Round 6 vs. Canberra Raiders Discussion

[Big Pete]

NRL 2019 - Round 6
Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos
GIO Stadium Canberra, Bruce (TICKETS)
Sunday 21 April 2019

1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
2. Nick Cotric
3. Jarrod Croker (c)
4. Joseph Leilua
5. Jordan Rapana
6. Jack Wighton
7. Sam Williams
8. Josh Papalii
9. Josh Hodgson
10. Dunamis Lui
11. John Bateman
12. Elliot Whitehead
13. Ryan Sutton

Interchange:
14. Siliva Havili
15. Hudson Young
16. Iosia Soliola
17. JJ Collins

Reserves
18. Aidan Sezer
19. Corey Horsburgh
20. Jack Murchie
21. Bailey Simonsson

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

Interchange
14. Gehamat Shibasaki
15. Jaydn Su'A
16. Thomas Flegler
17. Patrick Carrigan

Reserves
18. Shaun Fensom
19. Patrick Mago
20. James Roberts
21. Richard Kennar​

 

[Big Pete]

Matt Lodge is out with a throat injury, while speedster James Roberts is a good chance of coming into the centres with Kotoni Staggs going to the bench.

The fall-out of last week's disappointing loss against the Tigers doesn't get any easier for the Broncos. They come up against the Raiders who are playing one of the most physical brands of footy in the competition and have the players who can score points out of nowhere.

If there was one positive to take out of last week's disappointment, it was the run-on debut of Payne Haas. He was amazing in the middle, making 164m and 45 tackles in his first proper game. He made a very impressive start to his career and with Flegler, Carrigan and Fifita coming through, the Broncos pack is definitely taking shape.

I suppose the other big news is that Seibold has resisted making any big changes to the spine. We're six weeks into the competition now and the Broncos are 1-4. The question is, how long can Seibold persisted with the spine of Darius Boyd, Anthony Milford, Kodi Nikorima and Andrew McCullough? Will his patience be rewarded? Or is he living in a fools paradise?

 

[GoTheBroncs]

This game just got even harder without TPJ and Lodge.

Milf and Boyd not earning their pay packets. Milf is a big concern even his running game has dramatically regressed. Boyd is not playing like he is our captain.

Niko is going ok given his salary. Looks more dangerous than Milf when he runs the ball and looks more likely to create something (kicking game bad though). The problem is him and Milf just aren't working together.

McCullough is McCullough. I have never really been a fan of his and was hoping that more opportunity would have been given to say Baptiste, Granville, Parcell in the past. It seems like his only competition now is Turpin who by all reports is not playing that well.

This would probably be my first suggested change:

1. Boyd
6. Milf
7. SOS (while Dearden gets more experience in ISC)
9. McC

14. Niko (basically penalised as he can play hooker while milf can't. McC to no longer play 80 mins)

 

[renouf]

.

 

[Nerd]

Another game and more unforced errors. Less than the last few weeks but still giving possession and easy metres to the other team. Thought Milford and Nikorima looked much better. I liked what I saw in Carrigan when he got some time but both he and Flegler need at least another season under their belts. Our defence seems to consist of grabbing and wrapping up the player instead of using the shoulder to hit in defence and as such the attacking player is allowed to make many post contact metres. Boyd needs to retire. Whenever he returns the ball from a kick he gets bashed and never looks like making even a half break.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

I felt like there wasn't that many errors today actually.

The thing that killed us was letting in three tries that any decent defensive side wouldn't have let in. Some of the efforts were so poor you would have to question their commitment.

 

[Nerd]

First 3 errors all belonged to us and the Raiders capitalised by scoring a try. Performance was definitely better than previous weeks and the return of Pangai won't hurt in the middle. Haas must have a big motor to play 80 minutes like he did but being so raw he is still getting exposed at marker near the try line. I'm happy with our fitness as we seem to be coming over teams at the end of a game unlike previous seasons where we would looked gassed by halftime but this having to play catch up football every week isn't working. Anyway it's all up from here and our young forwards get a little bit more experience every week. Don't know what Siebold does with Darius Boyd. Would he drop the club captain?

 

[renouf]

Seibold is making excuses, saying we have younger players as a reason why we're struggling is bullshit, we've had young players under Bennett and not been in this position. You only have to look at how the side is going, we're well off the pace every week (except the Cowboys which was an anomaly to me), the forwards get dominated in defence and some of the performances have been horrible, but yet "we've been close in the last 2/3 games"..

 

[DeeJ]

Youth isn't the issue. It's the experienced players not aiming up, most obviously the spine. Boyd is contributing nothing at all and is getting worse by the week.

 

[renouf]

The way things are going we could be 2 - 8 and that's assuming we can beat the Sharks, I wonder what he'll be saying then

 

[Big Pete]

Ordinarily a loss like that wouldn't be the end of the world, but coming off the humiliation of the Round 5 loss against Wests, the effort simply wasn't consistent enough. Again, the Broncos play well in patches, but they're switching off at key moments and playing mediocre football.

The key moment of the match were the two tries to Leilua right before half-time. Leilua broke three tackles in the lead up to the first try and Bateman was able to pop an offload despite the attention of three defenders for the second.

The attention to detail is lacking in all facets and when the Broncos do look dangerous, it's usually on the back of individual efforts or opposition mistakes.

As disappointing as they have been, the young guns are showing some good signs. Payne Haas' 80 Minute effort should go down in club legend. 19 Runs, 170m, 36 Tackles is a phenomenal effort for a player in his second starting game. I thought Flegler, Fifita and Carrigan were also strong in their roles so there's talent there to build on. If Su'A can rediscover his form and if the returning players in Lodge & Pangai Jr can get back to their best, it will make the Broncos life so much easier.

The key stat of the game for me was Nicoll-Klokstad on one good knee making 21 Runs for his side, while Boyd only managed 12. In a game where both teams were engaged in an arm-wrestle at various points, I thought the exit sets were extremely disappointing from the Broncos, especially some of the side-ways running from Isaako.