Wayne Bennett has stuffed Brisbane for 2018

[GCBRONCO]

Yes and no. Hunt is filthy he has to leave

Yeah that big pay raise was hard to resist.

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

**** this game management shit, lets go back to the 90s and just go all out attack.

I honestly believe this is the way we are going. Our forwards are great offloaders and hole runners with tremendous skill, not just battering rams. With our strike centres and running/cunning halves, there's no reason we can't be the most dangerous team from anywhere on the field..

 

[tommy]

Yeah that big pay raise was hard to resist.

Weird thing is Mary McGregor wants Hunt for his game management...wtf?

Paul McGregor sat down with Ben Hunt at a Wollongong restaurant in January to tell him why he needed him.
To tell him why the St George Illawarra Dragons needed him. It’s the same reason the club regularly checked in on Hunt throughout his final year at the Brisbane Broncos. The reason why the Dragons coach flew to Brisbane at the end of the season for lunch with the man most believe holds the key to the future of the organisation.

“He [McGregor] spoke about his time at the Dragons and said that throughout his time at the club, the only thing he felt like they never had was a true halfback,” Hunt told NRL.com.
“He said he was looking for a halfback that was just a halfback, not a five-eighth. He wanted someone that could steer the boys around the park. He said he wanted someone that would let Gareth [Widdop] play his footy.”
The Dragons have had plenty of quality pivots at the club since the joint venture’s formation in 1999. Trent Barrett, Anthony Mundine, Jamie Soward.
But they’ve never possessed a top-line halfback. Even when they won the premiership in 2010 under the tutelage of Wayne Bennett, they did so with a makeshift No.7 in Ben Hornby.
It’s why they paid big bucks to lure Hunt south on a five-year deal worth in excess of $1 million per season.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2017/12/12...rge-illawarra-have-been-chasing-for-20-years/

 

[GCBRONCO]

Yeah wouldn't have been my first choice if your wanting more direction in your spine, same can be said of Nikorima and Milford. Still in the modern era of sports when your offered a substantial contract your current club isn't in a position or doesn't want to match and a fresh start to leave your current club I don't think you will lose too much sleep over it.

 

[broncos4life]

Weird thing is Mary McGregor wants Hunt for his game management...wtf?



https://www.nrl.com/news/2017/12/12...rge-illawarra-have-been-chasing-for-20-years/

Lolz Dragons.

We need a genuine, organising halfback so they massive overs for a genuine 5/8 with a below average kicking game and proven lack of organisation skills.

It’s like wanting a raven haired, accountant with big tits and getting Taylor Swift.

 

[Browny]

Well I guess he’ll play a blinder against us as per every other player that leaves

 

[Alec]

We did try all out attack and no management last year. They generally had no idea what they were doing and tried to score with every player. We beat some of the lesser sides like this. Doesn't seem to do much against the better sides, unless your forwards are dominating like crazy too.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Bottom line IMO is that our Halves combo is sub standard. I would comparative place us in 6th place based on our halves combo ability (with Milf and Kodi). While this is such - we will not be organised around a park and not be able to make critical decisions to control a game when the match is tight. Have you ever wondered why we had so many close games that we just couldn't win last year?.....

No need to see how they go before forming such an opinion, eh?

Personally I think you’ll be eating humble pie by the end of 2018. Not saying we are specials to win, but I don’t think our halves will be the issue you seem to think they will.

 

[Super Freak]

Bottom line IMO is that our Halves combo is sub standard. I would comparative place us in 6th place based on our halves combo ability (with Milf and Kodi). While this is such - we will not be organised around a park and not be able to make critical decisions to control a game when the match is tight. Have you ever wondered why we had so many close games that we just couldn't win last year?.....

We won most of those close games. You could count the amount of close games we lost on one hand.

The ones we did lose came down to doing enough to win but not being able to hold them out. And goal kicking which should improve this year with Kahu being fully fit and not having that groin issue.

 

[Foordy]

No need to see how they go before forming such an opinion, eh?

Personally I think you’ll be eating humble pie by the end of 2018. Not saying we are specials to win, but I don’t think our halves will be the issue you seem to think they will.

