Dragons v Broncos Rd 3 2023

[R&WTILLIDIE]

Happy with the effort overall barring the last 10 which was probably going to happen because of the circumstances in the previous 30 minutes.

In the context of the game the Sullivan kick for the Lomax no try wasn’t the right play but I’m sort of ok with it because that’s what the good players do.
If they play safe & go for a repeat set the likelihood of getting the ball back from a short dropout are slim anyway as we are not real good at contesting them.

Mate. I thought that Sullivan had a blinder. The try he scored was brilliant. And if he pulled that kick off. Then that just would have added to it. How Mbye was ahead of him last year I will never know

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

agreed he looks either unfit or injured. He doesn't seem to have a high workrate.

well. He was playing in hot and humid conditions and is around 40 years old. I’m no scientician. But this is a young man’s game. It’s not rocket surgery.

 

[R&WTILLIDIE]

First 30-35 minutes of the game we played with energy and made limited mistakes.

Too many mistakes, wrong options, poor refereeing calls in the second half eventually brought us undone.

very happy overall with the performance of Sloan and Sullivan.

Agree with other forum members that 2 of the Broncos tries were not tries.

We ran out of gas because we had very little ball in the second half.

JDB will tighten up the middle. Young Coachman’s energy and tackling efficiency were missed.

Plenty of potential.

Let’s see how the boys react next week.

Good assessment.

 

[Dragon David]

Some observations ,
the young guys went ok,,sloan sullivan etc
Sloan did admirably esp under the high ball
Mbye should be on the bench as Liddle offers so much more
The inclusion of JDB and Couchman will tighten up or defence significantly.
Bird struggling..Would be best starting from the bench and coming on after 20 mins
BMM and Musgrove better served in short bursts , esp after the opening exchanges
Bench to consist of Mbye Bird BMM Musgrove Amone 18th
Kerr going so much better this season and pressing for a starting spot
Sullivans kicking game , esp long range, is so much better than Hunts and should be used more
Coaching staff need to address the teams "flat spot" which occurred again yesterday early in the 2nd half for 15 mins , when the intensity levels dropped alarmingly. This happens every match and we appear rudderless .
The team appears much sharper when Sullivan runs the attack , appears to have more options and has the opposition on the back foot.
Hopefully we can snare the two Eagles boys for this season to assist Lawrie esp with the opening exchanges.
Overall the score flattered the Broncs and our overall performance gives us some hope to be competitive with most sides given Even luck and or Refs Calls.
And Finally , the chatter for an 18th team to join the NRL in 2025 is getting louder by the day. If this Club is seriously considering changing Coaches , they better get moving , as Coaching contenders for the new franchise are already being tossed about.

I'm still worried that our stubborn minded dickheads in the lofty tower will want to keep Hook. They will delay their decision as long as possible and by then, yes, anyone of any coaching strength better than Hook will disappear and the Board will say, we lost the opportunity to sign any other guy because of some useless reason.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

TBH it was close enough / good enough when you saw the 1st shot as he got over the line
I am happy to spend less time with the bunker

Lomax /Cobbo was close enough / good enough as well, are we going to start awarding tries for that, might as well make it NFL rules

 

[Lovemedragons]

I havmt been watching your games closely but wondering what your thoughts so far are in regards to Mbye and Liddle ?
I've always rated rated Liddle , as long as he is running behind dominate pack . WestsTigers couldn't provide anywhere near one so hoping Saints can provide a little bit more for him.

he should have been put on 8 minutes earlier than he was and he should have been left on. if he had to put Mbye back on then he needs his head read.
Referee was tough on anything we even looked like doing whereas the Broncos were given alot of leeway in the rucks all night, it wore us down.
promising signs but need a good coaching effort now to keep the improvement coming in coming weeks.

 

[Lovemedragons]

I thought there was an offside from the 2nd try of the reynolds kick when Staggs scored. never got to see that again either. Could of been wrong
But Tyrell needs to show more gusto in cleaning up / picking up the ball when in the vicinity. Needs to put more his body on the line in those situations and show the desire to beat whoever else is there

Sloan needs to look at that replay a few times and learn from it, he could have shown a bit more endeavour to get to that ball first, a try was on the line.

 

[Lovemedragons]

What I saw at the ground Murdoch - Masila dropped he's unfit needs time in NSW Cup

he also gave away a dumb penalty at a crucial time when we least needed it.

 

[I'm Hornby]

he should have been put on 8 minutes earlier than he was and he should have been left on. if he had to put Mbye back on then he needs his head read.
Referee was tough on anything we even looked like doing whereas the Broncos were given alot of leeway in the rucks all night, it wore us down.
promising signs but need a good coaching effort now to keep the improvement coming in coming weeks.

