What is happening at the Broncos?

[Accept]

That's the issue. This squad should be competing for top 4 and getting close to the GF. With the exception of Lodge, TPJ, and McCullough our starting side is entirely made up of rep level players.

Rep players or not, this squad isn't very good. There was a reason most experts picked them to finish out of the 8, it's because it is a roster which contains nothing special in it. Mix in a few players past their prime (Gillo, Glenn, Boyd, Thaiday) with a mixture of inexperience (Isaako, Lodge, TPJ) along with guys who are simply not up to the level required (Niko, Sims, Offa) along with players who are established and still have their best ahead of them (Milf, Moose, Bird, Jet). Does this look like a top 4 side to you? Of course it doesn't. This roster was always going to struggle and will have to fight tooth and nail to even feature in any post season action in 2018.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Ben Hunt is the litmus test for us this year, really. There is a culture problem at the club, end of.

 

[pagey]

No, we signed him for lock.

Do you know that for sure ? Even joe wasn't sure why and were he was going to play .

 

[lynx000]

Also, to be fair, there were some positive signs last night on some fronts. There was a definite lift in attitude and intensity, no where near perfect, but better than it has been. Excecution was down on a number of fronts. If we can get the attitude and intensity continuing to lift, along with better execution and choice making at key moments and we will be getting closer to playing at some where near our potential.

Re the comment about our squad, I disagree. That squad has largely shown itself able to make a grand final and finish high in the 8. There is no reason why they shouldn't be doing the same this year.

Realistically, if we came in with the same desire, intenstity and attitude that we did in the Cowboys game and with limited mistakes, we beat the Titans and Newcastle. The question is, is it just a rut/attitude, lack of confidence/belief or something deeper going on. If the former, that can all be changed fairly quickly.

 

[Battler]

The thing I like more about Green is he seems to be really good at retaining players. Cowboys still have a large majority of their squad from the 2015 Grand final... That's impressive. Especially when you consider they were also in the 2017 Grand final.

Yeah because he's willing to sign them on either huge money, long term deals, or both. His method actually could be the best way to go about it in these days where mercenaries reign, but IDK if I would feel comfortable signing ANYONE for ten years at over a million a season... maybe Smith, Locky, or Johns at 21 would be the exceptions.

I doubt Green would give our young blokes a tilt either, which is what we need IMO. Fifita, Haas, Carrigan, and Fledger deserve a shot at some point, one of them should be on the bench getting used to NRL every single game. There is no way either one of them would be worse than Thaiday or Sims, Offa is shit house at the moment as well. Get Taga on the bench for experience if Wayne is paranoid about a lack of experience... which weird, because he's the guy who gave Khunt a shot at 17.

 

[Broncs_Fan]

The problem isn't the whole squad. If we had a decent 7 we would have won last night. Kodi is a decent player but he is not suited to playing in the halves. He is electric coming off the bench at hooker late in the game.

For a change to be made Wayne's going to have to admit he was wrong though and I doubt he has the capacity to do that at this stage.

 

[The True King]

Yeah because he's willing to sign them on either huge money, long term deals, or both. His method actually could be the best way to go about it in these days where mercenaries reign, but IDK if I would feel comfortable signing ANYONE for ten years at over a million a season... maybe Smith, Locky, or Johns at 21 would be the exceptions.

They are exceptions because they managed to avoid serious long term injuries and turned out to be greats of the game. Unfortunately hindsight isn't something you get to use when making these decisions, I think if you're signing players to long term contracts there's always going to be an element of risk.

You're right in that huge money and long term deals is maybe what is required to hold the best players. Personally I'd have no issue with offering that kind of deal to Ponga, Taumalolo, Trbojevic, Crichton, or Cleary (probably others too).

 

[Battler]

The problem isn't the whole squad. If we had a decent 7 we would have won last night.

Our bench forwards are dreadful. We actually have one of the best, in terms of form at least, starting prop combos in the comp (who we will probably lose next year lol). Next week compare Lodge and TPJ's runs vs Sims Offa and Thaiday.

 

[Aldo]

I think we are really missing Blair. He might not have punched out the stats but what he brought to the team was immeasurable. His leadership and off the ball pressure alone were tremendous. Just did the dirty work. No one is even coming close to what he brought in those areas.

 

[Accept]

Also, to be fair, there were some positive signs last night on some fronts. There was a definite lift in attitude and intensity, no where near perfect, but better than it has been. Excecution was down on a number of fronts. If we can get the attitude and intensity continuing to lift, along with better execution and choice making at key moments and we will be getting closer to playing at some where near our potential.

Re the comment about our squad, I disagree. That squad has largely shown itself able to make a grand final and finish high in the 8. There is no reason why they shouldn't be doing the same this year.

Realistically, if we came in with the same desire, intenstity and attitude that we did in the Cowboys game and with limited mistakes, we beat the Titans and Newcastle. The question is, is it just a rut/attitude, lack of confidence/belief or something deeper going on. If the former, that can all be changed fairly quickly.

The attitude is fine, confidence is as high as it possibly could be considering the circumstances. The talent level just isn't there despite your claims of this exact squad making grand finals and GFQs. This team is noticably different from those ones. The sooner that fans realize this, the less anguish they will suffer through this year. This notion of "this team is good enough to make the top 4" may have applied to past teams but it certainly isn't relevant concerning the current situation. The results so far this season already prove that.

 

[Wolfie]

Do you know that for sure ? Even joe wasn't sure why and were he was going to play .

I'm more than fairly confident thats where we have got him in to play just from a few things i got told.

