The End of Empire: The Sharp Decline of the Brisbane Broncos

[Anonymous person]

you misunderstood what i said.

i said that come finals time, even if they have their best players Bennetts gameplan doesnt work unless the other teams fall off, ala 2006. during the regular season though, his gameplan needs his best players or they lose.

alternatively, if you look at - and i know you hate talking about them - melbourne. apart from their key positions, the team changes every year, and when someone gets injured they still keep winning. the gameplan doesnt rely on having all the best players there every week.

 

[Meat77]

My apologies - for both misunderstanding what you said and giving you another chance to mention the Storm! [icon_razz1

 

[tkday]

Hahaha, they are a great team though and have been for a few years.





edited by Admin

 

[Charmamba]

shhhh enough Storm talk. Someone did say say bans for it a few days ago..


On topic, our empire will strike back we have nothing to worry about at all.

 

[m1c]

Hunt is better..

 

[tkday]

Hunt is a great player, but he's not with us anymore anyways. Last year Billy was better, but Hunt was still young.

 

[ddd]

The interesting thing to consider is what next for the Broncos. The club has had some major changes, but it seems to be a directionless. Does the club put it's head down and hope it succeeds or does it take a more proactive approach?

Following this, what approach does the club take - go forward or go back, and this is what I mean:

Go Back:
Adopt a Mal Meninga Maroons approach to the club, use the glory days of past to inspire that same feeling the current generation by having some of the old dogs around the club much much more, in fact employing them to spend time the with younger boys and try to overcome some of the cliques (mentioned in another thread - sorry admins) - have the team start to leave and breath Broncos of old, in fact bring back the old logo, change the away jersey to be more like the old one, have ansett and powers on the jerseys - does this take our club to where it should be?

Go forward:
Do we move on, do we hire an unconnected coach (not a junior coach), undergo a total clean of house, move on and focus on the future, use a top fitness and defensive coach, and new more business minded CEO. Do we try an pursue a new culture at the club and what would this be? Where will this take the club and who will be the club be if this happens? Will it still be the broncos.

Either way we need to commit, IMO going back sounds positive and a good move for the club, but you can't keep heading back, plus its because it was easier to model the approach to take on the one used by the maroon, whereas being innovative is more difficult to define, so I hope you all got what I was getting at.

 

[Big Pete]

you misunderstood what i said.

i said that come finals time, even if they have their best players Bennetts gameplan doesnt work unless the other teams fall off, ala 2006. during the regular season though, his gameplan needs his best players or they lose.

alternatively, if you look at - and i know you hate talking about them - melbourne. apart from their key positions, the team changes every year, and when someone gets injured they still keep winning. the gameplan doesnt rely on having all the best players there every week.

You're joking.

 

[subsbligh]

Either way we need to commit, IMO going back sounds positive and a good move for the club, but you can't keep heading back, plus its because it was easier to model the approach to take on the one used by the maroon, whereas being innovative is more difficult to define, so I hope you all got what I was getting at.

Those days are gone pal.

1. Get rid of Bruno Cullen.

2. Pray that the NRL:
- Gets a huge TV rights deal that is 5-10 time better than the current one.
- Mans up and increases the salary cap 5-10 times and introduces set-offs and new rules for discounts for juniors developed through the club and for veteran players (or alternatively develops a draft - but that would only be for the detriment of the Broncos).

Otherwise the glory days of pre-Super League are never going to return.

 

[Big Pete]

If he believes that, than every premiership has been tainted.

If AP is using 2006 to criticise Bennett for being stubborn then it only proves he needs a serious history lesson.

 

[Big Pete]

I can see where he's coming from in that regard.

Newcastle were basically dead after winning the best game of the finals against Manly. Losing Simpson (who back then was great) and Buderus really hurt them. Either way, Broncos would've won that match.

Bulldogs didn't have any 3/4's and lost their five eigth just on halftime.

Storm...I suppose they lost their lucky charm and everything that could go wrong for them in that game did.

 

[Chumbason]

I know its popular to bag who ever knocks WB or the broncos, but theres some pretty good points being made. The writing is on the wall, the broncos have some great results but have been founded on the backs and abilities of rare individuals on very little to do with the coach or game plans. Lewis, langer and Locky have just been wining it over the years and it always just seemed to work. Talli, lazo or webcke would b ust the lne and pass it on, then we'd MAKE something happen, no game plan. The coach has done very little other than gather together a quality group to support one or two superstars, and this had been misrepresented as top class coaching. If all those last minute wins and miracle balls that were thrown and caught for just bullshit tries to win games, had they gone the other way, the results in the trophy locker would way different and so too the record and title of the so called great WB. We're in the crap right now because the bluff is gone, the bubble has burst and the players have seen that magic only last so long once the show is over.

