Broncos R19 in Brisbane.

[FlickFlano]

when he came off he went up the tunnel ... dont know if it was head/leg/what

 

[saintmar]

Hunt is NO LONGER NEEDED!!!

Hasn’t been required for 7 years

 

[steerlerbab]

Sloan needs to do what the fox did. Put kgs on his frame might loose a bit of speed but surely gives him confidence to put his body on the line.

Sloan is built like a middle distance runner. His body shape reminds me of El Guerrouj legendary 1500m Moroccan runner. Who knows if he had been identified as an athlete, he may have won gold for Australia. His body shape is not that of Rugby League player. Next time he stands next to Rawa, Tui, Lomax, or even Fegai twins, compare his Body shape and you will see what I mean.

If he wants to be a regular FG player, next off season, he should get to the Gym and do a lot of weight training and tackling practice. Otherwise, with Allan recovering and Flanno going after Talagi, he may find himself in the reserves.

 

[Runner]

I didnt realise he was injured again, I thought Flanno just wanted some fresh legs out there.

If hes done his hammy again chasing, honestly what a legend.. he did his job, Flanno said he had him on Ice for this game.. and he did his job.. we got thru the origin period.

I am not sure that he re injured his hammy but he really gave it everything in that chase so he could easily have done so.

 

[denis preston]

Sloane's performance in defence was very ordinary. He does not want to put his body on the line.

He does but it’s a body that needs maturing & a lot of gym work.

 

[denis preston]

I might be playing a bit of Devils Advocate here but I was actually pretty happy with Sloan's performance.

He was really good under the high ball all night, trailed well through the middle and looked pretty dangerous on the sweep.

In the end, I understand he missed 4 tackles that lead to 4 tries and that hurts. But... He was putting his body in front and getting a good piece on every single attempt. The Staggs tries were the worst, but also... Tackling Staggs 1 on 1 with a head full of steam, I wouldn't put my money on any fullback bar Edwards or Tedesco to get that job done.

The other two I believe is a result of poor defensive tactics...

Sloan would give away weight to just about every other player on the comp. Why is it, that our defensive structure allows him to be isolated so easily. Both Mozer and Mam saw Sloan by himself at A defender and took him on. He needs a bodyguard or the Marker needs to recognise that Sloan is a target (F. Molo and JDB in these cases) and protect him.

Like Beau Scott with Soward. If Soward ever got isolated, he was a hopeless defender. I liability to be honest. But when he had Beau Scott in his pocket... Noone wanted to run at him because well, Beau Scott would be there.

I'm just happy that Sloan was putting himself in front and I felt really sorry for him that he got run over 4 times, because the effort was there. And that is more than I can say for him last year or Dufty ever.

Happy with the win but I wish the dragons would lose the 'try not to lose' mentality and get ruthless. The Broncos were there for the taking but we got mentally in our own way trying to defend a lead rather than keep to what was working..

Also, the bullshit call of held when momentum was still there got me so angry. That was an absolute momentum changer for us and it was taken away by a shocking 'judgement call' when he never called held.

Clearly a popular post BDS !

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Sloan is built like a middle distance runner. His body shape reminds me of El Guerrouj legendary 1500m Moroccan runner. Who knows if he had been identified as an athlete, he may have won gold for Australia. His body shape is not that of Rugby League player. Next time he stands next to Rawa, Tui, Lomax, or even Fegai twins, compare his Body shape and you will see what I mean.

If he wants to be a regular FG player, next off season, he should get to the Gym and do a lot of weight training and tackling practice. Otherwise, with Allan recovering and Flanno going after Talagi, he may find himself in the reserves.

For every Sloany or Api, there’s scores of players with truly awesome physiques, massive power, speed and strength, but lacking that intangible gift of footy aptitude.

And the players that possess both talents, usually end up in reps.

Just from a basic injury perspective I think he’d benefit immensely by your submission.

And memory serves, as an example, he’s club through and through. That’s never been more important these days, not just you guys, but many of us trying to compete with the nrl club super powers.

 

[maestro1]

Did anyone notice Kevvie bristle in the Press Conference when one of the journos suggested that the Broncos improved when Blake Mozer came on. He quickly come back at the journos with how well Billy Walters played. He then rather meekly added that Mozer went well.

 

[TheRev]

Did anyone notice Kevvie bristle in the Press Conference when one of the journos suggested that the Broncos improved when Blake Mozer came on. He quickly come back at the journos with how well Billy Walters played. He then rather meekly added that Mozer went well.

