The BHQ Honesty session

[I bleed Maroon]

A specific thread to isolate weaknesses in the squad and what needs to be done to address them. Will obviously evolve over time as new issues arise and old ones (finally) are stamped out.

A generally weak squad - We have comfortably about 1 million or even more worth of players in our top order that are barely first grade standard, if at all. The likes of Korbin Sims, Sam Thaiday, Darius Boyd, Tom Opacic, Nikorima arguably, and Joe O arguably could all be culled tomorrow and we would hardly notice their absence. The solution to this is simple; we tell whoever is currently in charge of our recruitment and retention to hit the bricks and get some quality people in who actually care about doing a good job to build a useful outfit.

Our forward pack has sucked for way too long - McGuire for all his qualities is as dumb as they come. The amount of times we've seen him kill attacking opportunities by taking a lazy hit up on the 4th this year has surely cost us about 50 potential points scored over all the games. TPJ looks to be a great talent who will mature into a real monster of a player, but he is still very green. Haas will get his debut tomorrow which will be exciting to see, but as it is now (and further to the above) the likes of Sims, Thaiday and Joe O are making us look like powderpuffs up front and that's basically been the case since Petero hung up the boots. It's becoming very aggravating. We badly need an experienced head in our prop rotation like a Graham or a Scott to mentor the young guys.

Overpaid marquee players - I still like Milf. When he is in top flight, he is a joy to watch. But he isn't in top flight, not at the moment anyway. He has shown glimpses of it over the past couple of weeks, then has brain fades like the one we saw last week which undoes all the good work he has built up. He is worth a fair quid to be sure, but not the marquee value he is currently at. He got the big payday a bit too early in my opinion, and it has done harm to his confidence. WE NEED A GAME MANAGER TO TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF HIM and we needed it in this off season past. Probably one of the worst botched opportunities the club has seen in its history, (again, hit the fucking bricks recruitment flogs) up there with letting the likes of Cam Smith and Greg Inglis slip through the cracks.

No leadership - Don't need to go too much into this one. It's been well documented by many members over the past 7 weeks. We basically have no Captain. Boyd is a busted ass on top of having a serious case of the sooks when things don't go his way, and that attitude filters down and infects the whole team. He really should be Super League bound at years end, but he's already got a shiny new contract that we'll have to continue to put up with even after Bennett gives it away. Swell.

Bennett's head/s - We can hang shit on the media and their tabloid quality material all we like (god knows I do), but it is obvious that Wayne's mind has not always been on footy this year. His personal life and the media's unending obsession with it is surely dogging him, as good as he is at hiding it (usually.). He has made some questionable decisions or lack thereof regarding Boyd's captaincy that frankly is unlike the Bennett that we know, and we really need him to get his head back on the job if we are to salvage anything from this season and beyond.

 

[CaptainHook]

Lol this is gonna be great!!!

Someone bring the popcorn. I'll bring the beer!

 

[broncos4life]

So, just a recap of everything that has already been in all the other tantrum threads? This is exactly what we need...

 

[mitch222]

Ok
I’ll start with an important one
Our Fans - once were strong believers but now just follow the media and act like sheep. They are quick to turn on every single player for one **** up with the coach included but always the first to bask in glory when the broncos win. Seem to blame all and sundry for an ordinary performance and want to sack the coach at the first instance even though he is the one who set such a high standard in the first place. What they fail to realise is that we compete year in year out and we are always close enough at the end of the year to give the title a tilt. Oh and never seem to realise we live in the age of a salary cap and fail to realise just because a kid dominates their own age group doesn’t mean he is just going to do the same immediately in first grade

 

[CaptainHook]

So, just a recap of everything that has already been in all the other tantrum threads? This is exactly what we need...

Lol I know hey.

Surely there is a limit of how many tantrum threads we can have at one time?

I think a lot of people have forgotten the Griffin years. Re-writing history fucking annoys me.

 

[Number6]

Sick of hearing about the salary cap. Firstly plenty of clubs have a sombrero. More importantly if wish to do things within rules, big difference between spending wisely and spending poorly. When we look like we’ve spent well then let’s talk about the cap limiting success.

 

[Alec]

I still don't understand what people see wrong with Ofahengaue. He's sort of like Wallace IMO, he'll start to peak later, but he still contributes well even now.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

I still don't understand what people see wrong with Ofahengaue. He's sort of like Wallace IMO, he'll start to peak later, but he still contributes well even now.

Way too inconsistent. He can have a great game against the likes of the Warriors 2 weeks ago then goes MIA against the Storm.

 

[Mightybroncs2k17]

I think big joe should be spared some of the wrath, he’s been quiet solid for us so far. Comes on and gets through a lot of work and has been playing some big minutes too.

