POST GAME World Club Challenge - Wigan vs Brisbane

[Mister Wright]

Would Wigan's first try have been given in the NRL? Looked like dropped ball to me.

 

[Harry Sack]

I don't think they mentioned it. They ended the broadcast pretty quickly..

They mentioned it at the end of the 80 when the players were getting ready for Golden Point. Was one of the Wigan players but I can't remember who.

Old mate at the end with the charge down on a penalty conversion lol. Solid effort

I only caught the second half but Glenn was great.

 

[noisetheory]

I love the commentators saying that Kahu needs to take a good hard look at himself after he was taken out.

hahahah was good entertainment, but were they serious? the bloke clearly dropped the shoulder into him. seemed pretty clear cut to me haha

 

[Old Mate]

All those saying Milford should be 1. Who would our 6 be and would they be a better 6 than kahu/hodges is at 1.
What about Milford's performanc tonight was bad enough to warrant moving him?
His kicking game was average but he had 2 good grubbers.
His running game and short passing to Glenn was great and really ran them off their feet in the second half. He did tonight what we were all hoping Barba would do last season by sniffing around the ruck.

On a side note J Offa is trying to prove Bennett wrong and IMO is on the cusp of a bench spot over Gavet.

Everyone seems to be shooting wads off because Milford took a few offloads, he is a fullback.

 

[noisetheory]

Would Wigan's first try have been given in the NRL? Looked like dropped ball to me.

forgot about that. he definitely dropped it, imo. knew they were going to give it though.

 

[noisetheory]

milf is definitely our 6 imo

people should be excited that milford has already made more breaks in a broncs jersey than barba did.

 

[Cult]

2 great moments from Milford in quick succession. One, backing up an offload, one fielding a kick. Fullback stuff right there, not half

Plays average at five-eight in mud, must be a fullback! Plays well at five-eight in mud, must be a fullback? See why some people think you're ridiculous? It doesn't matter what he does, you'll still find a way to try to be right.

Gavet and ofen looking decent

Another one. You said Blair wasn't playing well and that James "Walking Hitup" Gavet is looking decent. Were you even watching?

Glenn better be playing well. He's playing for his Broncos contract.

He's leading Thaiday 1-0 so far.

Bomb and hope. Our kicking game in a nutshell

If only Hunt picked up a good bicycle kick from that soccer player he met. Seriously what else can they do with all the pressure they have on them?

And expect every excuse in the book to come out from the usual suspects if "worst signing in the history of the NRL who has never played prop in his life" Blair plays like he has for the last 3+ years. Some people will never hear a bad word said about Bennett.

Hey! Look who it is!

 

[Unbreakable]

Notable bright spots ~

Glenn - MotM, ran great lines and was huge in defense, made plenty of tackle busts and line breaks, best player on the field.
McGuire - Typical McG game, work horse, great in defense.
Milford - Was awesome in the 2nd half, set up a couple of line breaks and also had some nice defensive plays towards the end which weren't acknowledged.
Kahu - Got absolutely smashed every time he ran the ball, but never backed down, continued giving his all every run, was safe all night, will get better with each game.
Maranta - Very solid as usual, maybe could've scored 1 more try, but it was a poor pass, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Hodges - When he got involved, we made metres or scored, enough said.. Needs to get involved more often.
Ofahengaue - Some really strong runs, best player off the bench.

Notable dim spots ~

Hunt - Was pretty average to be honest, won't read too much into it due to being his first game and the conditions.
Whitchurch - Just wasn't his game, way too many handling errors, also bombed a try to Maranta with a crappy pass over his shoulder
Vidot - Pillow with legs
Dodds - Pillow with a beard

 

[Harry Sack]

haha. the commentary bias doesnt worry me. it was a good laugh at times. when broncos were being awarded a soft penalty and hte commentator was like "Ohhhhhh nooooooooooo". hilarious

Haha, I was pissing my self. Love a bit of bias in commentary personally.

One of them has his head on straight and seems to have a running battle with the other 2. They'll be pissing and moaning about something like the above, meanwhile he's just like "Yep, fair decision"

 

[FaceOfMutiny]

Sky sports in the UK switched straight to a replay of a Manchester United game. I think golden point pushed them over their slot.

 

[FaceOfMutiny]

A Wigan player got motm? Wtf? Wigan laid all over the ruck all night and lost and still had their player get motm?

 

[Brett]

My thoughts - This could be long winded...

Kahu: Solid for the whole game. Took the line on hard with his kick returns and took at least one difficult bomb. I cringed at the end when he was clutching at his right leg, but it looks like he's okay.

Vidot: Fairly quiet, but was solid, too. Quality hit ups as we've come to expect from Daniel and looks to be playing quite a few kilos lighter and looks better for it.

Witchurch: Handling errors galore, but was decent in defence. I thought he blew a try too when he passed to early and too high to Maranta - should have dummied and gone himself maybe. Overall he needs to work on his game a lot if he's gonna play first grade.

Hodges: Good game apart from letting Burgess get on his outside and palm him off towards the end of the game there. His try saver, held up that he pulled off in the first half showed not only great physical strength, but also a real willingness to win. Great to see.

Maranta: Had a solid game. Took a few good bombs, made good meters from hit ups when the forwards were still getting back on side and scored a good try. Seems to be slimmer still than last season and looks agile. I wouldn't be mad if he got a Wing spot this year.

