Round 2 vs. North Queensland Cowboys Discussion

[Big Pete]

NRL 2019 - Round 2
Brisbane Broncos v North Queensland Cowboys
Suncorp Stadium, Milton (TICKETS)
Friday 22 March 2019

1. Darius Boyd (c)
2. Corey Oates
3. James Roberts
4. Jack Bird
5. Jamayne Isaako
6. Anthony Milford
7. Kodi Nikorima
8. Tevita Pangai Jr
9. Andrew McCullough
10. Joe Ofahengaue
11. Alex Glenn
12. David Fifita
13. Matt Gillett

Interchange
14. Kotoni Staggs
15. Jaydn Su'A
16. Thomas Flegler
17. Shaun Fensom

Reserves
18. Patrick Carrigan
19. Patrick Mago
20. Richard Kennar
21. Gehamat Shibasaki

1. Jordan Kahu
2. Nene MacDonald
3. Justin O'Neil
4. Tom Opacic
5. Javid Bowen
6. Te Maire Martin
7. Michael Morgan
8. Matthew Scott
9. Jake Granville
10. Jordan McLean
11. Gavin Cooper
12. Coen Hess
13. Jason Taumalolo

Interchange
14. John Asiata
15. Josh McGuire
16. Mitchell Dunn
17. Francis Molo

Reserves
18. Ben Hampton
19. Jake Clifford
20. Corey Jensen
23. Enari Tuala​

 

[Big Pete]

No real surprises this week for the Broncos. With Lodge's suspension, Pangai Jr comes into the starting side with Fensom coming onto the bench. That may sound like a strange replacement for somebody the size and playstyle of Lodge, but Brisbane don't exactly have a player of Lodge's style and quality tucked away in QCup and Seibold was pretty adament about bringing him in. I actually don't mind a player of Fensom's style coming in for Brisbane. It's all about balance and in Flegler and Su'A the Broncos already have plenty of aggression through the middle.

While it wasn't surprising to see Fensom named, I can't help but feel it's a matter of time before Patrick Carrigan gets a shot. One of the reasons why Brisbane were so quick to push McGuire out the door is because Carrigan was attracting major interest from other NRL clubs and the Broncos wanted to commit to him long term. It's kind of odd that Seibold has held off on Carrigan as long as he has, but if his stint at South Sydney showed us anything, it's how good he is at building young big forwards. Flegler is closer to a Burgess brother than Carrigan, and Seibold wants to build him up, even if it means short 10 minute stints. Flegler should play more than double that this weekend and that will be a real test for him. In his short stint, he showed some decent signs, even though by his second hit-up he was completely gassed and he was exposed pretty poorly in that run.

I always find Round 2 is the hardest round to tip because Round 1 is such a terrible gauge. It's hard to differentiate between epidemics and slow starts, especially in cases where one game can be at a higher quality than another. If I was to base it on Round 1, I'd say the Cowboys would just be too strong through the middle and with Morgan controlling the show they'd just be the better side. With Lodge, Roberts and Haas out it certainly brings Brisbane back. However, it's worth noting that the Cowboys shocked a lot of people with their performance in Round 1. They were good on Saturday, but traditionally they've struggled to take that form onto the road and the quality of the two opposition sides in Round 1 was vastly different. If the Broncos can find some of the form many expected them to have before Round 1 then they should have too many points for the Cowboys.

Finally while I would have preferred Carrigan over Fensom, I will applaud Seibold on Fifita being selected over Su'A. Su'A was pretty ordinary against the Storm and I think both players will be better off in these roles.

 

[renouf]

You'd think the Cowboys will roll us in the forwards.

 

[gUt]

Well that was surprising. Cows had some bad luck with injuries but from the jump you have to say the Broncs just bullied them out of the contest. I wasn't so much interested in the JT v TPJ thing as I was pack vs pack but it turned out it was TPJ vs 17 Cowboys players... TKO tp TPJ. Holy crap what a performance.

Credit to Seibold too, hooking him at the point where he could have gone overboard. He'd given a few penalties away (admittedly a couple of gamesmanship ones) so the coach hooked him to really get him simmering. When he came back on he was more calculating but no less devastating.

Just one of those champagne performances basically. The way he was crushing blokes... it's a big call but I thought some of the Cows looked a bit scared when hitting the ball up. I can't blame them.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

You'd think the Cowboys will roll us in the forwards.

Welp, so much for that.

 

[renouf]

The talk them down before a game tactic works

Certainly was interesting to see the difference in their play vs Wayne, much more enthusiasm/speed/using the ball. Wayne has built (and inherited) this side over the last 3 years and now maybe it just needs a fresh approach applied to it.

 

[Big Pete]

The Broncos set the tone early and while it wasn't always first class they showed some championship qualities.

Pangai Jr was outstanding in his first run-on game for the season. I thought Tevita was one of the Broncos best the week before, but by the time he came onto the field, Melbourne had all the ascendency. With a fresh-start he was able to make his mark and boy he didn't miss.

I thought Seibold managed his bench a lot better this week, thanks in part to the performance of Thomas Flegler. Last week, Flegler looked bushed by his second carry and only managed 10 minutes. This week, he managed himself better and had one of the best Suncorp Stadium NRL debuts I can recall. From the opening carry he backed himself and proved himself against some fantastic forwards.

Su'A was also much improved coming off the bench. Fifita covered the right edge very well, allowing Su'A to keep it simple and go looking for the football. I thought it was a better fit for both men.

Ever since the Titans trial, the Broncos have improved on each performance. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but if they can achieve a level of consistensy they're going to be hard to stop this year.

 

[Bronco18]

Pangai Jr was outstanding in his first run-on game for the season. I thought Tevita was one of the Broncos best the week before, but by the time he came onto the field, Melbourne had all the ascendency. With a fresh-start he was able to make his mark and boy he didn't miss.

I thought Seibold managed his bench a lot better this week, thanks in part to the performance of Thomas Flegler. Last week, Flegler looked bushed by his second carry and only managed 10 minutes. This week, he managed himself better and had one of the best Suncorp Stadium NRL debuts I can recall. From the opening carry he backed himself and proved himself against some fantastic forwards.

I like the idea of TPJ playing short, intense stints. It wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the pack to say he single handedly won the middle of the field, but when he’s on a rampage like that he makes such a huge difference. No one wanted to tackle him when he scored his try.

What’s great is if the game was in the balance, and Roberts wasn’t being protected, you’d imagine he’d come on for a third cameo at the end of the game.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

TPJ went a long way to winning by essentially taking JT2 out of the game.

Flegler was simply outstanding for such a young forward. He played well in the trials too, so nice to seem him carry it over to the big games. We can't expect this of him every week, but it was certainly a very promising display.

Oates had another great game.

It was a bit disappointing that we didn't really put them to the sword, Storm-style. Milford was also disappointing, considering how dominant we were in the forwards. Not sure what is going on with him, but his running game doesn't even look threatening. I really hope he can turn it around.

 

[Nerd]

Flegler played well again and how much improved was our kicking game compared to last week.