Trial - Warriors vs Broncos - Match Thread

[Charmamba]

Pretty much everything norman offers but with way more heart.

Personally I think you're wrong, Norman has heaps to offer he just needs a quality halfback along side him not a 'solid' halfback like he had with Wallace. A Norman/Prince combination could win a premiership given time to gel.

 

[nopatience101]

Pretty much everything norman offers but with way more heart.

and norman offers what hoffman does but is at least capable of passing and occasionally kicking and imo his support play is better as well. Unless we push hodges to fb, which based on tonight isn't as radical as it once sounded, norman is the best we've got atm.

 

[Viti]

and norman offers what hoffman does but is at least capable of passing and occasionally kicking and imo his support play is better as well. Unless we push hodges to fb, which based on tonight isn't as radical as it once sounded, norman is the best we've got atm.

Norman doesn't have the ability to "bust" tackles with his powerful running but I agree with you mostly, I just don't see norman as a five eighth.

 

[Broncoman]

I like that starting 13 (outside of the spelling), but that bench is just incredibly light. There's no need for both Hunt and Hoffman on the bench, that's a Henjak like move.

Selecting the bench is a weakness for me, i'm more used to selecting the starting 13's

 

[nopatience101]

1. Norman
2. Hoffman
3. Reed
4. Hodges
5. Kahu
6. Hunt
7. Prince
8. Thaiday
9:.McCullough
10. McGuire
11. Glenn
12. Gillett
13. Parker

14. Wallace
15. Hannant
16. Dodds
17. Hala

 

[Mister Wright]

Instead of dwelling on the negatives from a trial, let's look at some if the positives.

Hodges - How well did he play? I sware he is making up for lost time. Would love to see him get a run at fullback.

Anderson - he looks to be injured and was only on the field for a short period, but he looked super primed.

Gillette - back to first season Gillette. Running hard and looking for offloads when they are actually on, not every single tackle.

Prince - I think I've forgotten what an actual playmaker looks like in a broncos jersey!

Hunt - had spark and energy. A few iffy decisions early, but got into a good grove in his shot time on the paddock. If he comes on and does that late in each half of a game, he could be a handful.

 

[Mister Wright]

Did anyone else feel like they were watching a rugby union game with all the penalties?

 

[nopatience101]

Norman doesn't have the ability to "bust" tackles with his powerful running but I agree with you mostly, I just don't see norman as a five eighth.

Their different running styles is deceptive imo, norman's stride may not look as fast as Hoffman but i think hes more effective, he has good footwork and with his size has a good offload. Hoffman just looks like a winger playing fb, his footwork is good but doesn't have the pace for the sort of fb role hes trying to replicate.

 

[Alec]

Did anyone else feel like they were watching a rugby union game with all the penalties?

Yeah, it was pretty disgusting. No slowing down the ruck is nice, but now every second tackle is a penalty, and it's arguably worse.

 

[Viti]

Their different running styles is deceptive imo, norman's stride may not look as fast as Hoffman but i think hes more effective, he has good footwork and with his size has a good offload. Hoffman just looks like a winger playing fb, his footwork is good but doesn't have the pace for the sort of fb role hes trying to replicate.

Hmm yeah that makes a lot of sense to me, the thing that really irks me about Norman is the fact that he looks like he never really actually puts any effort into anything and that's a worry for me if hes going to be playing fullback

 

[Kimlo]

I'll be nice and post a link to the game highlights.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/...o-e6frf3ou-1226584238003?subcat=1225914677120

Forget everything. Hodges. He looks to be in for the year of his life. When Hodges is in form our attack is immediately 2x more dangerous and with Prince feeding him the ball (Griffin can spare us the BS talk about him being behind Wallace and Norman... :001_rolleyes: ) + Gillett looking like he's back to his best I can't see us not having a better year than last year.

We were going good guns at the first half, if we go better and don't fade out in the second half (hello decent playmaker Prince!) we can get a top 4 spot, from there anything is possible.

If Kahu can really stand out he could be the spark we need to help Hodges in the backline. I give Hoffman the first 3-5 rounds, if he doesn't improve we need to dump him to reserves and have Norman or Hodges there. It's simply not feasible to have a fullback who kills every attacking play. Even with Cam Smith and Cronk in our team, if Hoffman was killing off every play we would struggle to score tries. He needs to learn to pass the fucking ball, it's a simple concept, push your hands to the side and let the ball loose, be unpredictable ffs, surely that's common sense at that level!

