Your 2013 team.

[Ari Gold]

Christ, Johnson finished the year in reserve grade for goodness sake. He is not the saviour.

From the person who thinks Josh Hoffman is, and I quote, "a great player".

 

[rnabokov]

Christ, Johnson finished the year in reserve grade for goodness sake. He is not the saviour.

I think Alec has a good point. The outstanding things I have seen Johnson do ... well, reminds me a bit of .... nope, no one in the Broncos since Locky and Alfie were in their best years. Been a while, hey.

A bit of discipline and good coaching and you have what we haven't - a WOW factor. I can just imagine Gillett or Glenn supporting Johnson on the fringes, and with Hodges also there in support .... Oh well, one can only dream ...

 

[Old Mate]

I think Hook needs to realize that Lockyer is no longer here and adapt his style accordingly. IMO, every player this year lost form because Locky wasn't there to create the opportunities consistently. Gillett is a good example. He played like an un-guided missile. What a waste.

I think Parker's days in the back row are over. Time for him to go up front which really does reflect the way he now plays. He should replace Petero as the senior prop.

Hunt should leave. He has shown nothing this year to justify his inclusion in the side. As I posted elsewhere, Norman has either an ego to big to be a team player, and/or he is just not very bright. He has talent, but a smart body and a dumb brain make for a total waste of space. Hopefully, the off season will see him change. Miracles can happen.

If Shaun Johnson is on the market, we should snap him up ASAP. Johnson and Wallace I think would make a very good halves combo.

1. Norman
2. Yow Yeh
3. Hodges
4. Reed
5. Copley
6. Wallace
7. Johnson (Oh if only....)
8. Parker
9. Macca
10. Hannant
11. Thaiday
12. Glenn
13. Gillett

14. McGuire
15. Dodds
16. Gibb
17. Whitchurch

I'd rather play Thaiday at lock and give Gillett the right hand side of te field.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Hoffman was looking like he could become a very good player for us but once again he has been struck down by injury. I think his confidence took a fair beating this year. It will be interesting to see if he can regain the confidence and form next year. I still believe we played our best footy with Beale at fullback but that ship has sailed and we had Lockyer back then as well.

 

[m1c]

Hoffman needs to learn to take a beating. Whether it was due to injury, I'm not sure. However teams realised they could neutralise him with a bit of roughing up.

 

[m1c]

From the person who thinks Josh Hoffman is, and I quote, "a great player".

Johnson, whilst undoubtedly talented, is years from his best. He has plenty of development left just like Norman, Hunt and Hoffman. In fact - he's even less experienced than all of those fella's.

He's not one for fickle fans who can't see the bigger picture. You want instant results - he won't provide them.

 

[Ari Gold]

I really do think Hoffman was playing injured. Maybe he can play tougher, but even when fully fit last year, he was never really called on to do much inside the redzone and has never really looked to be able very much.

Maybe will more time he'll get better, but so long as Norman and Wallace are our halves, I think the team is going to need him to provide more than he's capable of producing. As long as we look to him to be safe at the back and start our sets with good kick-returns he will look like a great player, but if we ask him to become a focal point in attack I think he really starts to suffer. The issue is as much with our halves as it is with Hoffman, but he's by no means a complete fullback.

As for Shaun Johnson, he led a Warriors team to a grand final in his rookie year and continues to produce great attacking plays in the attacking zone. Yes, he has his faults, his defence is poor and I think his kicking game leaves a fair bit to be desired, but the truth is he's a game breaker, and Brisbane does not have one. Still, I don't really see such a transfer happening as surely the Warriors aren't so stupid as to let him go, but still, he'd be a great asset to any team, but particularly one like ours who struggles so badly to break teams open in attack.

 

[Old Mate]

Johnson, whilst undoubtedly talented, is years from his best. He has plenty of development left just like Norman, Hunt and Hoffman. In fact - he's even less experienced than all of those fella's.

He's not one for fickle fans who can't see the bigger picture. You want instant results - he won't provide them.

He provided instant results for the warriors, he's just suffering second year syndrome/shit coach syndrome.

 

[Ari Gold]

Johnson, whilst undoubtedly talented, is years from his best. He has plenty of development left just like Norman, Hunt and Hoffman. In fact - he's even less experienced than all of those fella's.