Checking a few facebook posts.. its the same here as Flanno deals with his son, big chunk of their fans on the nepotism bus, and nothing shifts them.. I actually thought BWalters was very dangerous when he was on, I was using a lot of swear words at him at the way he was carrying on like a tool towards sloan (mam also), but I thought he was playing well.

Not sure how many minutes Mozer can do, but big wraps on him also..

I think one of the few father/sons immune are the Clearys, but its not too difficult when ur son is the australian halfback and has 3 premierships.

 

[justadragon]

Here is the eternal question !!!! How long would Flanno give Sloan to at least become the complete player ??? If we look forward, we are losing Lomax, so as far as I'm concerned he is out of the picture. We have Allen and Matt Feagai, we are chasing Blaize, and over the horizon we have some pretty good juniors. I personally like the kid but he had a poor defensive performance, everything else was pretty good, even though I think his attacking play has dropped off, that comes with other teams working him out, he has to find other ways to counter that, along with our game plans.
I also think when we are defending our line we need him to be out wider from the ruck and let our forwards handle that defence. Also he cant be out too wide without protection, ala Soward and Scott as was previously mentioned.

So whats the timeframe people ??? This year was the excuse of a limited preseason due to injury, next year everybody else will be online, so what does Flanno do ??

As I said I like the kid and I hope they persist with him and he becomes all that he can be, as a great Dragons player. My thoughts would turn to if by some miracle Ramsay made it back, what would we do ?

 

[Captain Apollo]

With this game, it was noticeable how much better the Dragons attack looked with Jesse Marschke playing more a traditional halfback/first receiver role - organising the side and being willing to take the line on himself and run the ball. The Dragons looked far sharper as it enabled Kyle Flanagan to not have to worry about doing the organising, which is not his strongest attribute in my opinion.

 

[maestro1]

Ben Hunt has a great running game. For some inexplicable reason he has stopped using it. He is trying too hard to be Jonathan Thurston. He needs to revert back to his strengths and leave the organisation to KFlann or Marske.

 

[Dragon David]

Here is the eternal question !!!! How long would Flanno give Sloan to at least become the complete player ??? If we look forward, we are losing Lomax, so as far as I'm concerned he is out of the picture. We have Allen and Matt Feagai, we are chasing Blaize, and over the horizon we have some pretty good juniors. I personally like the kid but he had a poor defensive performance, everything else was pretty good, even though I think his attacking play has dropped off, that comes with other teams working him out, he has to find other ways to counter that, along with our game plans.
I also think when we are defending our line we need him to be out wider from the ruck and let our forwards handle that defence. Also he cant be out too wide without protection, ala Soward and Scott as was previously mentioned.

So whats the timeframe people ??? This year was the excuse of a limited preseason due to injury, next year everybody else will be online, so what does Flanno do ??

As I said I like the kid and I hope they persist with him and he becomes all that he can be, as a great Dragons player. My thoughts would turn to if by some miracle Ramsay made it back, what would we do ?

Hi justa

I will write something on this on the Sloan thread. Cheers DD

 

[Slippery Morris]

Saints have to thank the NRL draw this year as 2 wins against the Grand Finalists from last year made it so much easier. That is 4 points you would not expect Saints to get if SOO was not impacting the draw as it does.

Great 1st half and I think Sloan held his own. Obvious target. Soward was an awful defender and Saints won a comp by simply having Beau Scott act as the body guard in attack. The same needs to happen with Sloan for now. He will get there. I have seen Bula, Kini, Armstrong, Walsh, Kennedey etc get smashed close to the line but going off comments it appears that it only happens to Sloan. Some people are way to critical on the kid.

How good was Sua' and Liddle. I want to give these 2 a wrap. They were the stand outs. In the first 50 or so minutes all players were good but them momentum turned due to some really strange calls. What is it with Saints being penalised with taking guys over the line. First Dogs and then Broncos. It is so inconsistent and appears each ref has a different interpretation of the rule. They need this rule clarified. The ref did warn Flanno not to challenge so I am not sure why he did. He burnt a challenge for nothing.

Anyway, a win is a win and 24 points after 20 rounds is a great season. No reason why Saints can not get to 28 by the end of the season which I think will be a great season a definitely a pass mark. They only need to really work on defence in the off season and we will see a finals game with the Saints possibly next season.

