Paul Green

[Whip Whitaker]

Might be a tad early to be getting uppity about Green. The post JT era has only just started, and considering how big of a loss he is, being 1 and 1 isn't all THAT bad. 5 weeks down the line, if the Cows are still barely clinging on to somewhere between 10th and 12th, maybe you can start asking questions.

It's not about JT. We made a grand final without JT. Green's hands were forced (to evolve) due to a huge injury crisis. We still had a bit of luck in making that grand final, but Morgan and Taumalolo were two of the best players in the comp.

Unfortunately Paul Green is more stubborn than the Monty Python stubborness sketch, and has ignored the lessons of 2017. He is still trying to relive 2015, which was largely following the model of the Roosters 2013 premiership. Yet the times have changed, and even Trent Robinson has changed. Last I checked, Trent Robinson even changed in the middle of 2018 otherwise the Chooks were not going to get anywhere near the grand final. Yet Paul Green still stubbornly tries to do what the Roosters were doing two premierships ago... because he was mentored by Trent Robinson.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

was glad that the backline was getting a long overdue refresh, nek minit we get a bunch of rubbish Broncos castoffs

would rather play Hampton and Tuala

To slightly play devil's advocate, the club was certain Val Holmes was coming in 2020, and even thought the Sharks could just release him a year early. Obviously the Sharks weren't that keen on releasing him, and Val Holmes wanted out of the Sharks so badly that he went to America just to get out of his contract.

Obviously Ben Barba was our plan B, and we know how that turned out...

So that explains how we got to plan C...

Val Holmes will end up a Cowboy. It is just a matter of when, not if. Of course, taking this long path just to get out of Cronulla could be costly. He is much younger and fitter than Jarryd Hayne, but Hayne was never the same coming back to the NRL from the NFL....

The Cowboys will pay Val Holmes overs, but I am not sure we really have to when we have the leverage. He will be a year or two removed from the NRL, he wants to live in Townsville/home and we will be of few teams that will deliberately create cap space for him. I hope we don't pay overs because we hold most of the cards. Well unless we are at the bottom of the ladder and desperate....

 

[Whip Whitaker]

That explains it. There were few games last year where he resembled a first grader let alone earn another 3 years. What is going on with the Cows board? I thought Ben Ikin left and the average IQ doubled instantly.Though in fairness it could be worse, at least Cows only live in 2015 and not 2005.

We rewarded Coote after a premiership so lost Ponga. We rewarded Granville after a premiership so we lost Brandon Smith. The money we gave a 34 year old JT didn't help, but for everything he has done and meant for the club (ditto to Matt Scott), we put love over footy. In doing that, we put the short-term above the long-term.

The Cowboys still have many of the ingredients for success. But a lot of that is because our local area is one of the best nurseries in the NRL. Unfortunately, some of those better prospects are rotting in reserve grade just like the were in the bad old days.

Local kids used to run off to the Broncos or Sydney clubs because of poor local development opportunities. Now I am afraid that trend will happen again unless we start integrating Clifford, Mosby, Tuala, Pere, Hola etc into the team over the next couple of games/ seasons.

 

[blaza88z]

They'll have to endure what every other club had endured after losing one of the all time great halves, I would suggest they're in a much better position than others have been though after losing the likes of Johns and Lockyer

 

[Whip Whitaker]

They'll have to endure what every other club had endured after losing one of the all time great halves, I would suggest they're in a much better position than others have been though after losing the likes of Johns and Lockyer

I know what you are saying about Lockyer is true, but earlier in the Broncos' existence, they replaced some all time great halves with all time great halves. It just happened to go bad after Lockyer...

Morgo had a shocker last night, but I know what he can do on his better days. Jake Clifford is the player most Cowboys fans are excited about.

 

[GreenMachine121]

JT gone you’re aLways going to struggle initially
JT2 injured first ten mins - massive problems
TMM being relied to spark attack - nah
Morgan having an off game - more problems
Pangai trying to kill your entire team - did the cowboys say he was shit or something ?

Only second game I think the cowboys won’t play as bad again neither do I think the broncos ( or tpj) can play to that level every week ...

 

[Whip Whitaker]

JT gone you’re aLways going to struggle initially
JT2 injured first ten mins - massive problems
TMM being relied to spark attack - nah
Morgan having an off game - more problems
Pangai trying to kill your entire team - did the cowboys say he was shit or something ?

Only second game I think the cowboys won’t play as bad again neither do I think the broncos ( or tpj) can play to that level every week ...

Pangai has to be played to his strengths. He wants to be a leader and wants to take it upon himself to win big games. When he feels like just another forward in that dressing room among other good players, he will lose that extra edge.