He's not one for fickle fans who can't see the bigger picture. You want instant results - he won't provide them.

He'd improve our team a great deal IMO. Wallace is a good organiser but he can take a fair bit of time to do anything. He's not really the type of player who creates space for others and neither is Norman or Hoffman. Shaun Johnson in our team would have a great impact in that he would cast genuine doubt in the minds of the opposition and that helps create more room for players like Hoffman and Gillett and Hodges out wide. Yes, he has a lot of development still to do, but I'd argue his presence in the team would fasten the development of players like Hoffman simply by creating more room for them to execute the things they need to do. Something our current halves combination does not do.

 

[rnabokov]

Neither Wallace, Norman, or Hunt on form to date aren't within cooee of Johnson (or DCE or Reynolds, or any other half with aggression and ooomph) in terms of sizing up an opportunity and accelerating like a scalded cat at a gap.

They amble, bumble and take an age to see an opportunity, and when they do, they are so slow to take it, the support (which is too flat anyway) usually over-run the pass.

Yes - there were exceptions, and yes, we scored some good tries from good work by our halves, but they were not the rule, and too few, and without any consistency.

Our halves lack bite. I mean, can anyone honestly compare the attack of our halves to the other top half combos? Wallace, well, with a good fast aggressive partner, he can be useful and on his day his thinking can make up for his slowness, but as it stands, I just can't believe that we would even think of going into next season with the same halves roster and expect anything different to this year.

They just don't have "it". Period.

As for Hoffman, unless he gets some starch into him, he's gonna be smashed into submission exactly like this year.

 

[The Brizz]

Shaun Johnson is instinctive and creative Wallace and Norman are reactive and predictable. Either Wallace or Norman would suit having Johnson next to them as they wouldn't have to come up with plays they simply aren't capable of.

 

[Big Pete]

1. Josh Hoffman
2. Lachlan Maranta
3. Dale Copley
4. Justin Hodges
5. Jharal Yow Yeh
6. Peter Wallace
7. Ben Hunt
8. Ben Hannant
9. Andrew McCullough
10. Josh McGuire
11. Alex Glenn
12. Sam Thaiday (c)
13. Corey Parker

14. Kurt Baptiste
15. Matt Gillett
16. Dave Hala
17. Aaron Whitchurch

Hoffman at fullback because at full strength I believe he's our best long term option. Norman could be an alternative but would rather he focus on playing halves and would make him do that in QCup. Maranta & I spose Kahu would be my alternative.

Copley in centres because I legitimately think he's a better attacking player. Just hope he's worked on his d.

Hunt in halves because he showed more promise than Norman did in less game time & actually has a track record in juniors of being good, unlike Norman.

Pack is what you expect.

Bench would provide the most impact. Baptiste is a gun out of dummy half, Hala could be Moi Moi v2 & Whitchurch is shaping as a strong fringe runner and is the closest player we have to Te'o.

Rest of our squad would look like...

Jack Reed
Corey Norman
Scott Anderson
Mitchell Dodds
Dunamis Lui
Luke Capewell
Nick Slyney
Brendon Gibb
Jarrod Wallace
Mitchell Frei
Jordan Kahu
Matt Smith
Matt Berwick - Hopefully he pulls through
Chris Binge
Francis Molo
Corey Oates
Caleb Timu

 

[Old Mate]

Dropping Reed is a big call, yeah he had a shit season but I'd be giving him the benefit of the doubt that his form is relative to Hoff and Norman. He is one of our best at defusing bombs and would be handy on the wing at least if you wanted to have Copley play centre.

Fullback...

Well I'd really like to give the Hoff a chance at least for a few weeks if we changed the halves to Hunt and Wal but Hoff is still pretty limited with what he can offer in attack, a true one dimensional player. We might be better off trailing some one else.

Copley
Reed
Yow Yeh
Kahu
Maranta

Can't think of anyone else just at the moment?

 

[Old Mate]

Yeah so other than a couple of things I dig that side Pete.

