Round 25 vs. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Discussion

[Big Pete]

NRL 2019 - Round 25
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Brisbane Broncos
ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park (TICKETS)
Saturday 7 September 2019

1. Will Hopoate
2. Nick Meaney
3. Morgan Harper
4. Reimis Smith
5. Jayden Okunbor
6. Kieran Foran
7. Lachlan Lewis
8. Aiden Tolman
9. Jeremy Marshall-King
10. Dylan Napa
11. Josh Jackson
12. Corey Harawira-Naera
13. Adam Elliott

Interchange
14. Jack Cogger
15. Renouf To'omaga
16. Raymond Faitala-Mariner
17. Chris Smith

Reserves
19. Danny Fualalo
20. Isaiah Tass
21. Fa'amanu Brown
22. Ofahiki Ogden

1. Anthony Milford
2. Corey Oates
3. Kotoni Staggs
4. Alex Glenn
5. Jamayne Isaako
6. Darius Boyd
7. Jake Turpin
8. Matthew Lodge
9. Andrew McCullough
10. Payne Haas
11. David Fifita
12. Matt Gillett
13. Patty Carrigan

Interchange
14. James Segeyaro
15. Thomas Flegler
16. Izaia Perese
17. Rhys Kennedy

Reserves
18. Sean O'Sullivan
19. Gehamat Shibasaki
20. Shaun Fensom
21. Joe Ofahengaue​

 

[Big Pete]

Jake Turpin returns in place of O'Sullivan at 7, meanwhile Shibasaki has been dropped for Izaia Perese on the bench. Ofahengaue is a chance of being a late inclusion, if he can overcome his calf injury in time.

It looks like Seibold took the conservative option. Turpin has been among one of the Broncos best players this season, but if you were to ask the fans, 7. O'Sullivan 9. Turpin would be the better option moving forward. Perese on the bench makes more sense than having Shibasaki there, but even so, it seems odd that Seibold would prefer an out of position player over him. It appears that Seibold is somebody who tries to find room for his best 13 players and just lets the cards fall where they may.

A win guarantees 7th spot on the ladder, which would be a relief considering where this season was headed after the loss to Newcastle. A loss on the other hand would throw the season into the hands of fate and the extradinary set of circumstances that would have to take place for there to be a legitimate draw between Sharks-Tigers. Realistically the Broncos secured their place with that Golden Point victory against Parramatta, but they're not guaranteed just yet.

I'm actually curious to see how the Bulldogs play. I believe they will pose a bigger challenge than they did up here at Suncorp and don't think they'll miss DWZ as much as they should. It comes down to how well Harper and Smith handle the centres. The Broncos should try and get as much good ball out to Staggs and Isaako as much as possible and really challenge Harper-Meaney.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

Agreed that Perese is much better than Shiba on the bench. I'd love to see how Perese would go starting in the centres but I don't think we will see that this year.

Agree also SOS should have remained, we need an actual half playing in the halves. I guess though this is the least disruption to the team to bring Turps back in, which is sort of understandable given we are right at the pointy end of the season.

 

[DeeJ]

Bulldogs forwards dominated ours for most of the first half, but we were able to play some footy in the last 10 and catch up.

I think the lack of organisation was really highlighted in the second half. Trying to rely too much on miracle plays. We don't have a half that controls the game or the forwards.

Milford is the closest thing but he's at fullback and the Bulldogs knew they only have to rush up on one guy during the 5th tackle.

We somehow made the finals this year, but we are cooked. I hope the mess is sorted out next year. I can't stand to think of another season of playing with 12 and a half men.

 

[Nerd]

Well that was hard to watch. Back to unforced error after unforced error. Just about every try we've scored in the last month has been on the back of individual brilliance and not a team effort. My wish for next year is Turpin at hooker, Boyd if he is still in the team at centre and SOS and Dearden or in fact any young half that we have coming through in the halves. We have the forwards to take it to any team they just need some direction from proper halves. Time to shop McCullough, Bird, Boyd and Rhys Kennedy around. Would also be nice if Lodge could get through a game without one error or giving away a stupid penalty.

As per above we're cooked and shouldn't be in the finals (if we make it) but at least it will piss off all the Bronco haters for another week.

 

[renouf]

He should have stuck with the same 7 from last week, no point in changing at this time of the year :/

 

[renouf]

Would also be nice if Lodge could get through a game without one error or giving away a stupid penalty.

IMO that's down to the coach, although lots of teams are stripping the ball these days

 

[Big Pete]

It was evident from the first set they couldn't be stuffed turning up. The Bulldogs marched down field and within minutes scored an extremely soft try. Looking at the replay, it seemed like Staggs lost faith in Gillett pushing off the line causing Isaako to follow suit and Lewis was able to sum up the situation easily.

It just got worse from there, Oates willed a ball dead despite it landing 30m out from the line then conceded a try with a half-hearted take. Within 15 minutes, Brisbane already found themselves 12-0.

They did well to work their way back into it. Just simple kick-chase football and they were eventually able to work Harper over. Haas or Milford? Which one do you go for? Harper got it wrong and Brisbane got themselves back into it before half-time.

The second half started well with Brisbane creating space for Milford to earn a penalty. They were troubling the Dogs on the line, only to cramp themselves up with a bad second man play. They got a second chance and managed to stuff it up again. From there it was all the Bulldogs.

Nick Meaney with an incredibly easy try, for whatever reason Isaako runs into no-man's land and gives Lewis all the space in the world to get Meaney onto the ball. They go right again make a break, only to return there and score. It shouldn't have been awarded, but once again Isaako didn't stay on his man and was exposed easily.

Game over with 20 to go.

From there, Brisbane kept trying to play catch-up throwing bad passes and just over-playing their hand. They just needed to hold it, keep peppering Harper-Meaney and muscle up in defence.

I found it odd how Perese was used. The game was over with 20 to go, with Brisbane chasing points he would have been a valuable addition to the backline. It seemed like he was only given 'game experience' and they wanted to keep him fresh for the Dolphins. It backfired because he didn't even play for them in their 25-24 win.

An awful performance, Canterbury came in with the right attitude and Brisbane only rocked up for one period of the game. The last round of the regular season strikes again.

The silver lining is that Haas (234m, 48 Tackles) was outstanding. The Rookie of the Year is a mickey mouse award, but anybody entertaining the idea of Sivo is kidding themselves. I thought Milford tried hard (10 Tackle-Breaks, 203m, 1 Try, 1 Try-Assist) but guilty of over-playing his hand. He just isn't getting enough support from his other spine players.