The irony is, he will get picked for origin based on what he did last night, but may yet go into his shell when surrounded by so many other representative forwards in origin. So feed his ego... make him feel he belongs and is the guy.

If you want a rock star performance, treat him like a rock star. Simple as that.

 

[Canard]

I'll hold off on slitting my wrists, just yet

 

[Charlie124]

Jesus Christ there's some overreaction going on in here. Its round 2 for crying out loud, calm down people.

A few points...

1. Lolo being injured in the first few minutes puts a huge dent in our go-forward and gameplan.
2. The Broncos were up for a big first home game after their round 1 loss to the Storm, we were out-enthused from the kickoff. Credit to them.
3. Nene and Asiata being injured forced a lot of players out of position (we had Mitch Dunn playing 5/8th FFS). Morgan also appeared to be carrying another shoulder/arm injury.
4. There were at least two Broncos tries scored from massive forward passes. They weren't the difference but it certainly makes the final score look much worse than it should've.
5. O'Neill and TMM weren't as bad as the Clifford and Hampton fanboys would have you believe. Our whole team didn't show up to compete and we played accordingly across the board. Hampton had shocking trial form and im not at all surprised he's been left out so far. Hopefully he can find his feet in reserve grade and then move into first grade. TMM was always going to have first shot at 5/8 over Clifford, Green will bring him in when he feels the time is right.

Once again, it's only round 2, put the razor blades away.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

Jesus Christ there's some overreaction going on in here. Its round 2 for crying out loud, calm down people.

A few points...

1. Lolo being injured in the first few minutes puts a huge dent in our go-forward and gameplan.
2. The Broncos were up for a big first home game after their round 1 loss to the Storm, we were out-enthused from the kickoff. Credit to them.
3. Nene and Asiata being injured forced a lot of players out of position (we had Mitch Dunn playing 5/8th FFS). Morgan also appeared to be carrying another shoulder/arm injury.
4. There were at least two Broncos tries scored from massive forward passes. They weren't the difference but it certainly makes the final score look much worse than it should've.
5. O'Neill and TMM weren't as bad as the Clifford and Hampton fanboys would have you believe. Our whole team didn't show up to compete and we played accordingly across the board. Hampton had shocking trial form and im not at all surprised he's been left out so far. Hopefully he can find his feet in reserve grade and then move into first grade. TMM was always going to have first shot at 5/8 over Clifford, Green will bring him in when he feels the time is right.

Once again, it's only round 2, put the razor blades away.

Let me respond briefly to your points:

1 So are you agreeing that we are Lolo or bust? That is not a way to build a team... i.e. reliant on one forward.
2 Not quite. We were farkin terrible all of 2018 and Green did nothing about it but kept picking his mates. We've been stale since mid 2016 (only making a grand final in 2017 because of luck and injuries).
3 The Broncos were all over us before those injuries, so they are just convenient excuses for us in hindsight.
4 Exactly, they did not make a difference. The Broncos were still creating opportunities, which we weren't exactly doing.
5 Opacic had a howler of a game, and disrupted a lot of opportunities McDonald may have had in both rounds 1 and 2. O'Neil's best years are well behind him.

 

[Charlie124]

Let me respond briefly to your points:

1 So are you agreeing that we are Lolo or bust? That is not a way to build a team... i.e. reliant on one forward.
2 Not quite. We were farkin terrible all of 2018 and Green did nothing about it but kept picking his mates. We've been stale since mid 2016 (only making a grand final in 2017 because of luck and injuries).
3 The Broncos were all over us before those injuries, so they are just convenient excuses for us in hindsight.
4 Exactly, they did not make a difference. The Broncos were still creating opportunities, which we weren't exactly doing.
5 Opacic had a howler of a game, and disrupted a lot of opportunities McDonald may have had in both rounds 1 and 2. O'Neil's best years are well behind him.

Let me respond to some of your responses.

1. I didn't say that at all. I said it put a huge dent in our go-forward (you may have noticed he made 300m+ last week) & gameplay (its hard to capitalise on the go-forward when it isnt there.

2. Nothing you wrote has anything to do with my point about the Broncos out-enthusing us in their first home game. As i mentioned, credit to them, they were up for it, we weren't this week, it happens.

3. Refer to point 2. I already said they were all over us from the get go. I merely pointed out that ON TOP of that fact, we also had to shuffle most of our team around to cover the injuries. That would disrupt any lineup.

4. We agree.

5. O'Neill finished 2018 is great form on the wing after Winters went down. His opening two games haven't been bad either. Regardless of this, Hampton's trial form was atrocious, so even if you want to oust O'Neill (dont get me wrong, im happy to see the back of him if we've got a worthy replacement), the fact is at the moment, we probably don't have anyone demanding selection.