On Mbye, he was brought back on with 8 minutes to go and the Broncos had already scored to go in front.
The Broncos then scored another three tries in that 8 minutes, we hardly touched the ball during that period.

With some of the comments on this from posters you'd think Mbye let the three tries in himself, in reality he wasn't even involved in the missed tackles that led to those tries. He also did a decent enough job in the first 25 mins of the game.

It will be great if Liddle can get to a point with his fitness where he can play 80 minutes but the past few seasons he has missed extended periods with injury, he is playing really well and I'd prefer he builds his way in to playing more minutes than getting himself injured in the early rounds because he was pushed too hard.

 

[Slippery Morris]

I think the Broncos have been the standout team of the opening rounds and did not expect the Dragons to win but the Saints gave it a fair crack for 70 mins. A couple of really dodgy tries as mentioned above and the Bunker quick to award these. 18-18 with 10 to go you would never of expected the score to finish 40-18 the way Saints were playing. It is only their 2nd game of the season and it was in extremely hot conditions with no drinks break which I don't see why they could not bring that in for player welfare.

The guys off the bench made great contributions again which was good. Sloan and Sullivan getting better each week. Suli silly error from the drop out. What was he thinking? From a penalty to Saints in front to a Bronco's penalty then a try. What a turn of events from a stupid play. That I feel turned the game and momentum swung the Bronco's way and they simply capitalised it. Reynolds ran the show. Haas destroyed the Saints in the last 7min. He was a beast and Saints had no answer. They did well to contain him and Walters was smart to give him a big break and bring him on the last 7 mins. Smart coaching. I think Bronco's will be top 4 for sure this season.

Next week against the Sharks will be another test for the boys.

 

[Lovemedragons]

On Mbye, he was brought back on with 8 minutes to go and the Broncos had already scored to go in front.
The Broncos then scored another three tries in that 8 minutes, we hardly touched the ball during that period.

With some of the comments on this from posters you'd think Mbye let the three tries in himself, in reality he wasn't even involved in the missed tackles that led to those tries. He also did a decent enough job in the first 25 mins of the game.

It will be great if Liddle can get to a point with his fitness where he can play 80 miss but the past few seasons he has missed extended periods with injury, he is playing really well and I'd prefer he builds his way in to playing more minutes than getting himself injured in the early rounds because he was pushed too hard.

We could have put them away in that first half if Liddle had of got on a couple of attacking sets earlier, we had them on toast but Mbye is a pedestrian sadly, we quickly scored twice once we had a decent dummy half out there. Where is your evidence a young Liddle cannot play more minutes.?? i think he can and he should.

Mbye should be appointed captain of the reserve grade team and sent out to pasture - unless we get desperate with injuries or rep selection. Amone should take his position in FG.

 

[This Year?]

Disappointing that we fell away at the end of the game, but I think there were some good signs.
Liddle gives our attack more than 1 dimension. Hopefully he can play 80 minutes but if he can't we must have a different option to Mbye.
Our middles were pretty good and found a quick ruck after getting a decent run because of the space Liddle creates.
It was nice to see us actually play with shape and go two passes or more off the ruck.
Sloan slowly finding his place. Yes he got found out a bit but with more games will get better.
If we minimise the errors and kicking game was better we make it a bit easier for ourselves.
Our defence only fell away because the sheer amount of defence we had to do because of all the 6 agains/penalties/errors.

 

[matPORTS]

To summarise:

I certainly can't fault our effort. The Broncos sapped all the energy out of us in the end (along the with Queensland humidity which would have been stifling).

We still have a lot to learn though - both when it comes to the game plan (and adjusting this on the fly to suit what is happening live) and with the team selections. I'm not sure how sustainable it's going to be having Mbye starting at 9 (things just looked so much quicker and up tempo once Liddle came onto the field). Surely there is a better option?

 

[This Year?]

I havmt been watching your games closely but wondering what your thoughts so far are in regards to Mbye and Liddle ?
I've always rated rated Liddle , as long as he is running behind dominate pack . WestsTigers couldn't provide anywhere near one so hoping Saints can provide a little bit more for him.

Mbye is absolutey useless.
Liddle however is a breath of fresh air for our attack. I'm praying he doesn't get injured and so far he hasn't had to defend on his own like he had to at the Tigers.
Been really solid for us.

 

[Mojo]

To summarise:

I certainly can't fault our effort. The Broncos sapped all the energy out of us in the end (along the with Queensland humidity which would have been stifling).