 

[baggygreen man]

Rava did well as usual, hitups were strong, generally pushed through the tackles, good PCM

Was dropped for his stupidity, poor defensive reading and lack of speed. One massive slowish winger in CT is sufficient. Need a speedster to replace Lomax, say Sione Finau eh Flanagan.

 

[baggygreen man]

Great 1st half and I think Sloan held his own. Obvious target. Soward was an awful defender and Saints won a comp by simply having Beau Scott act as the body guard in attack. The same needs to happen with Sloan for now. He will get there. I have seen Bula, Kini, Armstrong, Walsh, Kennedey etc get smashed close to the line but going off comments it appears that it only happens to Sloan. Some people are way too critical on the kid.

Slippery.

 

[kit66]

Going back through the game and noticed how much the Broncs got away with in the tackles -a couple of blatant shoulder charges by Walters - no attempt to use his arms - one of those was into Sloan's back when he was going down and being held by two other tacklers, grub / Tapau in the 15th minute of the second half slams his forearm down on Couchman's head on the ground, / Bris could have been pinged a dozen times for markers not square just in the first half alone, not to mention wrestling and hands on the ball nearly every tackle.

People are saying the penalty for dragging a bronc into touch was the turning point but I reckon it turned when Feagai bombed a certain try minutes before. The Broncs may well have packed it in if we went 32 or 34-6 up, it would have given us more impetus anyway.
Was it Kevvies cunning plan to target Sloan with heavy defence in the 1st half then target him in attack in the second ? Well it worked, Sloan makes a few better tackles and we win a lot more comfortably. Got to fix that shit or he'll find himself on the wing with a Feagai at the back.

I'm still waiting for us to put in an 80 minute dominant performance, we only seem to manage 55 minutes of top notch footy. Come to think of it, that's an improvement on our previous 40 minute performances but still, maybe the coaches need to work on their fitness. I'm at a loss as to why this continues to happen, we suddenly cave and the opposition seem to sense it and lift. Flanno uses the bench really well I would have thought so that's not an issue.
Our discipline has improved out of sight with good completions and less silly penalties and 6 agains - but again, that lasts for 55 minutes or so then goes out the window.
Just give me 1 or 2 80 minute games to show you can actually do it boys, say against Penrith and Melb would be nice.

One other thing - our big fellas should have stood up for Sloan more and given it to Walters and Mam for beating up on our fullback !

 

[baggygreen man]

Or was that the tactic? To niggle and attack Sloan to get him off his game?

Probablly. He was also heavily covered as the ponies know how dangerous he is given space. Ginnane said the same.

 

[baggygreen man]

One other thing - our big fellas should have stood up for Sloan more and given it to Walters and Mam for beating up on our fullback !

 

[sammymills]

Going back through the game and noticed how much the Broncs got away with in the tackles -a couple of blatant shoulder charges by Walters - no attempt to use his arms - one of those was into Sloan's back when he was going down and being held by two other tacklers, grub / Tapau in the 15th minute of the second half slams his forearm down on Couchman's head on the ground, / Bris could have been pinged a dozen times for markers not square just in the first half alone, not to mention wrestling and hands on the ball nearly every tackle.

People are saying the penalty for dragging a bronc into touch was the turning point but I reckon it turned when Feagai bombed a certain try minutes before. The Broncs may well have packed it in if we went 32 or 34-6 up, it would have given us more impetus anyway.
Was it Kevvies cunning plan to target Sloan with heavy defence in the 1st half then target him in attack in the second ? Well it worked, Sloan makes a few better tackles and we win a lot more comfortably. Got to fix that shit or he'll find himself on the wing with a Feagai at the back.

I'm still waiting for us to put in an 80 minute dominant performance, we only seem to manage 55 minutes of top notch footy. Come to think of it, that's an improvement on our previous 40 minute performances but still, maybe the coaches need to work on their fitness. I'm at a loss as to why this continues to happen, we suddenly cave and the opposition seem to sense it and lift. Flanno uses the bench really well I would have thought so that's not an issue.
Our discipline has improved out of sight with good completions and less silly penalties and 6 agains - but again, that lasts for 55 minutes or so then goes out the window.
Just give me 1 or 2 80 minute games to show you can actually do it boys, say against Penrith and Melb would be nice.

One other thing - our big fellas should have stood up for Sloan more and given it to Walters and Mam for beating up on our fullback !

losing RFM in the warmup wasnt optimal. I think the bench wouldve worked even better if luciano came on after 30 mins would have really put the knife in. He played fantastic dont get me wrong but hes better if he plays limited minutes and can have an impact.