Sack Griffin/New Coach Discussion

[Splinter]

Lets hope Gee was harnessing Griffin with the game plan and now he is gone the Manly game play will be the norm

 

[theshed]

Where did that performance come from? Griffin hasn't had a team produced a win like that since 2012. We'll have to wait a few games to see if it was a one off or if griffin is starting to get a hang of this team.

 

[theshed]

Though I am terrified that this will turn out to be a very successful year, only to be marred by the cap scandal.

 

[Huge]

Mmmm....maybe the players decided to chance their arms and did so without consulting Griffin. It's possible they simply have had enough of being overly constricted and decided to have some fun and throw the ball around a bit. It's unlikely Griffin suddenly came up with a new approach considering he hasn't for years. If that is the case and I'm not saying it is, it might mean Griffin has started to lose his players. It would be interesting to see if things like off loads and second/third/fourth passes increased markedly. No matter what though ,it was pleasing to see a bit more expansive approach adopted.

 

[Porthoz]

I am with Morkel regarding the footy played not being that different as compared to the rest of the year.

Most stuff stuck this time, a dry Sunday afternoon was more conducive of getting the offloads going, Barba showing more freedom of movement was a big impact too imo.
But the shoring of the ruck defense (we only missed 18 tackles :shocked:), and whatever was said at half time to effectively kill the dangerous left side Manly attack, also made a huge difference.

 

[Morkel]

To me, most simply, Griffinball is 4 or 5 one out hit ups and kick - usually poorly, or just pass the ball wide and hope Hodges does something special.

The game v Manly was vastly different to that, and for mine, easily the best game we have played all year.

What was it ... 14 offloads by players other than Parker and Gillett? Forwards passing the ball consistently for 80 minutes? Regular support play? Quality kicking game?

That ain't Griffinball as I understand it, based on past efforts, and the proof was on the scoreboard against the equal best team in the comp.

The question now is whether we do it consistently every game while continually improving which is the hallmark of a quality side (which I think we are).

Kudos to Griffin if this continues...

I am with Morkel regarding the footy played not being that different as compared to the rest of the year.

Most stuff stuck this time, a dry Sunday afternoon was more conducive of getting the offloads going, Barba showing more freedom of movement was a big impact too imo.
But the shoring of the ruck defense (we only missed 18 tackles :shocked:), and whatever was said at half time to effectively kill the dangerous left side Manly attack, also made a huge difference.

That's exactly it. Daytime footy. And an understrength opponent. You saw what happened last night when the Dragons tried to go around the Rabbits before they'd won the forward battle. In fact, you saw it with the Sea Eagles too. Credit to Copley & Reed's defence, but Matai & Lyon had little room to work with because their forwards were being battered by ours. You're only going to see offloads and creative play when the opportunities arise. Forcing it prematurely will make you look like Benji. If our forwards can be as dominant as they were against Manly for the remainder of the year, the Laws of Griffinball will allow the sort of football we threw at Manly, and it will indeed be an exciting season.

 

[Big Pete]

I don't think you can really read too much into Sunday.

It was a good performance and fans had a right to sit down and enjoy it without being ridiculed but it seems like a lot of post-Origin games follow the same script where one side struggles and the other tends to play well.

In regards to our game, everything just seemingly went our way. The first two tries were fairly opportunistic, we got a bit fortunate on the Matai No-Try & even the bounce of the ball seemingly favoured us like it did for the Reed penalty.

Factor in Manly being under-strength and it all fed into a good afternoon for us.

Don't get me wrong here, I enjoyed the performance as much as anyone because it was exactly what I was after three weeks of frustrating football but I'm not convinced that it'll be our new standard and I'm concerned heading into the Raiders game.

 

[Unbreakable]

So during the day time this year we've finished second in the 9's and thrashed the premiership favourites (albeit without DCE), something tells me we should be looking to get more day games, even if these are just coincidences.

 

[Big Pete]

Since 2010, apparently we've won 13 of our past 17 clashes.

Of those losses, I'd argue that the Warriors (2013) & Bulldogs (2012) performances were among our best as well.

The only poor performance was against the Warriors in 2010.

Another reason to hate Channel 9 I guess.

 

[Morkel]

So during the day time this year we've finished second in the 9's and thrashed the premiership favourites (albeit without DCE), something tells me we should be looking to get more day games, even if these are just coincidences.

Shall I direct you all to my first post in this thread? ;)

 

[rnabokov]

I am with Morkel regarding the footy played not being that different as compared to the rest of the year.

Most stuff stuck this time, a dry Sunday afternoon was more conducive of getting the offloads going, Barba showing more freedom of movement was a big impact too imo.
But the shoring of the ruck defense (we only missed 18 tackles :shocked:), and whatever was said at half time to effectively kill the dangerous left (and right) side Manly attack, also made a huge difference.