 

[Vee]

Questions I have about our team - not just from last night's result I should add.

Is Baptiste good enough to put pressure on Granville to hold his spot?

What is O'Neill doing well that allows him to keep a spot in first grade week after week?

Is five eighth Martin's best position, or is he better suited as a bench utility?

We signed some outside backs to give us extra depth and replace Winterstein, Linnett and Coote, but the incumbents like Mosby and Hampton have started the year in QCup. What do they need to do to earn a recall to FG?

Mosby has to fix his attitude and buy into what it takes to be a FGer. Hampton is handy and versatile, just not big enough or good enough to be more than that.

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

Agree with Charlie .
It's RD 2
In 2015
We lost our first 3 in a row .

Yet things turned out fine .
Every team has them sort of games .
Injuries to key players .
Playmaker having an ordinary game
Outenthused/ hangover from rd 1
Shit happens .
Move into next week before thinking the sky is falling in .

 

[Whip Whitaker]

Agree with Charlie .
It's RD 2
In 2015
We lost our first 3 in a row .

Yet things turned out fine .
Every team has them sort of games .
Injuries to key players .
Playmaker having an ordinary game
Outenthused/ hangover from rd 1
Shit happens .
Move into next week before thinking the sky is falling in .

Why did things change around after the first 3 rounds? Because Paul Green made changes to the squad, JT played out of his skin for the rest of the year, and we had an extremely balanced forward pack.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

Let me respond to some of your responses.

1. I didn't say that at all. I said it put a huge dent in our go-forward (you may have noticed he made 300m+ last week) & gameplay (its hard to capitalise on the go-forward when it isnt there.

2. Nothing you wrote has anything to do with my point about the Broncos out-enthusing us in their first home game. As i mentioned, credit to them, they were up for it, we weren't this week, it happens.

3. Refer to point 2. I already said they were all over us from the get go. I merely pointed out that ON TOP of that fact, we also had to shuffle most of our team around to cover the injuries. That would disrupt any lineup.

4. We agree.

5. O'Neill finished 2018 is great form on the wing after Winters went down. His opening two games haven't been bad either. Regardless of this, Hampton's trial form was atrocious, so even if you want to oust O'Neill (dont get me wrong, im happy to see the back of him if we've got a worthy replacement), the fact is at the moment, we probably don't have anyone demanding selection.

I am not going to go backwards and forwards on all of the points, except point 5. I'd much prefer we got rid of Opacic who is a poor man's Kane Linnett, and we were already moving Linnett on to apparently get more speed into the backline.

I am still keen to see the end of O'Neil too, but not for Hampton who is too small for centre.

Moving forward, I'd like to see us fit Tuala and Mosby into the side, even if it means moving Feldt or McDonald to centre to fit Mosby onto the wing.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

Now we get a real look at Paul Green's coaching without the greatest halfback of all time (JT) and the greatest forward of all time (JT2).

 

[Whip Whitaker]

Well much to my shock, Paul Green actually makes some changes. Maybe he recognises how badly we'd be exposed without Jason Taumalolo or its taken a terrible loss to show him the bleeding obvious to everybody else.

I still cannot for the life of me understand how Gideon Gela Mosby keeps getting overlooked, though. Especially with Kyle Feldt out injured. It is not like Javid Bowen hasn't had a bazillion chances before...

I'd certainly be giving more chances to you Mosby and Tauala. It is not like we are a premiership force, so let's build for the future.

 

[Canard]

Well much to my shock, Paul Green actually makes some changes. Maybe he recognises how badly we'd be exposed without Jason Taumalolo or its taken a terrible loss to show him the bleeding obvious to everybody else.

I still cannot for the life of me understand how Gideon Gela Mosby keeps getting overlooked, though. Especially with Kyle Feldt out injured. It is not like Javid Bowen hasn't had a bazillion chances before...

I'd certainly be giving more chances to you Mosby and Tauala. It is not like we are a premiership force, so let's build for the future.

You've written the season off after 2 games.

Sounds sensible.

 

[Vee]

Well much to my shock, Paul Green actually makes some changes. Maybe he recognises how badly we'd be exposed without Jason Taumalolo or its taken a terrible loss to show him the bleeding obvious to everybody else.

I still cannot for the life of me understand how Gideon Gela Mosby keeps getting overlooked, though. Especially with Kyle Feldt out injured. It is not like Javid Bowen hasn't had a bazillion chances before...

I'd certainly be giving more chances to you Mosby and Tauala. It is not like we are a premiership force, so let's build for the future.

Gideon is facing several weeks for his fourth shoulder charge .

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

You've written the season off after 2 games.

Sounds sensible.

Lol & we won one
Se we are 1-1
& our season is apparently over .
Someone put a pic of Helen lovejoy up