We still have a lot to learn though - both when it comes to the game plan (and adjusting this on the fly to suit what is happening live) and with the team selections. I'm not sure how sustainable it's going to be having Mbye starting at 9 (things just looked so much quicker and up tempo once Liddle came onto the field). Surely there is a better option?

Muhl

 

[Saints Forever]

On Mbye, he was brought back on with 8 minutes to go and the Broncos had already scored to go in front.
The Broncos then scored another three tries in that 8 minutes, we hardly touched the ball during that period.

With some of the comments on this from posters you'd think Mbye let the three tries in himself, in reality he wasn't even involved in the missed tackles that led to those tries. He also did a decent enough job in the first 25 mins of the game.

It will be great if Liddle can get to a point with his fitness where he can play 80 miss but the past few seasons he has missed extended periods with injury, he is playing really well and I'd prefer he builds his way in to playing more minutes than getting himself injured in the early rounds because he was pushed too hard.

We know Liddle is injury problem so I am happy with a hooker rotation.

Mbye is a solid player but isn’t going to test the defence of the opposition.

I would not carry him on the bench.

In my view Amone can cover multiple positions in the backline, so he could slip into 6 when Liddle is off, with Sullivan moving to 9.

The team needs more energy and stamina in the forwards.

JDB & Coachman will improve the side and can play long minutes.

BMM, Musgrave and Kerr are best utilised in short intense bursts.

 

[Illusion]

We know Liddle is injury problem so I am happy with a hooker rotation.

Mbye is a solid player but isn’t going to test the defence of the opposition.

I would not carry him on the bench.

In my view Amone can cover multiple positions in the backline, so he could slip into 6 when Liddle is off, with Sullivan moving to 9.

The team needs more energy and stamina in the forwards.

JDB & Coachman will improve the side and can play long minutes.

BMM, Musgrave and Kerr are best utilised in short intense bursts.

We do have options , you can throw Hunt in at 9 also , well into a game and Amone and Sullivan in the halves , but doesn't look like Hook will do that ......

 

[I'm Hornby]

We could have put them away in that first half if Liddle had of got on a couple of attacking sets earlier, we had them on toast but Mbye is a pedestrian sadly, we quickly scored twice once we had a decent dummy half out there. Where is your evidence a young Liddle cannot play more minutes.?? i think he can and he should.

Mbye should be appointed captain of the reserve grade team and sent out to pasture - unless we get desperate with injuries or rep selection. Amone should take his position in FG.

Where did I say Liddle can't play more minutes?

I am sure he can as well but considering he has averaged 6 first grade games per season since debuting in 2016 and only played 10 games last year, I'd say managing his minutes and working on his fitness to get him in to 80 minutes is the best way to go.

Has Amone done alright in NSW cup the past two weeks? Why should he be rewarded for not being able to keep his nose clean in the off season?

Mbye's role currently is not a make or break, he is just a steady player who wont win us games but doesn't lose them for us either.

 

[RedVDave]

18 all 10 to play. Yes they played better than us the 2nd half. I said we hung in there well. Yes they ended up scoring 32-2 in the 2nd half
You summarise it as negative as you like

I prefer the term realistic forget the 32-2 second half score for a moment. We were up 16-8 at halftime 9 minutes into the second half we were down 18-16. The game was tied 18-18 with 10 to go and the piled 22 points on us. I don't think it's as rosey as people are suggesting we were beaten comprehensively by a much hungrier team though it looks as if we are at a stand still and will have to agree to disagree on last night's performance.

 

[Parko1310]

Where did I say Liddle can't play more minutes?

I am sure he can as well but considering he has averaged 6 first grade games per season since debuting in 2016 and only played 10 games last year, I'd say managing his minutes and working on his fitness to get him in to 80 minutes is the best way to go.

Has Amone done alright in NSW cup the past two weeks? Why should he be rewarded for not being able to keep his nose clean in the off season?

Mbye's role currently is not a make or break, he is just a ateasy player who wont win us games but doesn't lose them for us either.

Mbye's role is null. I'm not going to completely rip into him and say its his fault for the loss at all as its been alluded to by some. But come on mate, he has no role in this team. He gets completely dominated in the middle defensively, and provides no go forward out of acting half. I would suggest watching the first 22 odd minutes of the game yesterday back and looking at how pedestrian and non-direct the runs were from our forwards. Contrast that to when Liddle got on, took a step or two from dummy half and got the forwards on the front foot with those angling runs in behind the ruck. We need someone who at the very least can defend that first 20 at hooker and can do an admirable job at getting us on the front foot. Mbye is not that guy.