Milford: Great game. First half he was just going through the motions and feeding his outside men (Glenn in particular, whom I'll come to later). Passing game is improving, kicking game needs a lot of work, but I thought towards the end of the second half he really came alive. Sniffing around the ruck for those offloads and using his speed and agility well. Good signs.

Hunt: Steady game for Benny. I thought towards the end of the game he controlled the game well. Kicked for the corners and kept pressure on Wigan. Hard game for a Half to be dominant in, but he was solid overall.

McGuire: Thank god we re-signed him! Absolute beast of a man and I thought he was our best on field. Always taking the hard yards up the middle, plenty of mongrel in him and he still has that big gas tank.

McCullough: Bit rough in patches - I remember one bad pass to Glenn near the end of the game which Glenn dropped as it was behind him and over his head. Couple of good kicks for the corners and was solid in defence.

Blair: Great game from Blair. Looked interested and worked hard, couple good offloads and adds some starch to the middle with McGuire.

Glenn: Second best on field for mine. Ran great lines off Milford, made a few clean line breaks too. Looks to be a few kilos lighter and looks fast and agile. Really excited to see him used properly this season.

Thaiday: Decent game for Slammin' Sam. Used properly as a wide running Backrower off Hunt, he played quite well. Could still drop a few kilos for mine and you can tell that he's used to playing in the middle because there were a few times where Hunt had created a hole for Sam, but Sam was lagging back a bit and wasn't running the line he needs to be running. That will come with more games though I believe.

Parker: Good game from Corey. Can't believe he's still our kicker, but anyway... He was marked well all night, but looks right at home back in his number 13 jersey.

Dodds: Played well. Hit hard in defence and did some good work. Still looks under done fitness wise, but it's to be expected after being out for so long. Looks hungry though.

Gavet: Reasonably impressed with Gavet. He ran hard and threw himself into tackles. Looks a big lad too. Should provide good impact for us off the bench this year.

Ofahengaue: Looked good without being a stand-out. Didn't really get a good chance to show much, but didn't let anyone down.

K. Nikorima: Filled in pretty well at Dummy Half. Needs to back himself a bit more, but he's still young and trying to fit in with the team. Probably won't play too much first grade this year.

Overall I was reasonably happy with this game being the first hit-out of the year in those woeful conditions. I think given some time, the Milford/Glenn + Hunt/Thaiday combinations will be very good for us. Not sure where that leaves Gillett, but I'd bring him off the bench. I thought our defence was light years better than last year. Guys like Blair and McGuire have brought a new aggression to the team.

Few changes are easily made for round 1, but it's gonna be really interesting to see what team Bennett goes with. I'd go with...

1. Kahu
2. Vidot
3. Copley
4. Hodges
5. Maranta
6. Milford
7. Hunt

8. McGuire
9. McCullough
10. Blair
11. Glenn
12. Thaiday
13. Parker

14. Gillett
15. Oates
16. Gavet
17. Garbutt

That's leaving out players like Jack Reed, Kodi Nikorima, Greg Eden (whom I thought has been awesome in the 9s and trails), Mitchel Dodds... I'm probably forgetting some too. We should have a strong entire first grade squad this year.

TL;DR - Happy with the way we went. Bennett has some hard team choices to make. Excited for the season.

 

[coreyh88]

MotM went to Bateman I think his name was number 15. Didn't see him do anything of note myself might have been good defensively. No way anyone on their team deserved it though.

 

[Mister Wright]

MotM went to Bateman I think his name was number 15. Didn't see him do anything of note myself might have been good defensively. No way anyone on their team deserved it though.

He's the bloke that ran into Kahu.

 

[Big Pete]

Good performance from the Broncos, they certainly surpassed my expectations.

Going in, I thought they'd really struggle with the conditions and combinations but I was really impressed with their commitment to one another. It was a real team performance out there and everyone did their jobs.

Still plenty of room for improvement, I wasn't too happy with a couple of errors late but I'm happy with all the positives that came out of that game.

By the same token, was disappointed with the Warriors. They've been scratchy so far in 2015 and I thought it was just a case of thinking ahead. Unfortunately for them, I thought they dished up their worst performance of the season and played right into the Broncos hands. Those early mistakes from Gelling and Burgess just set the tone for them and while their defence was still strong, they were far too guilty of making poor errors playing against the conditions. Still, it was just like them to score that run-away try to Joe Burgess - he had a shocker but that's how dangerous he can be when he puts it altogether. That try really woke me up and had me pacing back and forth.

Still, glad the Broncos won because they deserved to and hopefully they play with that type of commitment for the rest of the season.

3. Josh McGuire
2. Alex Glenn
1. Justin Hodges

Special shout-out to the fresh faces who didn't look out of place.

 

[GCBRONCO]

He's the bloke that ran into Kahu.

No wonder they gave it too him, out of sympathy.

 

[Unbiased Nostalgia]

As I said in the game thread, was pissed off with Maranta for running behind his team mate, giving away the penalty on the 70th minute. We had a full set on their line and could could've closed the game out than and there with a field goal and avoid golden point.

 

[mieko]

Great go of it for their first real hit out. Thought they all played well with Glenn really stepping up and the defense was spot on. My only worry is the 5th tackle options with Hunts kicking. Just throwing up bombs and hoping for the best and landing them in no mans land isn't good. I think he needs to take it to the line more then quick asses the situation and grubber, chip or whatever the situation dictates. Wigan just stood back and waited for him to bomb, they worked that out quickly.

apart from that, great game and looking good for the year.

as for that charge down, one of the funniest things in league for a long time, shit you can't even do that in Union.