I thought that opening was the worst thing to happen to the Broncos. They won a couple of penalties and within the opening wave of attack they scored their first try through Flegler who barely had a hand laid on him. They started making some pretty soft choices after that and while the 1-1 strip attempt was cute, it was something of a manifestation of their laziness. Lots of dumb penalties followed and they gave up some pretty embarrassing line-breaks, the attempt from Bird in particular was laughable.
I actually thought the Gulls were playing as well, if not a little better than the Broncos for a spell there. At least they had some respect for the footy and if they had some proper last tackle plays the Broncos could have been in serious trouble but it wasn't to be. All it took was one bad miss on Lexi for the Gulls to lose touch on the game. I'm not sure what to make of that play from the Broncos. They did well to salvage it, but Bird slipping over was pretty embarrassing and should have been the end of the section.
I thought the second half was much improved. The Broncos started spreading the football more effectively and gelled better. I missed the Saitaua try, but the effort on Palasia from Flegler was poor. Big Thommo had a big game, but it was those efforts that have me concerned. He's a bigger handful than Pat, but what I like about Carrigan is his work off the ball as well, there were a few times he came out of the line and made a statement with his defence which is what I value in a first grader.
I was happy to see Turpin involved with the general play. When Seibold took over at Souths, one of the more noticeable changes is how he used Cook as a ball-playing lock at times to shift the ball from one edge to another. I think that will definitely open the field up more for Milford, Kodi, Roberts etc. The other was the combination at the back. The Staggs try which came at a pivotal moment in the game was off a Niu cut-out pass to Farnworth which saw the winger race down to the half-way line. That quick shift from defence to attack was another key feature of Souths play and hopefully it's an area the Broncos back three can improve their game. At times it does feel like they just lumber up and lose the set from the get-go.
All in all, some impressive flashes but with a lot of these second string players, there's going to be an adjustment period and we may not see a couple of these players for a year or two, if ever.