Playing him in the halves makes no sense when Bennett has said on more than one occasion Milf is our five eighth and the only half position Bird can play is five eighth and Milf is going nowhere. He can play fullback, but we just gave Boyd a 4 year deal i think it was so it also makes no sense we signed him to play there. I still just cant see us paying a center 750k a year, and especially when you think he wont be seeing that much of the ball how we play it just doesnt fit to me.

Lock is the only position that makes sense. He says he wants to get his hands on the ball more, he says he feels he is a lock and its best position. Its logical to me thats where he will end up. He is only where he is now due to him being underdone.

 

[Dee]

I've thought about the last 2 weeks and this is my view on it.

The problem isn't the halves, yes neither Niko or Milf have a very good kicking game or game management skills, we've known that since 2015 but we've still been a top 4-6 team. The problems aren't the forwards. The problem isn't Boyd, Wayne or the coaching staff. The problem is the ENTIRE TEAMS mentality, focus and attitude. For whatever reason, the entire teams attitude from 1 to 17 isn't up to NRL standard at the moment. Giving away penalties, making an error then giving away a penalty, getting frustrated and niggling with opposition players, throwing their hands up at the referee complaining etc. This is all an attitude thing. We have extremely low confidence at this time for whatever reason and the team doesn't believe in themselves, the game plan, then executing plays, defending tries etc. We are extremely flat, slow to play the ball and just slow in general. Executing set plays is predictable, our attack is easy to defend against. Our forwards aren't running with pace or venom, no intensity and just slow runs, getting driven back etc. Too many handling errors.

This ALL comes down to lacking confidence and having a defeatist and weak attitude. So far this season, the only time we've played to our potential and like the Broncos is round 2 after everyone and the media absolutely bagged us unmercifully. We came out and played REALLY well, our defense could of been better but our forwards were damaging, our halves were confidently running the ball and executing great plays and overall the team's energy, attitude and confidence was ON. Since then, it's been downhill. Do we need to get bagged every week for us to play well?

It's all attitude. We've seen what we can do in that game in round 2. I honestly believe we have a solid team who can do anything in this competition if they simply believe in themselves, switch on a positive winning attitude and do their absolute best every week. Are the team doing their best every week? You can honestly say they aren't. Look at them.

It's sad at the moment and I don't know what this season holds, but we have to also be realistic. We play the Warriors next week and then it's the Storm isn't it? I'm telling you now, we won't beat both those teams and we will go to 2-5 for the year. We have to be realistic. We can improve each week but we have to ride this out and hopefully after a few more losses, something clicks with the boys and we wake the **** up and realise, we are the fucking Broncos. Everyone hates us, everyone loves to bag us so let's use that for fuel and turn our fucking season around.

Just my take on things.

 

[Super Freak]

I don't want Bird at lock but I am hoping he takes the lock spot sooner rather than later because I am getting sick of McGuire.

A few times when we offloaded the ball last night, McGuire receives it and just takes a hit up. The point of an offload is to keep the ball alive, get some second phase play going. But McGuire just instead takes a hit up.. I really don't think there is anything there between the ears with him.

In one of those moments, we had a massive overlap on the left. But nope, takes a hit up and kills any chance we had.

 

[Cult]

Rep players or not, this squad isn't very good. There was a reason most experts picked them to finish out of the 8, it's because it is a roster which contains nothing special in it. Mix in a few players past their prime (Gillo, Glenn, Boyd, Thaiday) with a mixture of inexperience (Isaako, Lodge, TPJ) along with guys who are simply not up to the level required (Niko, Sims, Offa) along with players who are established and still have their best ahead of them (Milf, Moose, Bird, Jet). Does this look like a top 4 side to you? Of course it doesn't. This roster was always going to struggle and will have to fight tooth and nail to even feature in any post season action in 2018.

That's not the reason they said we will finish out of the 8 and you know it. The same experts have said the same thing since 1988.

 

[Accept]

That's not the reason they said we will finish out of the 8 and you know it. The same experts have said the same thing since 1988.

Disagree. They were almost unanimously tipped to win the comp in '16. As they were in '92 '93 '94 '98 '99 '07 etc. The experts rubbished our chances this year based on the strength (or weaknesses) of the 29 man roster. That doesn't mean they won't make the playoffs as journos aren't fortune tellers. But they have probably got it right this year as this team will really struggle to play .500 footy which would likely get them into 8th.

 

[Kyall]

We need to drop Sims or Thiaday for Haas or Tagataese a real big man is needed on the bench.

 

[Stix]

We need to drop Sims or Thiaday for Haas or Tagataese a real big man is needed on the bench.

Bird to lock, Moose to starting prop and **** Sims off for Haas. Have TPJ and Haas off the bench for some real impact. Keep Thaiday on the bench for experience and shits and giggles.

 

[Battler]

I don't want Bird at lock but I am hoping he takes the lock spot sooner rather than later because I am getting sick of McGuire.

A few times when we offloaded the ball last night, McGuire receives it and just takes a hit up. The point of an offload is to keep the ball alive, get some second phase play going. But McGuire just instead takes a hit up.. I really don't think there is anything there between the ears with him.

In one of those moments, we had a massive overlap on the left. But nope, takes a hit up and kills any chance we had.

How long is McGuire on contract for? I will meltdown if we re-sign him and lose Lodge/ TPJ, especially with Bird (seemingly) able to play lock as well as Carrigan and Haas coming through as middle forwards.

EDIT: I have no idea why McGuire can’t pass or offload at lock when he has covered Hooker in the past... maybe it’s a coaching directive, but he is seriously horrid for our attack.

He’s signed until the end of 2021. Great, fantastic, wonderful.