PRE-GAME [THE BIG DANCE] BRISBANE BRONCOS Vs PENRITH PANTHERS - 2023 NRL GRAND FINAL

[Mick_Hancock]

I just hate white jerseys.

They’re shit, I agree. Couldn’t care less if they wear those awesome Teal number
as long as they win!

 

[Mick_Hancock]

 

[MrTickyMcG]

Call me a ****...but I'm not happy with all the media attention Reece Walsh is getting.

You’re a ****

 

[Foordy]

I rather our actual colours, however, it’s fair that the minor premiers get to pick the colour they want first. Not worried at all, have a look at 2006

I just hate white jerseys.

2006 we wore the white jersey against a supposedly unbeatable opponent.

2023 we'll be wearing the white jersey against a supposedly unbeatable opponent.

SNAP

 

[Brett Da Man LeMan]

Just having a sneaky peak at the Panthers forums (not sure if I'm on the main one, but it's a little bit tumbleweeds over there compared to here...), seems a couple are nervous, a couple are cocky, most are optimistic.

Couple of posts :

"After watching the Broncs against the Wahs, I’m fairly nervous about this game.

Broncs were fast and seem to have a lot of second phase play which is where the Eels often trouble us.

They clearly had some nerves early on. Let’s hope that is amplified in the GF, away from home and against two time reigning prems and that Panthers take them to town with experience and bully them out of the game like Eels last year.

Great news to hear Luai and Tago came through unscathed.

Be another big game for JFH, Moses and Yeo. Spence will always rip and tear, thankfully he has improved this year compared to previous and seems to make less mistakes.

I noticed we lost momentum when the bench rotation took place. Lindsay seemed to have a quiet game, let’s hope they fire for the GF.

I think it’s going to be a tough one"

"The team will go into this match knowing they have a game ahead of them. I believe that this attitude helped with the success against storm and warriors. Complacency has been the biggest enemy this season, as demonstrated in games against the eels and tigers and even against the broncos in round 1. I don’t think complacency will be a problem this week."

"I’m pretty confident on this game, the Broncos showed too many errors and a leaky defence to trouble us too much.

Plus we have the worlds best defense, and fullback to stop Walsh in his tracks.

Oh what I would give to see Leota and Fish put the pretty boy on his back."

"Not sure about Cogger in the 14 to be honest. While he hasn’t done anything to lose his spot, I would rather a utility player like Peachey there.

I am hoping he is there until they are certain about Luai’s fitness to go the distance, and if Laui is good to go they a lot Peachey in and shift Cogger to 18."

"Its been an eventful year but we are finally here and there is plenty to look forward to and in my view we are fielding our best 17 (subject to any late injuries)

I am more than comfortable with the squad for the challenge ahead of us.

Broncos have done a great job and deserve to be in the Grand Final and is a fitting result for both teams as both have been the standout sides all season.

That the last of the generosity for the Broncos who are formidable challengers but believe the way to beat them is reasonably simple.

we need to close down Hass and Carrigan. So much begins with these 2 and as demonstrated last week they had the freedom to offload and basically run the Warriors ragged but this only came after the Warriors defence on these 2 dropped off and holes began to open for the like of Walsh and Reynolds.

Hitting Hass and Carrigan hard in defence along with locking the ball up in the tackle is key. Hass is a little like JFH who plays big first half minutes and Carrigan plays the whole game.

Intensity in defence will unsettle the style they like to play which is a sort of controlled mayhem which is all well and good when the other team is tiring or presenting a poor defensive line, i doubt you will see either from us.

I did note Walsh and Broncos were having most of their success down the Tago/ Too side (against warriors) which i expect them to test again and Tago will need to be better then he was against Storm.

But as i said we need to dominate in the forwards in defence and attack which will force Broncos into actions they are not comfortable doing which will also allow our backs and notably Cleary and Luai to weave their magic.

Broncos have been showing good defence but oddly the warriors stripped them for numbers a couple of times with very slick passing also oddly enough similar to a few tries we scored against Storm…almost like Webster was playing our game plan.

Only trouble was he had DWZ racing in for hail mary intercepts and poor defensive reads and there were a few others who just couldn’t go with the Broncos.

We will be a different match up but i hope we don’t get sucked into early rubbish which i also expect them to try.

That being said any challenger we have met this year have tried the usual and at times the most unusual to try and beat us such as the Manly game but any opponent has known they have to do this for 80 minutes without mistakes and that is the challenge for the Broncos in executing their “mayhem” everything has to be perfect.

