Valheru
Coach
- Messages
- 17,656
Well what a pleasure it is to post the first 3 2 1s thread for the year.
Quite obviously our best round 1 performance in sometime and in the context of the Robbo era I put it equal with 2015 up in Townsville.
Broncos are no joke but I thought we outplayed them across the park and thoroughly deserved the victory. Attack looked a lot better than last season punching holes regularly and consistently asking questions of the Broncos defence. There is definitely still work to do in that area but we played a top tier defence the likes of which we won't see too often in 2024.
Defensively they were sensational and that is the real building block of 2024. The Broncos asked a lot of questions themselves and come up with two good plays for tries which is going to happen against a quality side but all in all we held our line well and made a few desperate try saving tackles.
Being round 1 I will go through the whole team
Teddy - Absolutely fantastic. Played with a clear chip on his shoulder given the ridiculous commentary about him last year. Was probing in attack, positionally perfect in defence and was contesting everything.
Toops/Pauga - Both ran the ball out of our back end with venom eating up the metres. I think the slimmer field didn't help them in attack. Pauga had a couple of moments showing his limitations on the biggest stage but is still a good option when injuries occur
Manu/Sualli'i - Both phenomenal. We got both of them early ball regularly and good things happened. I'm not sure Billy Smith gets back in the starting team now
Keary - His best game for some time. Lead the team around the park beautifully and consistently asked questions in attack at the edges. I thought his best play of the game was after the Leniu incident when the Broncos forwards were fired up, on tackle 3 he though f**k this and kicked the ball deep turning them around. The air went out of the Broncos forwards and an error followed. Excellent game management.
Walker - Thought he was solid. This was one of those low scoring brutal games and he hung in there in defence and looked likely a couple of times. He did do that grubber that went dead when we had momentum BUT it was eyes up footy and that is what we need from him. On this occasion he got it slightly wrong but more of that please.
Leniu/Collins - Both were very good in the starting role, running aggressively and tackling with intent. More on Leniu later
Brandon Smith - Thought he was very good with those tenacious runs. Constantly asked questions around the ruck and defended well. A sensational kick to turn momentum in the 2nd half too
Sitilli/Wong/N Butcher - Thought all 3 of these players struggled to get involved. They weren't poor by any stretch but just was a weird game for them. It was the same for the Broncos 2nd rowers so might just be the game being played through the middle and then to the centres.
Radley - Outstanding! More of this Victor. Controlled aggression putting big hits on with good technique and low risk of fouling combined with strong running and a bit of ball play as well. Deserved his try
May - We need to prioritise re-signing this bloke. An absolute beast off the bench who just keeps chewing metres and an offload machine to boot.
Whyte - Limited minutes but was decent enough in the time he got
Sandon Smith - Think we have something with this bloke. Always looks dangerous at the back end of games and got close to scoring a try on this occasion.
3 Teddy
2 Radley
1 Keary
May was very stiff to miss out and an honourable mention for the whole squad.
Obviously the Leniu incident will be in the news this week. At this stage I think we just sit back and see what comes of it before making a judgement.
Overall this was an excellent start but it is only a start. What this does do is already give us breathing room for the first half of the comp which on paper is the toughest part of our schedule. We have 8 games against last years top 8 in the first 12 and only 2 games in the 2nd 12.
Last point, Vegas was a great spectacle. It was a privilege to be involved and congratulations to both teams for providing a contest of this quality in round 1
Sorry for the long one but it's nice to be in this position after round 1 for once. Let's hope this continues throughout the season.
Quite obviously our best round 1 performance in sometime and in the context of the Robbo era I put it equal with 2015 up in Townsville.
Broncos are no joke but I thought we outplayed them across the park and thoroughly deserved the victory. Attack looked a lot better than last season punching holes regularly and consistently asking questions of the Broncos defence. There is definitely still work to do in that area but we played a top tier defence the likes of which we won't see too often in 2024.
Defensively they were sensational and that is the real building block of 2024. The Broncos asked a lot of questions themselves and come up with two good plays for tries which is going to happen against a quality side but all in all we held our line well and made a few desperate try saving tackles.
Being round 1 I will go through the whole team
Teddy - Absolutely fantastic. Played with a clear chip on his shoulder given the ridiculous commentary about him last year. Was probing in attack, positionally perfect in defence and was contesting everything.
Toops/Pauga - Both ran the ball out of our back end with venom eating up the metres. I think the slimmer field didn't help them in attack. Pauga had a couple of moments showing his limitations on the biggest stage but is still a good option when injuries occur
Manu/Sualli'i - Both phenomenal. We got both of them early ball regularly and good things happened. I'm not sure Billy Smith gets back in the starting team now
Keary - His best game for some time. Lead the team around the park beautifully and consistently asked questions in attack at the edges. I thought his best play of the game was after the Leniu incident when the Broncos forwards were fired up, on tackle 3 he though f**k this and kicked the ball deep turning them around. The air went out of the Broncos forwards and an error followed. Excellent game management.
Walker - Thought he was solid. This was one of those low scoring brutal games and he hung in there in defence and looked likely a couple of times. He did do that grubber that went dead when we had momentum BUT it was eyes up footy and that is what we need from him. On this occasion he got it slightly wrong but more of that please.
Leniu/Collins - Both were very good in the starting role, running aggressively and tackling with intent. More on Leniu later
Brandon Smith - Thought he was very good with those tenacious runs. Constantly asked questions around the ruck and defended well. A sensational kick to turn momentum in the 2nd half too
Sitilli/Wong/N Butcher - Thought all 3 of these players struggled to get involved. They weren't poor by any stretch but just was a weird game for them. It was the same for the Broncos 2nd rowers so might just be the game being played through the middle and then to the centres.
Radley - Outstanding! More of this Victor. Controlled aggression putting big hits on with good technique and low risk of fouling combined with strong running and a bit of ball play as well. Deserved his try
May - We need to prioritise re-signing this bloke. An absolute beast off the bench who just keeps chewing metres and an offload machine to boot.
Whyte - Limited minutes but was decent enough in the time he got
Sandon Smith - Think we have something with this bloke. Always looks dangerous at the back end of games and got close to scoring a try on this occasion.
3 Teddy
2 Radley
1 Keary
May was very stiff to miss out and an honourable mention for the whole squad.
Obviously the Leniu incident will be in the news this week. At this stage I think we just sit back and see what comes of it before making a judgement.
Overall this was an excellent start but it is only a start. What this does do is already give us breathing room for the first half of the comp which on paper is the toughest part of our schedule. We have 8 games against last years top 8 in the first 12 and only 2 games in the 2nd 12.
Last point, Vegas was a great spectacle. It was a privilege to be involved and congratulations to both teams for providing a contest of this quality in round 1
Sorry for the long one but it's nice to be in this position after round 1 for once. Let's hope this continues throughout the season.
