watch: How Broncos young guns fared against Wests Tigers

[Danoz Direct]

THE absence of the club’s State of Origin stars opened the door for a host of Brisbane young guns to impress on the NRL stage.
We run the rule over how the Broncos rookies fared against the Wests Tigers.
Jaydn Su’A
Brisbane’s youngest ever run-on forward was the strongest of the Baby Broncos quartet. He showed plenty of potential and will be a star of the future with a bit more experience. In a massive effort Su’A played the full 80 minutes of his debut. He was made an instant target in defence but did have plenty of support from senior teammates and was hardly left alone to take on the opposition. Considering how heavily he was targeted, he did a solid job to only miss two tackles. The 18-year-old was much stronger in attack. He showed plenty of exciting footwork and ran hard at the line.

Jai Arrow

In his second NRL game, Arrow made an instant impact off the bench 20 minutes in. He gave the forward pack a much-needed energy boost with many of their regular first-graders left running on empty. Arrow was confident in defence, making six strong tackles in his first five minutes. He also averaged 10m a run for his first three hit-ups. However, he barely made an impact in the second half. He only made four tackles with limited game time.

Herman Ese’ese
The monster prop did not get much of a chance to make an impression after coming on in the 55th minute. He hardly appeared in defence through the middle, making just three tackles in his first 10 minutes. However, one of those was a great try-saver on Tim Simona. He was also unable to rack up any great mileage in attack but will be better for the experience.

Tevita Pangai Jnr

The former Raiders under-20s star sure knows how to catch your attention. Pangai Jnr made his NRL debut with only five minutes left on the clock in the first half but was a standout in every one of those minutes. He ran straight on to the field to make a tackle and let the Tigers know he had arrived. He continued this impact into the second half. He was unlucky to get penalised for a late shot in the 44th minute but did not let that take any of the sting out of his tackles. He also came close to scoring in the 50th minute but was held up. However, it probably will not be long until he gets a first-grade try with the way he storms at the line.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/rookie-watch-how-broncos-young-guns-fared-against-wests-tigers/news-story/31d5bc4a8723baecb7597f1dfde5e4a5

What does everyone else think?

 

[Alec]

Pretty much agreed with it. Very impressed with TPJ and Su'a. As far as debuts go, they were very impressive. Arrow looked good when he came on, but I didn't see much of him afterwards. Ese'ese... barely noticed him.

Atm, TPJ would be my choice of the bunch with a bench spot if someone goes down.

 

[K-Style]

I'd be interested to see how it long TPJ can actually play for and continue making an impact like he did. Perhaps he new his time was limited so he needed to make a huge impression which I think he did. He even managed to get successful offloads away which I haven't seen from Broncos for ages (Hunt got one away too).

 

[lionred]

He is a perfect bench player for now and i think made more impact than anyone on our bench. But from watching him play full games that is what he will need to work on as his quality of workrate does drop the more minutes he plays

 

[charbel]

To be honest, I'm surprised there isn't more fanfare on bhq about su'a after last night.

Tjp definitely showed the most venom with his hitups, but as mentioned I'm sure that is partly attributed to knowing he had an impact role to play.

Su'a played a sustained full 80, on debut, 18, 45 tackles for 1 or 2 misses. He has the capacity to make metres ( he topped metres gained in the Junior test match by far). He could afford do this with a shorter cameo in a full strength team.

I'm just beyond impressed by the maturity and grit he showed, especially given the context

 

[Super Freak]

I'm guessing fans are a bit reluctant..

We've seen this before.

A big forward will come in, play great to start off with and then go to shit.

He had a great first game, though.

 

[broncos4life]

Also it is hard time to praise players when you are rearranging the team, scapegoating players, excusing others and trying to move on our best player from the last 2 years ASAP.

 

[austin71]

Really impressed with Tpj.. Think he went past Esese for a bench spot.

 

[Huge]

Also it is hard time to praise players when you are rearranging the team, scapegoating players, excusing others and trying to move on our best player from the last 2 years ASAP.

Build a bridge. We are entitled to our views without you bleating about it every single chance you get. Hunt deserves all the condemnation he is getting. On the subject of this thread, the young guns all contributed and none let the team down. Su'a was excellent and hopefully remains at the club.

 

[lionred]

Yeah Charbel I agree and mentioned it in an early post. After watching the game again on TV last night that KID was pretty darn one of the hardest working Bronco. Did he get tired a few times? Of course it was his first NRL game. But he missed 1 tackle during 80 minutes under a lot of pressure. In attack he showed glimpses of great footwork but tbh i think Hunt could have hit him more. He actually ran some decent lines but Hunt pulled back a bit. Sua and TPJ are our brightest prospects and are the type of players you can tell have the possibility to become pretty big.

 

[lionred]

In contrast, would like a bit more from Arrow and Eseese. They are not doing anything wrong but just need to stand out a little more. I get they are coming on for limited minutes but thats where you try to smash that time like TPJ did.

 

[broncos4life]

Build a bridge. We are entitled to our views without you bleating about it every single chance you get. Hunt deserves all the condemnation he is getting. On the subject of this thread, the young guns all contributed and none let the team down. Su'a was excellent and hopefully remains at the club.

I'm entitled to my opinion as much as you are, if you don't like it, report me.

 

[Morkel]

The young forwards may not have made too many mistakes, or missed mountains of tackles, but they were two to three tiers down in terms of defensive quality. Our top forwards normally concede metres in exchange for composure, but our young pack conceded bulk metres as well as structure. The 9 commentary said that the refs' biggest comment on having so many younger players was the almost complete lack of wrestle. Love it or hate it, wrapping the player up and halting momentum is vital. Without it, we routinely conceded 80 metres per set. Sure, the kids are young and haven't had the years of training in the finer arts of defence. But our loss was down to our pack, let's not pretend otherwise and look for convenient scapegoats.

 

[coreyh88]

I think sua did well in defence. He got caught out once or twice but he also hit hard quite a few times. Something we've missed this year. Gillett put a few on at the start of the year. Wallace and offa have put a few on but thaiday and blair don't seem to have the same desire this year and we are missing the intimidation factor.

 

[austin71]

Is it just me or does Sua look like he needs to Bulk up a little. In saying that he is only 18 right

 

[Huge]

I'm entitled to my opinion as much as you are, if you don't like it, report me.

Trouble is, you are not stating an opinion as such, rather you are constantly condemning those that you are at odds with. We get it, you want to defend Hunts miserable form and incomplete half backs skill set. We want improvement, we want the full package and are not interested in a second rate deal.

Make your opinion about Hunt not about the people who have different expectations.

 

[Nashy]

Build a bridge. We are entitled to our views without you bleating about it every single chance you get. Hunt deserves all the condemnation he is getting. On the subject of this thread, the young guns all contributed and none let the team down. Su'a was excellent and hopefully remains at the club.

I think you need to watch the game again. Because the Hunt I saw was trying his ass off. Why is it the halfback that's at fault because the juniors around him couldn't execute his plays? He did some silly things, but I didn't see one player on the field who didn't make some brain fart decisions.

 

[Super Freak]

Why didn't Niko pass the ball back into the middle and give us a better position to take the attempt at field goal?