I doubt they are capable of doing this and if they try to get into a grind with us, we will overcome them easily which sort of places the unusual, their only tactic such as offloads, early kicks etc to try to break us down.

Not sure GF experience helps or even hurts but its nice going in having done this 3 times before.

Like previous games i hope terrible calls don’t influence the outcome, as i want to see a true challenge from both teams.

Expect a Panther victory and don’t care if its by 1 point or by 30.

If we stick to our processes and control the game through our forwards, the result should come our way."

"Agree Cogger is a strange bench option unless IC has doubts about Rommy being able to play full game. Salmon was used effectively off the bench earlier in season seems to have fallen out of favour or is he injured ? Peach or Hoskins also would provide better cover in more positions whereas Cogger is there solely to cover for the half 5/8. Anyways in Ivan we trust…Letsgo Panthers"

 

[Brett Da Man LeMan]

The Penrith Front Row forums are a lot busier and decidedly more confident :

"We’ll murder the Broncos next week.

That flashy stuff doesn’t work against us."

"We will destroy the Broncos next week. Way too many errors and defence is shit."

"I cannot wait for the forward battle. JFH, Leota and Yeo vs Haas, Carrigan and Flegler. It's going to be very intense.

Broncos fire plenty of shots. Credit to them, they are not gun shy. But that will be their downfall.

Our team will slow the game down. This is the 4th time in a row we are about to do this. Our experience will get them. Can't wait.

"You cant prepare for Fish & Leota in beast mode. You know it's coming, you know it's going to hurt, but all you can do is try and survive. And just when you think the worst is over Spencer runs on.

Hass is an excellent front rower with a huge engine, but he doesn't have the tools to match what our boys bring. His strength is doing what he does for longer minutes. Flegler is already shitting himself and Carrigan will be about as effective as Cam Murray is against us."

"
Our best game comfortably beats their best game.

It will come down to who brings their best game.

Our experience will help a lot, but we cant count on the ‘shock and awe’ tactic that won us the game last year. They will be more prepared than the Eels"

I'll stop now, the smugness there is getting a bit irritating.

 

[JayPee]

The Penrith Front Row forums are a lot busier and decidedly more confident :











I'll stop now, the smugness there is getting a bit irritating.

 

[Bish]

I actually don't mind the smugness. Write us off, that's cool. We know what our team is capable of, and whilst we know they are an awesome team, they're not unbeatable superheroes. They can't win every GF gonna have to lose sometime........

 

[Brett Da Man LeMan]

I actually don't mind the smugness. Write us off, that's cool. We know what our team is capable of, and whilst we know they are an awesome team, they're not unbeatable superheroes. They can't win every GF gonna have to lose sometime........

Someone on there made a post confidently stating they are set to win 7 in a row as long as Yeo stays fit.

 

[Bish]

Someone on there made a post confidently stating they are set to win 7 in a row as long as Yeo stays fit.

Definitely a fine line between confidence and outright arrogance.

 

[Organix]

I just hate white jerseys.

Tomato sauce stains?

 

[winslow_wong]

Tomato sauce stains?

Blood of Luai

 

[Volvo Driver]

Everyone keeps focusing on our error counts as if they're unusually high. We made 10 errors against the Warriors. Panthers made 8 against the Storm. Basically no difference.

 

[Super Freak]

Everyone keeps focusing on our error counts as if they're unusually high. We made 10 errors against the Warriors. Panthers made 8 against the Storm. Basically no difference.

7 of those errors being in the first half, one of them leading directly to a try. Panthers made 2 in the first half against Storm.

Do that against the Panthers, they end the game in the first half.

 

[Jedhead]

I see Liam Martin has the obligatory head wound that will bleed exactly when the riff need an interchange, I mean HIA. As does Cleary but it seems he's exempt from HIAs.
Our Paddy has one so I'm sure we'll manage to squeeze in an extra interchange or two.

In a GF one or two extra changes can mean the difference between winning and losing the whole box dice.

 

[Morepudding]

I actually had a cheeky bet on broncos 13+ with Herbie, Staggs and Cobbo anytime try scorers.

I just get the feeling we keep building and our attack will dominate.

 

[theshed]

I’m gonna watch round 1 again while I work from home Thai morning

 

[Culhwch]

My favourite is when she used to commentate with any combination of Johns, Locky, Freddy or Thurston and she would comment on halves play… you have 4 of the greatest halves of the modern era, possibly ever and you comment on what the 7 or 6 should be doing?!

She has some strong opinions on Esma Ram, that's for sure.

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Perfection.