Round 9 - Eels vs. Broncos - Post Game Discussion

[Alec]

For the Hunt bashers saying Prince is better - so he should be, he's had how many weeks to build combinations now? How many weeks to prepare himself to be the Broncos' half for the year?

How many weeks has Hunt had? Oh...none? FFS, can't expect him to save the world from a standing start. Give him the same opportunity.

Prince should not have played tonight. He was clearly still not 100% so why the **** was he out there? Hook?!?!


And agreed about Norman. If he's in the side next week I ain't watching. He should think himself lucky playing Q-Cup after tonight's effort. Hope he stays in Sydney.

Agreed. I actually think Hunt was better than most of Prince's games. He definitely wasn't worse than Prince's worst games and with enough time he'll surely surpass him and we could start building towards the future.

 

[Viti]

Anyone willing to give Baptiste a run after Maccas peformance tonight?

 

[Bull Shark]

I'm once again going to say Griffin is a nub for not using Hala properly. He gets 10 minutes in the first half and another 7 in the second half ONLY because Hannant went off injured, he looked good when he came back on too... If match fitness is the excuse he got less minutes this week than last.

Seriously though, we lose by 1 point and we miss 6 points from bad goal kicking...

That was just a shit game, we're back to our rubbish game play from the first few rounds. Griffin has to take responsibility here.

Also not getting a penalty try is BS, we should have been 1 point ahead, Hayne tackled Hunt high as he scored.

As an NRL coach, Griffin's got 99 problems and Hala is just one ....

 

[Kimlo]

I said it at the start of the season, McCullough is so highly rated and every pre-season we get the BS about this being the year he becomes a star, he's just average. He's not a top 5 hooker, not even close.

Baptise won't get a chance though, or heck even Granville because Griffin won't drop his favourites. Macca is TOO comfortable in his role, he's so highly regarded at the club he knows he has no chance of being dropped. He NEEDS to be dumped, go to reserves for a few week, find that hunger to play at his best again, that competitive edge. We need to reward players who are putting in, not just picking the same side unless there's an injury.

Griffin needs to have a bit more fire in his belly, he's just way too conservative as a coach. He doesn't take any risks, he doesn't try anything new, it's just an old school focus on defense mentality and even that part of our game isn't that good.

 

[Kaz]

Hasn't Hook got some fresh ideas?

You jest.

 

[subsbligh]

Our best squad cannot beat the worst team in the competition, with everything in our favour (errors, penalties and repeat sets).

 

[Son Edo]

I though Hook would take defense over attack any day?

Certainly didn't show in that first 10 minutes.

 

[subsbligh]

I said it at the start of the season, McCullough is so highly rated and every pre-season we get the BS about this being the year he becomes a star, he's just average. He's not a top 5 hooker, not even close.

Baptise won't get a chance though, or heck even Granville because Griffin won't drop his favourites. Macca is TOO comfortable in his role, he's so highly regarded at the club he knows he has no chance of being dropped. He NEEDS to be dumped, go to reserves for a few week, find that hunger to play at his best again, that competitive edge. We need to reward players who are putting in, not just picking the same side unless there's an injury.

Griffin needs to have a bit more fire in his belly, he's just way too conservative as a coach. He doesn't take any risks, he doesn't try anything new, it's just an old school focus on defense mentality and even that part of our game isn't that good.

No, no, no. That's crazy talk.

Over the statistical long term, minimising handling errors and aiming for 100% completion rates and bombing it on the last seems like the way to go:001_rolleyes:

 

[Big Pete]

Our best squad cannot beat the worst team in the competition, with everything in our favour (errors, penalties and repeat sets).

Parra won the penalty count and the error count is currently even albeit I suspect that will change.

I though Hook would take defense over attack any day?

Certainly didn't show in that first 10 minutes.

Take that up with Hodges.

 

[Bucking Beads]

In the end our crap goal kicking was the difference. That said we were terrible. We don't have a brain between our 1,6,7 and 9. Macca is a myth. Continually makes dumb decisions. Don't run the ball when we are on our attacking line you arsehat. Wallace doesn't have a creative bone in his body. Can't wait to see Norman **** off to Parra. He has no ticker.

 

[vertigo]

Hala is a rookie. Can't just throw him in there, we need to let him find his feet in a competition that is a lot quicker than he's used to. He's a big fella, give him time.

George. Burgess.

 

[rnabokov]

Our best squad cannot beat the worst team in the competition, with everything in our favour (errors, penalties and repeat sets).

..... not quite. No half decent game plan.

 

[Kimlo]

Wallace is alright, he's solid. He's a pass mark. Everyone else in our spine is below average, Norman is an average player yet scarily he's still a better option than Hoffman. Prince is over the hill. Macca has been shit average for a very long time. Hunt has not had enough game time to go well.

I'd be impressed if Griffin benched (or dumped) Macca next week and put Baptise or someone in the side.

I reckon Prince won't play next week, I'm hoping Griffin has the balls to try something new and give Baptise/Granville a shot instead of going with the conservative approach of putting Norman at 6 and Hoffman at 1 and bringing Maranta back in for the other wing spot.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Griffin's slightly behind the competition tactics in summary.

 

[Bull Shark]

No, no, no. That's crazy talk.

Over the statistical long term, minimising handling errors and aiming for 100% completion rates and bombing it on the last seems like the way to go:001_rolleyes:

Cowboys had the best completion rate of any team in 2000 .... their prize was the wooden spoon

 

[rnabokov]

George. Burgess.

Nah, doesn't play for the Broncos. He'd be in QCup anyway. Rookie

Along with Kemp while Norman plays top grade

 

[Son Edo]

A bloke like Locky could have won that, just like 2008.

Games that are on the line till the 80th minute is definitely where we miss him.

 

[Big Pete]

George. Burgess.

He's a lot fitter than Hala.

I'm mixed on the Norman pass to Kahu. I thought it was a dumb option from Norman, for the reasons Jeba stated and the play should have been to tuck the ball under the arm and run as fast as he could into defensive line. However, early on in the season, Norman was being praised for plays like these, even when they'd occur inside the Broncos own in-goal. The pass was fine and Kahu by all rights should have taken it.

Shame too, Kahu showed some good signs out there. Took a nice cross-field kick, did well to clean up Hodges' pass for the first try and I thought some of his runs were tough.