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Round 8 vs. South Sydney Rabbitohs Discussion

Big Pete

Referee
Messages
28,939
NRL 2019 - Round 8
South Sydney Rabbitohs v Brisbane Broncos
ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park (TICKETS)
Thursday 2 May 2019

TL-SOU20.png

1. Alex Johnston
2. Corey Allen
3. Kyle Turner
4. Dane Gagai
5. Campbell Graham
6. Cody Walker
7. Adam Reynolds
8. George Burgess
9. Damien Cook
10. Thomas Burgess
11. John Sutton
12. Sam Burgess
13. Cameron Murray

Interchange
14. Tevita Tatola
15. Mark Nicholls
16. Ethan Lowe
17. Liam Knight

Reserves
18. Jacob Gagan
19. Connor Tracey
20. Dean Britt
21. Mawene Hiroti

TL-BRI19.png

1. Darius Boyd
2. Corey Oates
3. James Roberts
4. Jack Bird
5. Jamayne Isaako
6. Anthony Milford
7. Tom Dearden
8. Matthew Lodge
9. Andrew McCullough
10. Payne Haas
11. Alex Glenn
12. Matt Gillett
13. Tevita Pangai

Interchange
14. Kotoni Staggs
15. David Fifita
16. Thomas Flegler
17. Joe Ofahengaue

Reserves
18. Patty Carrigan
19. Gehamat Shibasaki
20. Jaydn Su'A
21. Sean O'Sullivan​
 

Big Pete

Referee
Messages
28,939
Big occassion.

Greg Inglis' Farewell Game
Darius Boyd's 300th
Tom Dearden's Debut
Seibold vs. Bennett

The general feeling is that the young Broncos won't be able to handle it and Souths will get on with business. Being away from home helps South Sydney's cause as do the previous games from the week before. Brisbane barely ran up a sweat as they exploited the inexperienced right edge of the Sharks, meanwhile Souths had to fight extra hard to resist a red hot Penrith Panthers.

For the Broncos to win, the forwards will have to lay a platform early. They'll have to be extra cautious of Cam Murray and make sure to work him over to prevent Damien Cook from getting into the game. If Cook and Walker combine too often, it'll be game over for the Broncos. Then with the ball, Brisbane need to play direct and look to exploit Souths around the middle of the ruck and down their left-hand side. Bird and Oates will have to have big games for the Broncos to be a chance.
 

Nerd

Bench
Messages
2,825
Well that was a bit brutal. Thought young Dearden went alright on debut. While Darius Boyd is good under the high ball his defence on the line is just pitiful. Both those kicks for the first two tries it looked like he elected not to put his body on the line. On our forwards it looks like they've gone back to grabbing instead of hitting with the shoulders. When someone like Ethan Lowe keeps poking his head through the line you know your defence is suspect. Hopefully our young forwards are learning their trade the hard way and can repay the lessons a few years down the track.
 

DeeJ

Bench
Messages
3,119
Darius is safe under the high ball, however his lack of intensity and willingness to sit on his ass, literally, gets our sets off to a negative start.

I don't know what Seibold was talking about at the start of the season with his game plans. We make good metres, but we just have one man taking the ball up and then a bomb for 90% of the game. No one is running up as a decoy, or in support, or even passing before the line.

I though Dearden looked pretty good for his debut, and highlighted the above issue. He was lively when he ran the ball, and no one went with him. I hope they persist with him.
 

Nerd

Bench
Messages
2,825
While I remember can someone tell Corey Oates if your inside man is about to run you over the side line cut back on the inside.
 

GoTheBroncs

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
2,388
That was truly horrible. I'm not sure if this is the dumbest team in the NRL or if they simply don't care, or both.

So depressing as this is basically our full strength line-up.

TPJ so disappointing. Our most talented forward imo but only turns up when he decides.

Oates hands are terrible but probably still our best player, which is scary.