I've seen enough of how they go together to form the opinion that they are a mid tier halves pairing. we could still find ourselves in the top 4 depending on how the rest of the team plays, IMO we'll finish around 5-6

I don't believe that this is a halves pairing that can break our premiership drought. this isn't because they are sub-par players ... on the contrary, they are both very good players, but they are also very similar players. and that's where the problem lies, they just don't compliment each other. they have the same weaknesses in their games and by having them both in the halves together, our games will always be lacking in those areas (namely kicking and game control)

as always happy for them to prove me wrong

 

[Mr Fourex]

**** this game management shit, lets go back to the 90s and just go all out attack.

If only we had a talented dummy half .....

 

[Wild Horse]

I've seen enough of how they go together to form the opinion that they are a mid tier halves pairing. we could still find ourselves in the top 4 depending on how the rest of the team plays, IMO we'll finish around 5-6

I don't believe that this is a halves pairing that can break our premiership drought. this isn't because they are sub-par players ... on the contrary, they are both very good players, but they are also very similar players. and that's where the problem lies, they just don't compliment each other. they have the same weaknesses in their games and by having them both in the halves together, our games will always be lacking in those areas (namely kicking and game control)

as always happy for them to prove me wrong

But kev's back.. Top 4 IMO.

 

[winslow_wong]

If only we had a talented dummy half .....

We have a gun dummy half. He's elite at tackling.

 

[007]

So frustrating! Argh! Watch any game and our attacking 20m options and organisation were rubbish. OUr opposition half attack lacked strategy. The only time we wrestled was through grunt and energy. Wayne knows this and every other team now knows this. Kodi will be easy shut down and with Kodi shut down - Milf will be limited. We are in for a long season of frustration. great go forward - solid backs but confused in the middle.

 

[broncos4life]

So many Chicken Little’s in here.

 

[holdzy]

So frustrating! Argh! Watch any game and our attacking 20m options and organisation were rubbish. OUr opposition half attack lacked strategy. The only time we wrestled was through grunt and energy. Wayne knows this and every other team now knows this. Kodi will be easy shut down and with Kodi shut down - Milf will be limited. We are in for a long season of frustration. great go forward - solid backs but confused in the middle.

Milf's going to destroy this year, it will be offloads galore. I think all Kodi has to do is be solid and reliable, he doesn't have to match Milf, and we'll be right. A lot of our attacking greatness in '15 was off the cuff, thanks in large part to a solid roll on from the forwards, which is something we are anticipating this year.

We've got all the talent and ability to be dominant, it's just going to be in the attitude and team belief. With Hunt gone, I'm sure the boys feel like they are starting fresh again.

 

[Super Freak]

So frustrating! Argh! Watch any game and our attacking 20m options and organisation were rubbish. OUr opposition half attack lacked strategy. The only time we wrestled was through grunt and energy. Wayne knows this and every other team now knows this. Kodi will be easy shut down and with Kodi shut down - Milf will be limited. We are in for a long season of frustration. great go forward - solid backs but confused in the middle.

We are actually one of the best teams in the comp when it comes to converting opportunities in the opposition 20 into points.

IIRC, in 2015 and 2016 we had the best strike rate in the comp.. And this year we were better in the opposition 20 than what we were anywhere else on the field.

64 of our 109 tries were scored from inside the opposition 20. I would wager that's one of, if not the best, in the comp. That number increases by a fair amount if you include tries scored from within the opposition 30.

These are the stats of the players that either set up the try or were responsible for the try being scored.

Milford - 17
Boyd - 6
Hunt - 15
McCullough - 6
Roberts - 1
Nikorima - 5
Marshall - 6
Blair - 1
Moga - 1
Thaiday - 1
TPJ - 1
Gillett - 1
Sims - 1
McGuire - 1
Glenn - 1

 

[mitch222]

So frustrating! Argh! Watch any game and our attacking 20m options and organisation were rubbish. OUr opposition half attack lacked strategy. The only time we wrestled was through grunt and energy. Wayne knows this and every other team now knows this. Kodi will be easy shut down and with Kodi shut down - Milf will be limited. We are in for a long season of frustration. great go forward - solid backs but confused in the middle.

I think you need to actually watch the games. We are one of the best attacking 20 teams for points scored.