I really hope Yow Yeh can make a come back, a fit and firing Yow Yeh adds a real threat to opposition defences. Pleaseeeee be fit Yowie!

 

[Porthoz]

As much as it pains me to say it....I can't find room in the side for poor ole Pete at this stage. :sleep:

:loool:

Back to this planet, in particular Dunedin...

- Hoffman cannot be the fullback of this team, he has NO clue about timing in attack or support play. When he does get the ball, the play dies invariably with him charging at the line.
- Norman should move to fullback, where we can take advantage of his characteristics, as well as "hide" his nonchalant nature. He will be able to better choose the times to get involved instead of being constantly in the game, which is something that just doesn't suit him.
- The halves will have to be Prince +1, and based on this game, I would love to give Hunt a try. Wallace can be the ideal backup for Macca during his rest periods, or take back the job from Hunt if he doesn't cut it. Speaking of the devil, Macca doesn't seem to be able to start a season in form, he was hopelessly slow yesterday!
- Hodges and Gillett look awesome. I hope they keep their form and stay injury free!
- Glenn, Parker and McGuire were their usual selves, Stagg did what he does best as well as Dodds, who was a bit of a refreshing surprise with his involvement in the hit-up department. Anderson just didn't have enough minutes to do anything worthwhile...
- Thaiday, Reed and Hannant were definitely not up to their standard, and honestly, I can't see the Englishman keeping his centre spot for long if his form doesn't improve a lot.
- I liked what Kahu had to offer so short after returning from 2 major knee injuries, as well as the little stint from Joe Bond, especially the great efforts to try and stop the Warriors tries, because he didn't had much of an opportunity in attack unfortunately.
- Finally, I think the fight for the left wing will be between Berryman and Kemp, with Maranta almost assured of the right one despite the blunders.

- We need something like an "offensive coordinator" to bring some set plays and creativity in our attack. Hopefully a change in the halves will make a difference, because this Griffin induced soporific football isn't going to appeal to the masses. Besides, the Broncos have always been a team of flair, attacking nous and spectacle, without loosing their defensive integrity. Even the latter isn't a given at the moment, because I couldn't see much of the vaunted wrestling and defensive ruck work we did in the off season...

Of course, this is the only trial game I have seen this season, so I'm not gonna draw conclusions about what our season is going to look like, but I do think that Hook has his work cut-out to get this team to compete eye to eye with the NRL best.

 

[Alec]

I've got to say that while I still believe in Griffindor as a coach, under him we've looked the most boring as a side since the days of Berrigan at halfback.

 

[ningnangnong]

I've got to say that while I still believe in Griffindor as a coach, under him we've looked the most boring as a side since the days of Berrigan at halfback.

Can't really argue with that. As Dexter mentioned earlier, under Hook, it's all about playing the percentages. Probably not going to be fun to watch!

It'll be okay if it works for us and we keep winning games, but if we struggle a bit, playing such an insipid form of footy, I can see a few people getting on Griffin's back.

It's great that our defence is now much more solid than it was under Henjak, but the attack seems to have gone the other way. Losing Lockyer hasn't helped, but I really just can't understand our attacking tactics at times. What seems so obvious to a lot of us on here (things like standing flat, lack of ball-playing, etc) seems to go unnoticed or just plain ignored by the coaching staff.

 

[Mister Wright]

Kevin Walters will be our next head coach if we're sitting 15/16th halfway through the season.

 

[Scorchie]

Good game for a trial

Pros:
- Hodges, Gillett and Prince. Honourable mention for Hunt

Cons:
- Norman and Hoffman. They can fight it out for fullback for the year.

 

[subsbligh]

tri·al [trahy-uhl, trahyl]
noun

1. a tentative or experimental action in order to ascertain results; experiment.
2. the act of trying, testing, or putting to the proof.
3. test; proof.
4. an attempt or effort to do something.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Personally I think you're wrong, Norman has heaps to offer he just needs a quality halfback along side him not a 'solid' halfback like he had with Wallace. A Norman/Prince combination could win a premiership given time to gel.

:thumbup1: