What is the strongest team the Broncos can field in 2014 and 2015?

[bazza]

Woah, that's a big jump to assume I wouldn't touch a combination if there were better options, especially re Milford, who would always find his way in my first choice squad.

Now returning to Hoffman, I'm definitely not convinced he's a better centre than Copley, whom I saw playing and shining in his preferred left centre position. Even returning from injury, I have enough faith in Dale to do his job at centre, and allow the best winger we have to stay where he is best suited.
We shouldn't underestimate Hoffman's ability in the air as well, essential in a winger both in defense and attack. Besides, let's be honest... unless Yow Yeh returns to his best and/or Mills surprises everyone, Vidot and Hoffman are the only players capable of giving us a real edge on the wing.

Pairing Hoffman with Reed is an advantage because they have formed a combination, but as has been said, Copley was an excellent left centre and Reed does very well on the right, so I wouldn't have an issue swapping the centres in my team.

IMO, you are too focussed on getting more explosiveness in the centres, and seem to underestimate the importance of a good winger, both in attack and defense, and we don't have enough of those to take Hoffman out of the edge. You really only have to look at our last season...

Another few good points champ,

I can understand what you've said. I myself am pretty certain Hoffman will be playing wing. I just wanted him to given more room in attack to work with, given he is among our most dangerous backs. I still maintain that Kahu, with more game time, could really improve and become a good winger.

Again with Copley, I maintain my concerns as I've mentioned above, and would prefer he be ready on his own terms after a bit of QCup - just to get some games under his belt in order to obtain adequate match fitness, confidence and form. Being thrown into the centre position after not playing for over a year is an extremely tough ask for a player that lacks experience due to unfortunate injuries. Same goes for Yow Yeh.

One reason I was endorsing a move for Hoffman to the centres, was because we lost Hodges. I think bringing him closer to the action would of worked wonders for out attack. An explosive centres is something we no longer have when Hodges is out. No disrespect to Reed, but when Hodges is injured, we don't have that x factor quality. As a result our attack suffers because there's no longer variety. Having two different type of centres is extremely important, which is why Hodges/Reed work well. But when Hodges is injured, we now lack what he offers, and I think Hoffman may replicate that, albeit slightly differently. More often than not, a successful winger needs a quality centre on his inside, mainly because a centre does most of the damage in attack, creating the opportunity for his winger who supports him and finishes off the attacking movement.

I also understand Hoffman is incredibly safe in the air, in attack and defence, but If Hoffman does play wing, I wouldn't mind Hoffman switching with his centre every so often throughout a game. That would add a different dimension to the attack and offers a certain sense of attacking unpredictability, something the opposition may struggle to adapt to, let alone shut down. I also wouldn't mind him being allowed to roam around in attack, trying to get involved as much as possible. He and Barba could redevelop their childhood combinations, making our attack harder to defend.

 

[Rhys van Beurden]

When Hodges returns, and assuming Yow Yeh is still further off, would you rather Vidot or Copley or Kahu or Mills or someone else outside him? I would lean towards Vidot personally, but just curious on other people's thoughts.

 

[Alec]

When Hodges returns, and assuming Yow Yeh is still further off, would you rather Vidot or Copley or Kahu or Mills or someone else outside him? I would lean towards Vidot personally, but just curious on other people's thoughts.

Whoever is playing the best.

 

[Painin the Haas]

What about Oates? he's got be in the team somewhere, he's played wing and played centre twice in nrl and a lot in u20's would be surprised if he wasn't given first crack

 

[bazza]

The video below shows what I mean by our attack benefiting when Hoffman is given more room to work with. This is our first game of the season. Hoffman stands in the centre position and when given quick, clean, early ball, he is able to use his speed and elusiveness to beat his opponent and starts off the attacking movement. He started our attack, which put the opposition defence on the back foot, scrambling to get back in position. With the opposition defence all compressed, all we had to do was spread the ball and we scored later on in the set. He has also done that in a lot of the other games, leading directly to a try or otherwise resulting in us being in good field position to set up an attacking play later on in the set.

Many times throughout last season, our attack didn't really trouble anyone, and was easy to defend against. But this season if Hoffman is able to get quality ball through Hunt and Barba we'll be a lot dangerous in attack and capable of scoring more tries. He is a player that can spark things if properly utilised.

He is one of our most dangerous players that looks most likely whenever he touches the ball. We need to get him more involved. Put simply, he is isn't involved enough from the wing in my opinion. He has good acceleration, speed and footwork and if we want a sharper looking attacking game, he should be transformed into a full time centre rather than a winger. We cant just rely on Hodges to lead our attack. We need more options and variations in attack, and if there's multiple attacking threats capable to cause the opposition trouble, it will make our attack harder to defend against. It takes the pressure off Barba, and allows him to play without the added pressure of being the only one able to spark something.

I think Hoffman could become a great centre just like the way Gagai has become one. Gagai too could play everywhere in the back line. He too wanted to be a fullback/five-eighth but was shifted to the wing, and now Bennett has made him into a classy centre. The Knights attack looks a lot better since his been centre, and I think that could be the same with us.

 

[coreyh88]

Okay so really it's down to
Centre: copely
Wing: hoffman

Or
Centre: hoffman
Wing: copely
Hoffman is one of the best wingers in the comp. He does things no one else can there and can work well with little space. Having such a threat out wide takes pressure off those inside him. Eg the opponents knew they didn't need to cover maranta. Hoffmans skill set perfectly suit the wing yes he could develop into a good centre and has the running game but he doesn't know how to draw and pass.

Copley alternatively only just started looking competent as a winger although by all accounts is a very talented centre.
I think you massively under appreciate the importance of good wingers. Something that most of us did until last season where we had the two extremes of maranta and hoffman. Our attack looked quite good last season (a big improvement on 2013) it was just a lack of fullback and injuries that brought us down especially once we got hunt in. It was unfortunate that our attack with forwards was non-existent but hopefully we have that as well next season (as well as better defence)

I'd love oates to have a spot but as it is hooks make or break year he will only be starting if there are a ton of injuries. He isn't a better back than the actual backs (hunt and reed made him look veery good and any competent back would have excelled) and he will have to displace glenn to get decent minutes in second row.

 

[Canga]

I had to LOL to myself watching that clip at Hodges not really wanting to pass the ball to Maranta

 

[Cult]

I had to LOL to myself watching that clip at Hodges not really wanting to pass the ball to Maranta

I remember seeing hodges looking really annoyed every time maranta would mess up a try haha. Fair enough too!

 

[Painin the Haas]

I remember seeing hodges looking really annoyed every time maranta would mess up a try haha. Fair enough too!

Yeah watch that ben hunt video on youtube, against the knights whole team went like 40 metres looked really good and hodges got maranta on the outside of boyd and got tackled in the corner and hodges just stopped, rolled his eyes and walked away

 

[Hoffdog]

This would personally be my team to start the year after reading all your guys points and opinions.

1. Barba
2. Oates
3. Reed
4. Hoffman
5. Vidot
6. Kahu
7. Hunt
8. Hannant
9. McCullough
10. Mcguire
11. Gillett
12. Thaiday
13. Parker

14. Granville/Stagg
15. Kennedy
16. Glenn
17. Hala

 

[Painin the Haas]

Surprising Lowrie never gets picked in the team. He is high class and can play anywhere in the forwards, good offload, engine similiar to Parker and has a very efficent tackling technique which my god we need. MY team is,

1.Barba
2.hoffman
3.Reed
4.Oates
5.vidot
6.Strasser
7.Hunt
8.Hannant
9.Macca
10.Mcguire
11.Gillett
12.Thaiday
13.Parker

14.Cullen/stagg
15.Glenn
16.Kennedy
17.Lowrie

Oates is big enough and classy enough to play centre in the NRL and he gets his hands on the ball more which is exciting
Vidot is a classy finisher, hard pick between him and copley but i was thinking who is more ready to play from the get go
Strasser just looks like a true playmaker
The Gillett and Glenn choice was a hard one but Gillett warrants a start and Glenn did not play as well as 2011/2012, but must be in the team none the less
Kennedy on bench to come on and spark up the middle
Lowrie for his defence, would come on play bit of front row but also slide into the backrow if need be. He has to be in the team
Cullen controversial I know but i rate him very highly he is a great hooker/halfback and im not convinced on granville. But if Macca can go 80 minutes then stagg with Glenn as cover for hooker (he has played hooker for us in the NRL several times) if we need it

 

[Morkel]

Surprising Lowrie never gets picked in the team. He is high class and can play anywhere in the forwards, good offload, engine similiar to Parker and has a very efficent tackling technique which my god we need. MY team is,

1.Barba
2.hoffman
3.Reed
4.Oates
5.vidot
6.Strasser
7.Hunt
8.Hannant
9.Macca
10.Mcguire
11.Gillett
12.Thaiday
13.Parker

14.Cullen/stagg
15.Glenn
16.Kennedy
17.Lowrie

Oates is big enough and classy enough to play centre in the NRL and he gets his hands on the ball more which is exciting
Vidot is a classy finisher, hard pick between him and copley but i was thinking who is more ready to play from the get go
Strasser just looks like a true playmaker
The Gillett and Glenn choice was a hard one but Gillett warrants a start and Glenn did not play as well as 2011/2012, but must be in the team none the less
Kennedy on bench to come on and spark up the middle
Lowrie for his defence, would come on play bit of front row but also slide into the backrow if need be. He has to be in the team
Cullen controversial I know but i rate him very highly he is a great hooker/halfback and im not convinced on granville. But if Macca can go 80 minutes then stagg with Glenn as cover for hooker (he has played hooker for us in the NRL several times) if we need it

You've only got 1 prop on the bench, and even though they can all play big minutes, it means Thaiday would have to spend time in the middle. And you're stuffed if there's an injury.

 

[Painin the Haas]

You've only got 1 prop on the bench, and even though they can all play big minutes, it means Thaiday would have to spend time in the middle. And you're stuffed if there's an injury.

I have gone for Lowrie as the 2nd Prop, he played that role for the storm at times, hes like gallen, a better Lock but can play front row easily and also gives us more versitility. On our bench last year we carried Lui who would only play 10 minutes max or we used stagg we dont need a fourth specialist Prop

 

[Morkel]

I have gone for Lowrie as the 2nd Prop, he played that role for the storm at times, hes like gallen, a better Lock but can play front row easily and also gives us more versitility. On our bench last year we carried Lui who would only play 10 minutes max or we used stagg we dont need a fourth specialist Prop

I'm not convinced but your reasoning is sound. Except he's a little small for a prop. 96kgs.

 

[Alec]

Dunno where to post this, but I was just thinking about how we are going to use Barba, and I hope it's not just as a ball playing fullback. He's got pretty solid passing skills, but what I'm most excited about would be his support play. Parker and Gillett's offloads and Thaiday's (or Thaiday to Hodges and then) inside passes just begs for a good support player, and we've just ignored that aspect of the game for all of last year.

 

[Morkel]

Dunno where to post this, but I was just thinking about how we are going to use Barba, and I hope it's not just as a ball playing fullback. He's got pretty solid passing skills, but what I'm most excited about would be his support play. Parker and Gillett's offloads and Thaiday's (or Thaiday to Hodges and then) inside passes just begs for a good support player, and we've just ignored that aspect of the game for all of last year.

I agree. Norman is useless for support play because he's not fast in either speed or acceleration. Hoffman is better but just didn't - whether due to poor coaching or whatever.

 

[Painin the Haas]

I can understand why your not convinced however I dare say he would make more of a dint in the defence line than stagg and lui did for us last year and like I said he has done it at the storm, neville costigan did it for the dragons in their 2009 grand final team.

Most crucial reason is he doesnt miss tackles which we so need up the middle going late into the game where we were struggling to contain the oppostion last year

 

[Cult]

I can understand why your not convinced however I dare say he would make more of a dint in the defence line than stagg and lui did for us last year and like I said he has done it at the storm, neville costigan did it for the dragons in their 2009 grand final team.

Most crucial reason is he doesnt miss tackles which we so need up the middle going late into the game where we were struggling to contain the oppostion last year

Correct me if I'm wrong but did you just imply that David Stagg is a bad defender?