCullough but I think his absence will prove just how important he is to the team and the players around him. Hopefully for Nikorima's sake he can step up and play longer minutes and cover as best as he can.


- I also thought the loss of Glenn should not be understated. Our execution on the left wasn't as efficient as it usually is, and I'm not sure if that can be used as an excuse for Reed's average showing (probably not, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt), but at times Reed got the ball with the defence sliding on him pretty quickly, whereas I think the lines Glenn usually runs creates that time and space for Reeds to put Oates away. I felt he didn't pass to Oates as he felt the defence was on to him quite quickly from the inside (but other times he definitely should of passed and chose to keep the ball in hand for no reason).


- Our young forwards stood up and showed the sort of aggression I haven't seen from them before. They all made solid first contact in defence and kept the momentum flowing when replacing Blair and McGuire. Wallace made very strong carries out of our end and hit hard in defence. Ofahengaue is improving with each game and is really relishing the extended minutes. He was immense and really took it to the Souths pack in defence. Came up with a few solid shots and was very unlucky to be put on report. I think Napa has showed the way to get the better of the Burgess boys, and our forwards got in Sam's face and under his skin. Ese'Ese was solid in limited game time. He had a few strong carries and will get better with more game time.


- We are definitely under utilising our dynamic right edge, which contains the likes of Hunt, GIllett, Roberts and Kahu. I think we can have two of the most potent edges in the comp if we stopped going to our left as much as we do and actually gave the right side an opportunity to shine. As effective as the left edge has been, we are getting slightly predictable constantly running the out the back plays with Boyd on the left.


- I have seen an improvement in our overall kicking game from both Milford and Hunt, but there is still room for improvement. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but in the Knights game I felt as if Milford was getting a little "kick happy" close to the opposition try line, instead of just passing through the hands, and I feel that crept into this game as well. There were a few times where he kicked in behind the line, when we could of just passed instead. We did get a few line dropouts so its not necessarily a bad play and if used occasionally is a good way to catch the opposition out. I think we just need to find the right balance there.



All in all we didn't play our best game execution wise, but the pleasing this is our energy in defence was impressive. Our senior guys played well like usual, but what impressed me was the young guys stepping up. When things started getting a little heated, our forward pack rose to the challenge and started whacking the Souths pack harder. Our first contact in defence was very strong and we kept driving them back. We're also making a habit of finishing strongly.

I think those 2 points you make are stand outs.

While I reckon Reed's defensive efforts were largely crap, and I was very harsh on him during the game for his attack, the point you make mitigates some of that. Reed and Oates too often were jammed in and cramped for space which forced Reed to have to think, something he doesn't excel at, and his solution was to kick largely as he really had no other options.

As for under-utilising our lethal right edge and backs, I still can't believe we did that. I recall one time there was a golden opportunity for that to happen in front of their goal posts, with Hunt perfectly positioned for the ball and he then then threw his hands up in the air in disgust when the pass was short and the ball died.

What also puzzled me was Milford's comments when interviewed saying going to the left all night wasn't part of the game plan? Then why do that, and ignore Roberts and Gillett?

Anyway, some outstanding individual performances against a dirty, filthy grubby Souths who have now lost any respect I had for them, which wasn't much.

 

[redbur95]

Tim Gore wrote on The Roar recently about Michael Ennis giving away 6 penalties in 15 minutes last week, which shows how smart Ennis really is (seriously). He knew full well that the ref was never going to sin-bin him for repeated fouls, so every time Canberra looked dangerous he shut the move down and allowed Cronulla to reset their defence. Canberra only scored one try for the match after that because their attack was continually frustrated by attacking a prepared Sharks side.

I don't blame Ennis for that behaviour. If there's no threat of sin-binning, why make an effort to stay within the rules at the risk of conceding a try? Once he gave away his 3rd penalty, the ref should have binned him there and then. The 5-minute sin bin needs to be brought back for deliberate repeated fouls. Refs don't want a team to be disadvantaged for a whole 10 mins - the other team might use the extra player to their advantage, God forbid!

 

[Super Freak]

Blair getting suspended would be a little ridiculous.

If you look at it in normal speed, it's not a late hit. Don't know what the ref was on about. Blair was already committed.

Reynolds was down low and Blair tried to lower himself as well to avoid hitting him high.

I've seen those let go and hopefully it is this time..

But, Blair has history. So that could go against him.

 

[Broncoman]

Blair did hit him late and high and could've pulled out of it so you could see their point if he was suspended.

 

[Nashy]

He wasn't high. His head hit his glass jaw.

 

[Kaz]

He wasn't high. His head hit his glass jaw.

That's what I saw.

Brandy said it was a head clash during the call.