Hard to even fathom we have two more years of Boyd, great player in his day and great career, but just not good value for money any more and is questionable at best as captain.

To be fair I could go through a long list of players who are either struggling with form or look disinterested.

And also I haven't seen any evidence at all of this so-called new attacking structure we are supposed to have. Still the usual out the back to Boyd and hope to get Oates in the corner. Any decent team who are half-prepared know this is coming. 4 or 5 one out hit-ups with few bodies in motion then a Milford bomb that is not high enough to give the chasers a chance. Really just the same stuff as previous seasons, but worse. The only innovation I've seen so far is having Oates lurking in the middle of the field and running into a hole.

And the defence, well that's just horrible, but the attitude of this group might be able to explain it... It seems like any luck they goes against them they just crumble and go through the motions until the full time whistle.

I'd more than happy to be patient if i could see any change to the way that we are playing, but I just haven't seen it.

Honestly at this point I would just be happy to see a team willing to play 100% for their jersey and each other. that would probably bag us a few wins too.
 

ram raid

Bench
Messages
4,074
Yeah the Broncs problems seem mostly mental at this point. It doesn't matter how good the coach is if the players have checked out.
 

Nerd

Bench
Messages
2,825
At least after a belting like that the only way is up. Saying that we did come up against a red hot bunnies outfit and everything they tried turned to gold. Our defence while struggling was good at the start as the first few tries were from 2 arsey kicks that bounced between defenders straight to the attcker and the third being from an intercept but after that the flood gates opened and our defence on the line was poor. When Isaako's kick off went dead I knew it was going to be one of those nights.

We could be in for a few more long nights as our rookie halfback will probably need at least the rest of the season to find his feet before hopefully our attack can click. This 5 one up carries close to the ruck and a Milford bomb is pretty easy to defend against.

Darius Boyd as captain must at some stage be held accountable for his teams performance and on form would he even make another NRL side at fullback let alone be named as captain? (excluding Cronulla lol)
 

ram raid

Bench
Messages
4,074
It's the coaches job to get them revved up though, isn't it?

Yeah I suppose.. But in the case of Roberts having the sooks or Darius and his separation anxiety I don't know what the coach is supposed to do.
 

renouf

Juniors
Messages
1,963
Boyd has 3 years to run on a 800k deal.. awesome, Wayne supposedly organised that deal.
 

Big Pete

Referee
Messages
28,939
The club is a shambles at the moment. I find when teams are playing poor footy, it seems like every bounce of the ball or referees call goes against them. In truth, it's because those teams aren't doing enough to prevent those situations from happening. That Cody Walker try was one of those moments where three things happened to go Souths way and all of them could have been avoided if the Broncos made better efforts. If Oates just valued ball security, if Roberts had have made a better attempt at tackle if Boyd and Pangai had have made a better effort at fielding the kick, it'd be nil all. Instead, it virtually became 12-0 because Isaako invited Souths to score another try and change the entire complexion of the match.

Even before all of that happened, the Broncos were playing some of the more pedestrian football I've seen. At the start of the year, it looked the Broncos were developing structures and while they were making errors, they were using the ball more effectively and looked more cohesive. As the year has gone on, they've resorted to playing one off the ruck football which isn't good enough at the NRL level. Some teams get away with it because their defence is fantastic, but in that department the Broncos are also struggling.

As it stands, this is shaping up to be the worst season in club history. There's going to be a lot of finger pointing, but at the end of the day, it's Seibold's responsibility to make changes. If he can't turn this around, then it becomes the board's responsibility to find somebody who can.

It's one of those games that history will remember as a fitting tribute to an NRL legend which is fair enough. For the Broncos, the only memorable thing I can think of was the debut of Tom Dearden. Dearden is the youngest starting halfback since Brett Seymour and the club has a huge rap on him. I thought he didn't look out of place and got better as the game wore on, but was pretty understandably quiet through out. I'd like to see him call more ball and for the Broncos to play with more width and variation.
 

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