And as for the whole McGuire wasting our fourth tackle thing I’m positive it’s a game plan and he’s just taking orders from above. Not at all suggesting McGuire isn’t “dumb” but I don’t think he comes pushing his way in and steals a hit up ruining a planned set play. The guy is just doing as he’s told.

 

[Renegade]

Ok
I’ll start with an important one
Our Fans - once were strong believers but now just follow the media and act like sheep. They are quick to turn on every single player for one **** up with the coach included but always the first to bask in glory when the broncos win. Seem to blame all and sundry for an ordinary performance and want to sack the coach at the first instance even though he is the one who set such a high standard in the first place. What they fail to realise is that we compete year in year out and we are always close enough at the end of the year to give the title a tilt. Oh and never seem to realise we live in the age of a salary cap and fail to realise just because a kid dominates their own age group doesn’t mean he is just going to do the same immediately in first grade

that's probably just more symptomatic of the realities of online discussion/social media.

it becomes an echo chamber after a while and people can't help but join in.

everyones shit until theyre awesome, soon after they're shit again.

 

[Aldo]

Way too inconsistent. He can have a great game against the likes of the Warriors 2 weeks ago then goes MIA against the Storm.

Fox Sports have him running for 149m against the Storm. I thought he was pretty good that night. Was hitting hard in defence too

 

[Alec]

Way too inconsistent. He can have a great game against the likes of the Warriors 2 weeks ago then goes MIA against the Storm.

I think it's because he'll end up more like a classic late blooming prop. Like Civo, Webcke, Price and co. Prob nowhere as good, but I can still see him being a real quality prop.

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

I actually had a bit of a rest from this place because of the threads like this that are popping up more and more.

You watch the footy on fox sports and you here Paul Kent, m johns and Tallis hammering the club and coach, channel 9 it's the same thing with Gould and co, the radio the same, and the newspapers. Everywhere...

You think to yourself, I'll come onto the broncos forum to get some perspective so it's not just people who hate the broncos commenting on the broncos....... but, all you get is the same crap regurgitated...

We are 10 th after 7 rounds... SEVEN ROUNDS... we finished 3rd last year, even if we didn't look like winning the premiership it isn't a bad season for a club in supposed crisis. We had Macca, bird, milf, sims, Boyd, and more miss most or all of the off season and we had the lodge situation. We have played 2 poor games, yes, but this constant doomsday crap after every loss has to stop. It's bloody boring. Go support the eels, the warriors or any of the other 10 clubs we've outperformed year after year in the last 3 years. The same era where their is a strict salary cap and they are now even putting in a football department cap because they are so intent on NOT having big clubs dominate. And don't say "but the storm/cowboys" because if the broncos or Bennett had c smith or Thurston in their team I can guarantee we would have won more then 1 (cowboys) or 2 (storm) premierships in those 12 years we haven't. GUARANTEED.

Every year the players we lose look great at their new clubs but they were shit at ours? If you put bon scott into the local pub band the whole band will improve but Bon Scott would stil look a lot better. These players are good BECAUSE they have played with us, they bring the standard set at our club to these clubs. If we start getting into bidding wars to keep all these players we will become these shitty little clubs that pay overs for them. It works out for those clubs 1/1000 times, and the joy is only ever short lived.

 

[Huge]

A specific thread to isolate weaknesses in the squad and what needs to be done to address them. Will obviously evolve over time as new issues arise and old ones (finally) are stamped out.

A generally weak squad - We have comfortably about 1 million or even more worth of players in our top order that are barely first grade standard, if at all. The likes of Korbin Sims, Sam Thaiday, Darius Boyd, Tom Opacic, Nikorima arguably, and Joe O arguably could all be culled tomorrow and we would hardly notice their absence. The solution to this is simple; we tell whoever is currently in charge of our recruitment and retention to hit the bricks and get some quality people in who actually care about doing a good job to build a useful outfit.

Our forward pack has sucked for way too long - McGuire for all his qualities is as dumb as they come. The amount of times we've seen him kill attacking opportunities by taking a lazy hit up on the 4th this year has surely cost us about 50 potential points scored over all the games. TPJ looks to be a great talent who will mature into a real monster of a player, but he is still very green. Haas will get his debut tomorrow which will be exciting to see, but as it is now (and further to the above) the likes of Sims, Thaiday and Joe O are making us look like powderpuffs up front and that's basically been the case since Petero hung up the boots. It's becoming very aggravating. We badly need an experienced head in our prop rotation like a Graham or a Scott to mentor the young guys.

