A few things need to happen...

[Packy]

I don't know what he did over the summer but Prince actually looks slower and a little heavier than last year.

 

[jakepearce94]

I don't know what he did over the summer but Prince actually looks slower and a little heavier than last year.

yeah the broncos told him to bulk up a bit, thinking it would help his defence.

 

[whykickamoocow]

I feel like someone needs to put this out there so here I go, the Broncs should just get rid of the Rangas from the Squad. Red hair. light skin and freckles just doesn't go with a Broncos jersey.

 

[jakepearce94]

Red hair. light skin and freckles just doesn't go with a Broncos jersey.

racism... haha, nah i agree get rid of the rangas, they are playing shithouse.

 

[whykickamoocow]

racism... haha, nah i agree get rid of the rangas, they are playing shithouse.

I believe they call it Gingerism.

 

[DeeJ]

Steve Michaels started the ginger curse.

 

[jakepearce94]

I believe they call it Gingerism.

haha, learn something new everyday!

 

[Nightward]

I think a lot of this comes down to Thaiday. He was given a large contract and the captaincy on the back of form that he has not replicated since and, on the basis of his performance thus far, will not again. With the amount of money Thaiday commanded, we were prevented from going after or retaining other talent, and it's not exactly like we're hurting for back-rowers.

Compunding that is his utter lack of leadership on the field. When the chips are down, the captain needs to get the players organised and motivated, which he just does not do. Parker, Wallace, Prince, and Hodges all do a lot more talking and organising than he does.

The problem is that the team is now caught between a rock and a hard place. He's an incumbent Australian and Queensland player (not that he should be selected for either on current form), highy paid, and club captain, so consigning him to the bench as an impact player or shuffling him off to the Queensland Cup until he gets his act together just isn't going to happen; Bennet could do it because he had more currency with the club and because of the stage Thaiday's career was at, but now taking such a hardline stance is much more difficult.

The second issue I would identify is Andrew McCullough. Hard as he works, he's extremely inconsistent and even after so many seasons in top grade he cannot make it through 80 minutes. We have a multitude of options to replace him- Wallace, Hunt, Baptiste- and we need better service from our dummy half.

We could sign Dugan tomorrow (God forbid- the club's already got some attitude problems, last thing we need is to add someone whose issues in that area are so well-known) and it wouldn't fix anything.

We have no go-forward. We need to get rid of Thaiday entirely or reduce his role dramatically (until or unless such time as he shows he's up to more) and get an actual prop into play. Parker needs to be club captain, and should have been all along. Development of halves is obviously a problem but that gap has been plastered over well enough for the time being; Prince showed in the All-Stars game what he can do behind a dominant pack and although it's not what he was capable of 10 seasons ago, he can do what the Broncos need right now from him... if the platform is made available, which so far it hasn't.

Reed, Gillett, and even Glenn are looking impotent in attack because they're being asked to do the job of a battering-ram prop since we don't have enough players to cover that role. When it comes time for an explosive burst of speed, they're too ground down to provide it.

1. Corey Norman
2. Dale Copely/Lachlan Maranta
3. Jack Reed
4. Justin Hodges
5. Jharal Yow-Yeh/Lachlan Maranta
6. Ben Hunt
7. Scott Prince
8. Ben Hannant
9. Peter Wallace/Kurt Baptiste
10. Josh McGuire
11. Alex Glenn
12. Matt Gillett
13. Corey Parker (C)

14. David Hala
15. Mitchell Dodds
16. David Stagg
17. Josh Hoffman

That's a team (subject to injuries) that we could field right now and expect some improvement with. Long-term we still need to find or promote a new fullback and half, but with a better attack platform to work with at least we could get somewhere this year.

 

[Chainshada]

On Monday Gordie was talking about Gidley, saying that his best position is at 14, coming off the bench and that he'd be the best 14 in the comp. Then went on to say that it doesn't matter if you're the captain, if the best way to benefit your team is to come off the bench, then that's what you should do.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

On Monday Gordie was talking about Gidley, saying that his best position is at 14, coming off the bench and that he'd be the best 14 in the comp. Then went on to say that it doesn't matter if you're the captain, if the best way to benefit your team is to come off the bench, then that's what you should do.

Is this the same Gordie that wrote in the Courier Mail that it isn't a lack of a Playmaker that's our problem, it's our forwards?

 

[Chainshada]

Is this the same Gordie that wrote in the Courier Mail that it isn't a lack of a Playmaker that's our problem, it's our forwards?

Hadn't read that, just because he says a few(or a lot of) stupid things, doesn't make everything he says rubbish. Though I half agree with forwards being part of the problem..we only have 2 quality props, as soon as McGuire and Hannant come off, we get run over.

 

[jakepearce94]

We could sign Dugan tomorrow (God forbid- the club's already got some attitude problems, last thing we need is to add someone whose issues in that area are so well-known) and it wouldn't fix anything.

i think he would help a lot to be honest.

 

[gUt]

Hadn't read that, just because he says a few(or a lot of) stupid things, doesn't make everything he says rubbish. Though I half agree with forwards being part of the problem..we only have 2 quality props, as soon as McGuire and Hannant come off, we get run over.

It seems to me that we start to struggle when Macca comes off.

 

[Nightward]

i think he would help a lot to be honest.

How? He's got disciplinary issues, is injury-prone, and despite the highlight reel he has the problem with the Broncos attack isn't that we don't have enough players like him, it's that the players we do have with similar skills can't use them because they are being forced to assume the role of a prop-forward. Hannant and McGuire need more support, but it needs to be from an actual prop so that our back line isn't too ground down to make the strikes that are needed.

It seems to me that we start to struggle when Macca comes off.

We also struggle when he's on the field. That being said, the disruption of losing the starting hooker and the shuffling that goes on every time he's interchanged does hinder the team. By this stage, McCullough should be an 80-minute player, and he's not up to it. We need a better-quality hooker capable of playing the full game, or at least a hooker who offers more in one of those categories. We have one waiting in the wings with Baptiste, and Wallace would likely do a better job than McCullough- in a lot of ways the game he plays is more suited to 9 than 7, and he's a stalwart in defence as it is.

 

[gUt]

I think Wallace coming off the bench for Macca and Hunt playing in the halves would improve things.

 

[whykickamoocow]

We also struggle when he's on the field. That being said, the disruption of losing the starting hooker and the shuffling that goes on every time he's interchanged does hinder the team. By this stage, McCullough should be an 80-minute player, and he's not up to it. We need a better-quality hooker capable of playing the full game, or at least a hooker who offers more in one of those categories. We have one waiting in the wings with Baptiste, and Wallace would likely do a better job than McCullough- in a lot of ways the game he plays is more suited to 9 than 7, and he's a stalwart in defence as it is.[/QUOTE]

Wallace (55 tackles / 8 missed) hasn't been defending that good this year and his defensive stats are not as good as Maccas. (114/8) The other thing in regards to Macca is that we only assume he's not up to 80 mins. He may well be more then capable of playing 80 mins but the coach might like the idea of spelling him.

I do agree with us being light on in the props though and can't understand why Anderson, Dodds and Lui keep getting a run over someone Brendon Gibb. Dodds in particular is a waste of a bench spot. So far this year he has made 13 runs for 104 meters and 32 tackels from 3 games. We need this per game not spread out over 3.

 

[whykickamoocow]

quote thingy didn't seem to work, my bad