 

[Big Pete]

Regardless of who Newcastle lost, we would have beat them anyway.

We would've won the premiership regardless. But the other sides did lose form so I can understand where he's coming from. But, if he believes 2006 is an isolated case, boy is he in for a rude shock.

No 3/4? Emelio and Maitua wasn't it?

By no 3/4's of course I was refering to the fan usage in that Ben Te'o and Matt Gillett aren't 3/4's.

Emelio was bush league and Maitua was a backrow trying his best.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure SBW had a spell out in the centres too.

They were missing Tonga who was in the Brent Tate league of centres.

I never made the comparison Holdsworth was in Lockyer's league, but he played a big part at the Bulldogs that season. A definite one year wonder.

As for Melbourne...are we now clutching at straws?

I hope I gave that impression. I wrote that with my tongue firmly placed in cheek. Of course Crocker was a loss, but so was Ennis for the Broncos.

You seriously can't suggest that Newcastle, Bulldogs and the Storm "fell off" in 2006 because of some injuries in their squad.

Newcastle were always going to fall regardless, the injuries just made that match easier.

Bulldogs definitely dropped off after they lost 3 players in the one game against the Broncos. BUT, the Broncos were the better side across the park.

Storm didn't fall off, although the loss of Crocker sure didn't help, but simply became the hunted. The Broncos had at least one win in them against the Storm and they pulled it off at the right time.

But yes, technically you could say these sides weren't at their peak come September...but really since the introduction of the top 8 when have all 8 sides been performing at their peak with their starting line up intact? The Broncos didn't win the premiership simply because Newcastle were hurt, Bulldogs were caught short out wide or the Storm didn't have their lucky charm...they won it through their own ability.

And yes, Bennett deserves credit for it. Bennett devised plans, made decisions at crucial parts of the season and behaved in a manner that suited the side.

 

[Charmamba]

Bulldogs just got Cocky in 06 and thought they had it won at halftime.

 

[Big Pete]

That certainly played a factor.

They had all the ball though, possession was always going to swing back and the Broncos were always going to be a threat. With that said, the Broncos made that win happen.

 

[Anonymous person]

I can see where he's coming from in that regard.

Newcastle were basically dead after winning the best game of the finals against Manly. Losing Simpson (who back then was great) and Buderus really hurt them. Either way, Broncos would've won that match.

Bulldogs didn't have any 3/4's and lost their five eigth just on halftime.

Storm...I suppose they lost their lucky charm and everything that could go wrong for them in that game did.

bingo.

for teams to 'drop off' like i said im not saying they started losing every game - just that they played poorly when they got to us. remember how awesome we were last year going into the game against melbourne in the finals? remember how we got smashed? how can that be though, we were in good form? because FOR THAT GAME we dropped right off. had no intensity, and were never in the game. thats what happened to the other teams in 2006, and we picked up our game.

its really not hard to understand, you just need to take off your bennett coloured glasses to see it ;)

 

[Jeba]

They played as well as we allowed them to play.

 

[Big Pete]

It's pretty silly logic and could be applied to just about every finals campaign.

2009 - Storm peaked at the right time. Dragons were out of gas, Dogs lost Kimmorley at the wrong time, Titans were hopeless away from home, Sea Eagles were fortunate just to be there, Broncos lost their best half back, Knights lost their coach and two of their best players and the Eels were like the Knights circa 05, except they began their march much sooner.

2008 - Sea Eagles had a blessed run, Storm were exhausted and lost Smith, Sharks kept losing key players, Roosters had nothing, Broncos were denied by pure class, Raiders were out of gas, Dragons had Rogers at five eigth and the Warriors were basically living on a prayer.

2007 - Storm were awesome, Sea Eagles were good but never great, Cowboys are the worst 3rd place side I've ever seen, Warriors were spent in attack, Eels were average, Dogs were under-achievers being carried around by SBW, Rabbits were just happy to be there and the Broncos had managed just to crawl over the finish lines to make the finals.

2005 - Tigers hit form at the right time. Eels lost Hindmarsh and saved the worst for last. Dragons were out of gas. Broncos just couldn't get the keys into the ignition after the Canberra game, Cowboys were hot and cold, Storm too and they lost key players during the series, both Sea Eagles and Sharks limped in.

2004 - Bulldogs won in one of the worst grand finals you'll see. Roosters were lucky just to make the grand final. Broncos were out on their feet, Panthers were very shaky, Dragons were hot and cold...in the one game, Storm were hot and cold, Cowboys were happy to be there...and play awesome footy while the Raiders limped.

Seriously 2003 was the last time I think you could say the Top 6 was actually competitive. And even the 8th place Broncos were no slouches. Just like in 2005 though, they just couldn't get the keys into the ignition.