Overpaid marquee players - I still like Milf. When he is in top flight, he is a joy to watch. But he isn't in top flight, not at the moment anyway. He has shown glimpses of it over the past couple of weeks, then has brain fades like the one we saw last week which undoes all the good work he has built up. He is worth a fair quid to be sure, but not the marquee value he is currently at. He got the big payday a bit too early in my opinion, and it has done harm to his confidence. WE NEED A GAME MANAGER TO TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF HIM and we needed it in this off season past. Probably one of the worst botched opportunities the club has seen in its history, (again, hit the fucking bricks recruitment flogs) up there with letting the likes of Cam Smith and Greg Inglis slip through the cracks.

No leadership - Don't need to go too much into this one. It's been well documented by many members over the past 7 weeks. We basically have no Captain. Boyd is a busted ass on top of having a serious case of the sooks when things don't go his way, and that attitude filters down and infects the whole team. He really should be Super League bound at years end, but he's already got a shiny new contract that we'll have to continue to put up with even after Bennett gives it away. Swell.

Bennett's head/s - We can hang shit on the media and their tabloid quality material all we like (god knows I do), but it is obvious that Wayne's mind has not always been on footy this year. His personal life and the media's unending obsession with it is surely dogging him, as good as he is at hiding it (usually.). He has made some questionable decisions or lack thereof regarding Boyd's captaincy that frankly is unlike the Bennett that we know, and we really need him to get his head back on the job if we are to salvage anything from this season and beyond.

Haas getting his debut ? I didn't know that.

 

[Thelmus]

I'll try and tackle a few of these
1 Weak squad. The players you mention are about as different as you get. Some are greats at the end of their careers (Boyd, Thaiday), others have great potential (offa, knik). You can argue about knik, but at his value to the salary cap, what harm is it to carry him. At the very least, he is a great utility player, with the potential to be more. As for the likes of Opacic and simms, they are players give a certain quality (questionable for Simms i would agree) for their cost. I like Opacic. He offers far more than he costs and doesn't impede anyone in the team. His winger will never worry about the lost opportunity taken away from him and he still has potential to grow.
2 long sucking forward pack. Have a look at our forwards. what you will notice is that the mix of younger players (23 or under) is growing. Bennet can't afford a graham or Scott and if he did buy someone like that, I would consider it a worrying sign of a failure of development. Those players would leave us with next to nothing left for juniors. You might argue the likes of thaiday is money wasted but for years he was the leader we looked to, in the forwards. Whether he is selected in the side is one thing, but he obviously is valued by bennet as a leader within the team. Sure, we could cut the likes of Sims, but sometimes you have to role the dice and sometimes you get snake eyes. Not every player contracted to the storm performs to expectations every week for croft would still be half. Just remember both TPJ and lodge were gambles bennet chose to take, ahead of every other NRL coach.
3. Overpaid marque players. I struggle to argue with the point with Milford but would suggest, he still has plenty of development in him. No one else is on extravagant pay. You might say boyd, but a couple of years ago he was good enough to be chosen ahead of billy slater for qld. Injury can be cruel, but he still offers more than a few other fullbacks out there and he price (like thaiday) is cost of a great player (albeit one that seems to be fading). Throw your leaders on the scrap heap and fill the team with youngsters and watch us turn into Parramatta.
4. leadership. I'm not sure what you want here, A great player that gives his all and leads by example, a great trainer, a wise counsel to our younger players? Have a look through our squad and show me the replacement. Maguire is a good leader for the forwards, but can't be expected to show the calm determination whilst thrusting himself through the middle of a ruck, taking cheap shots along the way. No-one else is ready and the only other candidate i would consider (macca) has enough on his plate and is injured anyway.
5. bennet's love life. what the hell does it have to do with the team? Does anyone seriously think game strategies and training procedures are prisoner to the distractions of one man. Thats either too much credit for bennet (he has a number of assistant coaches and trainers around him) or not enough (it's no yet halfway through the season and sure it would be nice to be higher placed with a better halfback, scott and graham our front row, and thureson and cronk our halves perhaps) but like everything, running a team is a game of compromise. we are not parramatta or manly and still very much alive and competitive for a premiership. Add to that, the wealth of young players being blooded. I think we are in a good place. Perhaps a premiership is beyond us on current form, but we are growing and getter better. Think of those four players how you might deal with replacing them. Thats where we are. It not easy but we have the right coach for it.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Waste of time session is what it should be called.

If we smack the Rabbits tomorrow night, these complaints disappear. Suddenly Bennett is focussed, our forwards and halves are firing and all of a sudden we are scratching our heads wondering whst IBM was concerned about...

 

[Mr Fourex]

I still don't understand what people see wrong with Ofahengaue. He's sort of like Wallace IMO, he'll start to peak later, but he still contributes well even now.

Agreed....I think he's just starting to settle in.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Joke thread.