In other words, we played a much improved, and to me, "that" different" a game to most (not all) other games this year.

Lots of passing - more than usual, things sticking because of better execution (even though Copley had a few problems there), Barba steadily improving and getting better involved because of the more stable structures we put up, and yes, we killed "the dangerous left side Manly attack..." which yes, "also made a huge difference".

Manly went to that left (and right) side attack a lot, and it is the same one a full strength side uses with Foran, Lyon Matai, Hiku and Tafua the key strike weapons. We dealt with it ... a full strength Manly lethal weapon.

Thaiday and Hannant were also crucual differences - they are ball playing forwards who ball played, even if that means simply passing to create a play rather than dying with the ball. Their energy also inspired the forwards to control the middle effectively, blunting much of Manly's attack.

I am sure Whathefuck and Glen Stewart would have made a difference to the game, however, the form I saw suggests we would have handled them well on the edges, and out wide was already well taken care of anyway.

But then Hodges would probably have made a positive difference for us well. An in form Hodges = Whatthefuck and Stewart for mine.

While I agree the Sunday day game made a difference, I can't see how a day time game affects offloading compared to a night game.

Sure, this is Griffinball by definition - he is the coach, but it is not the Griffinball of which I have been so critical.

Whatever Griffinball it was, it worked really well, and if it continues to be well executed, and key individual players like Hunt and Barba keep improving, and we kick more to Vidot's wing (funny about the outcome of that when we finally decided to try it on Sunday) and we keep supporting the ball carrier, miss less tackles and Thaiday and Hannant remain ball playing forwards, then I am all for it, and all for Griffin as coach.

Obviously, each match from now on will prove or disprove what I think is the significant change to most of our past form, but I for one want to, and do read a lot into our excellent performance v Manly.

Bring on the disappointment!

 

[Ari Gold]

I couldn't give a rats arse about Top 4. It's an ultimately pointless achievement if it doesn't lead to a premiership. I can see Griffin lucking his way in a good regular season finish but nothing about his tenure post-Lockyer suggests to me that he has the adaptability, strategical nous or player development abilities to ever guide a squad to a premiership.

This is still a bloke who thought playing Hunt as a bench hooker for 80 odd games was a smart idea and to this day helps Hunt into a halve's role by pairing him with Josh Hoffman. I've also yet to see him doing anything much of note to attempt to play to our strength in Barba.

 

[Alec]

How many times has Griffin teased us with quality footy, just to go back to Griffinball a week or two later?

 

[Big Pete]

As often as the team has tried to play that style only for it to blow up in their face?

I don't like it, but there's that old rhetoric of going back to basics which teams always talk about when they're in a slump.

 

[austin71]

Hopefully the post Griffin era is already well under way at Red Hill!

 

[Alec]

As often as the team has tried to play that style only for it to blow up in their face?

I don't like it, but there's that old rhetoric of going back to basics which teams always talk about when they're in a slump.

Every time we tried playing more attractive footy, we looked better. Good example would be playing the two grand finalists back to back in 2012. It's too bad Griffin is so hopeless that we have to go back to his disgusting style, rather than playing skillful footy and gelling from the start of the season.

 

[Big Pete]

Nah, there were occasions where the Broncos have tried to play a more expansive brand (usually a season opener) and it's backfired on them one way or another and forced them back to playing basics as they try and go too side to side.

And yeah, the Storm + Bulldogs performances were amongst the best of the season but the game that followed against Manly sucked and after 3 weeks of attempting the style it wasn't working. I don't think there was a lot the Broncos could have done with the rest of the season other than going for that Hodges experiment faster than they did but that seemed like a total ad-lib than a plan of attack.

Plus, we basically did go back to that style in 2013. The problem was we had a halves pairing of Prince/Wallace and by the time the combination was working and our left edge became one of the most potent combinations in the competition, Norman was busy thinking about all the ways he could spend his money and it basically fell apart.

But that's just history.

The Broncos just have to pick their moments more with the ball and support each other more through the middle. It's all pretty basic stuff but stuff that players forget about when they're in the grind.

The defence is the biggest concern at the club.

 

[Foordy]

Don’t be surprised to see Wayne Bennett make a shock return to the Dragons in 2015. With Bennett's future at the Knights looking uncertain in the wake of the collapse of Nathan Tinkler's ownership of the club, Bennett is assessing his options. I am hearing that high-ranking Broncos officials have now decided getting back Bennett, who brought the club into the NRL back in 1988, is not the answer. But the Dragons are a different story. The club won the premiership under the master coach in 2010 but has been on a downhill spiral ever since. Bennett remains a revered figure at Kogarah and Wollongong and fans, players and officials would welcome him back with open arms in 2015.

NRL Premiership | The Lurker - NRL Rumour File - Friday

If the Lurker is actually right, it would seem like high ranking Broncos officials now agree with me.