 

[Broncs1459]

1. Josh Hoffman
2. Lachlan Maranta
3. Dale Copley
4. Justin Hodges
5. Jharal Yow Yeh
6. Peter Wallace
7. Ben Hunt
8. Ben Hannant
9. Andrew McCullough
10. Josh McGuire
11. Alex Glenn
12. Sam Thaiday (c)
13. Corey Parker

14. Kurt Baptiste
15. Matt Gillett
16. Dave Hala
17. Aaron Whitchurch

Hoffman at fullback because at full strength I believe he's our best long term option. Norman could be an alternative but would rather he focus on playing halves and would make him do that in QCup. Maranta & I spose Kahu would be my alternative.

Copley in centres because I legitimately think he's a better attacking player. Just hope he's worked on his d.

Hunt in halves because he showed more promise than Norman did in less game time & actually has a track record in juniors of being good, unlike Norman.

Pack is what you expect.

Bench would provide the most impact. Baptiste is a gun out of dummy half, Hala could be Moi Moi v2 & Whitchurch is shaping as a strong fringe runner and is the closest player we have to Te'o.

Rest of our squad would look like...

Jack Reed
Corey Norman
Scott Anderson
Mitchell Dodds
Dunamis Lui
Luke Capewell
Nick Slyney
Brendon Gibb
Jarrod Wallace
Mitchell Frei
Jordan Kahu
Matt Smith
Matt Berwick - Hopefully he pulls through
Chris Binge
Francis Molo
Corey Oates
Caleb Timu

Can't really argue with that. I think Jarrod Wallace will be in contention for a bench spot. It all depends on how well Hala comes back from his injury I suppose.

There is usually a player or two that comes out of nowhere in the preseason.

Big Pete, what do you think of Maranta playing fullback? I haven't seen enough of him to form an opinion.

 

[Big Pete]

Definitely a big call to drop Reed and if Copley defence doesn't hold then I wouldn't have a problem with bringing him back. I just don't think Jack runs great lines for a centre nor does he pose that much of a threat with the ball.

Don't think Reed work long term on the wing although it wouldn't be a bad thing to trial.

Broncos 1459 - Maranta very solid at the back, his support through the middle was a highlight in 20s. He reads a game really well which is why he was so handy for us during the Origin season.

Don't think he's a long term option but we could do worse if Hoffy continues to struggle.

 

[Pigskin]

So we are losing Petero, Beale and Teo and have bought nobody ?

We lack flair, speed and creativity.

Should we have another season like 2012, this idea of building all from within needs to be scrapped once and for all. And that includes the coaching and development staff. Everything just seems so stale. Too comfortable, and lacking the edge we have come to expect in search of our next premiership. We are as far away from a premiership as we have ever been.

Karmichael was our rev up man and to my eye has been replaced by nobody. This is an ingredient that is grossly undervalued in my view. He was a great talker.

Alex Glenn is now our best player bar none and needs to be made captain now. Not after another fail season, now !

Hoffman gets caned on this forum. What I don't get is that he was absolutely brilliant for about 10 or 12 weeks at the start of this season and absolutely terrible for the rest. There must be a reason.

Hunt gets plaudits on this forum. Just goes to show how different people see different things. To my eye, this guy is way off NRL standard and should be playing left right out. Not good enough, let him leave or back to QCup.

I tend to agree with some in giving Hodges a season or two at fullback. Will this prolong his career ? Is he still quick enough for a whole season at fullback ? With all the leg injuries, he certainly seems to have slowed to my eye and even in Origin this year, looked as if his days at that level were numbered.

I hope Hala and Yow Yeh can stay fit and successfully come back. We desparately need them both. In Hala I see potential which I do not see in Lui or Dodds.

Maranta on a wing game 1 2013, and leave him there. I assume he is quick. I tend to agree with the above poster dropping Reed altogether. He can be safe-ish, but how many safe players can you have. He provides little in attack and gets shown up by faster or bigger opposites often enough for him to be a liability.

As for Origin, well something has to be done. I don't know what. Look at Gillett. After origin this year, he was just rubbish. But even the experienced players didn't cope with it. Really long holiday away from the club or something, but something needs to be done.

Oink !

 

[rnabokov]

How on earth can you drop Reed based on form, and keep most of the rest? On form, the whole team were all neither here nor there, on and off, average and inconsistent, under the pressure of the business end of the season.

We need leadership, an organizer and a decent, aggressive half. Other than that - which is rather a lot, we did ok first season post-Lockyer