Elimination Final 1 vs. Cowboys Discussion and Voting

[GoTheBroncs]

So many of these guys are shadows of themselves right now.

Remember when Reed shut down players with ease, Gillett breaking tackles and setting up tries?

Throw Hoffman in there too. In 2010, great player, thought we had the fullback spot post K Hunt all sorted out. Now I'm wondering if he is one of the worst fullbacks in the NRL. Bizarre...

 

[GoTheBroncs]

I may be wrong, but I would think that the Broncos would be in the bottom 2-3 team when it comes to off-loads. We are so pedestrian.

Anthony Griffin will have to re-think his tactics for next year. To much safety first for me.

My guess is that you would be right.

The most frustrating thing is that our attack is so pedestrian yet we will manage to make a whole bunch of errors!!! :crazy:

 

[Big Pete]

Is it surprising that all those players mentioned require serious surgery?

 

[typicalfan]

Throw Hoffman in there too. In 2010, great player, thought we had the fullback spot post K Hunt all sorted out. Now I'm wondering if he is one of the worst fullbacks in the NRL. Bizarre...

I thought his season went downhill quick after Inglis destroyed him. Hasn't been the same since.

I know you don't agree but confidence to me is the biggest issue. When you guys were flying i put it down to confidence as well I was never sure of the Broncos being contenders. Broncos do seem to try to play percentages a bit too much but they are good habits. I think you guys are searching for your next superstar half though. Langer, Lockyer....who is next?

 

[unbreaK]

Is it surprising that all those players mentioned require serious surgery?

I'm not really up to date on the surgery situations, who needs what surgery in the off-season?

I thought his season went downhill quick after Inglis destroyed him. Hasn't been the same since.

I know you don't agree but confidence to me is the biggest issue. When you guys were flying i put it down to confidence as well I was never sure of the Broncos being contenders. Broncos do seem to try to play percentages a bit too much but they are good habits. I think you guys are searching for your next superstar half though. Langer, Lockyer....who is next?

Hoffman was bad before that, although I do agree that shook him up a lot. We have been pretty unlucky with injuries this year, I think losing Yow Yeh in the first couple of weeks hurt us as well, he is our best finisher when he's fit which is one of the major things we were lacking this season.

All things said and done Hoffman either has to get back to his best form in the off-season / pre-season or we need to start thinking of another option, and fast.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

I thought his season went downhill quick after Inglis destroyed him. Hasn't been the same since.

I know you don't agree but confidence to me is the biggest issue. When you guys were flying i put it down to confidence as well I was never sure of the Broncos being contenders. Broncos do seem to try to play percentages a bit too much but they are good habits. I think you guys are searching for your next superstar half though. Langer, Lockyer....who is next?

Hoffman had a blinder in QLD cup a few weeks ago. Showed no sign of lack of confidence at all.. Maybe that is just his level of football these days. Like Capewell (though Hoffman is better than Capewell).

Imo the Broncos were never 'flying'. Yes they were winning games, but maybe only 1-2 of those were convincing. Me personally I could see the deficiencies in our attack even when we were winning games. Most fans turn a blind eye to this when we are winning. We have had trouble scoring from inside the opposition 20 all season imo. Throughout the year teams grow, get smarter. Other teams just worked out the Broncos. The video session must go for about 30 mins as there is not much to cover.

I do think our forwards are lacking confidence. Both Hannant and McGuire are better players than how they are playing the last few weeks.

I think there is a level of arrogance at the Broncos that there is this expectation where the superstars will just appear from within. History shows that this is the case, but I do not think anyone is willing to admit it is not happening at the moment. I think the board needs to swallow their pride a little and look at recruiting a superstar.

 

[Bretto]

I think the surgery/injury list would be:

McGuire: Eye
Thaiday: Groin/Hip
Glenn: Hamstring
Reed: Leg
Copley: Leg
Hoffman: Foot
Hodges: Everything.

 

[ThePearl]

I didn't think Norman was that bad early on. He actually passed it and Reed almost scored. But it didn't last long. He went back to the ball hog.
Thank goodness for Hodges. I called it last week, we should've rolled the dice with Hodges at fullback. We had nothing to lose!

 

[GoTheBroncs]

Is it surprising that all those players mentioned require serious surgery?

If they are incapable of playing anywhere near their best because of these injuries, then isn't it better off to let someone else play?

Look at Nate Myles. There is no way in hell he should have been playing the last month, yet he has been the Titan's best.

I'm not saying that injury is not affecting them. But they need to decide that if the injury is going to cause them to play this shithouse then its better off playing someone not injured.

The excuses are getting kind of old. I'm pretty sure that there would be a whole bunch of other players in the NRL who need off-season surgery, it's not uncommon.

 

[Nerd]

Got the result I expected.

Hope the Cows can do a job on Manly and go all the way!

I agree with the above on Hoffman. Hodges goes to fullback and we look much more potent in attack.

 

[typicalfan]

Nate Myles is a seasoned veteran known for his toughness. This is why kids who come into the grade take a while to find their feet. They come in fresh then injuries occur and they aren't experienced at playing through certain injuries. Most players in the NRL play with injuries, most don't get reported. Then these experienced players target the young ones with a bit of a niggle and all of a sudden their confidence drops. That is why sometimes what a team needs is more experience. Hopefully Thaiday can return at somewhere near full fitness and get going again.

 

[ThePearl]

Injuries are no excuse. Every team has injuries. It only comes out if they lose.

 

[Big Pete]

Comparing apples to oranges bringing Myles' name into it. It's a credit to him that he's playing on with a sternum injury but they don't affect you as much as some of the injuries those players are carrying & he's not playing in a team struggling with as many injuries as ours is.

Hoffman (sternum + ankle), Copley (leg), Reed (leg), Glenn (hamstring), Thaiday (groin + shoulder), Parker (shoulder), Gillett (shoulder?) & McGuire (eye) are all dealing with injuries that should have ended their season but they've had to come into a side with absolutely no confidence playing against sides with complete confidence and they're coming up with typical mistakes you'd expect given the circumstances.

Excuse maybe old, but that's just the reality of the situation. When you throw in injuries to Yow Yeh, Kahu, Hala, Anderson etc. well there really isn't any wonder why we were bundled out so emphatically.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

Meh, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. In my mind, just making excuses like this prevents you from dealing with the real problems.

The Cowboys are a better side, simple as that. Until the coaching staff admit that there are serious problems with our attack, not much is going to change unfortunately.

3. Hodges
2. Glenn
1. Copley

 

[ThePearl]

Even if our blokes were all 100% we would have still lost tonight. We just don't have the talent. Our spine is woeful. We have have no structure in attack.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

Comparing apples to oranges bringing Myles' name into it. It's a credit to him that he's playing on with a sternum injury but they don't affect you as much as some of the injuries those players are carrying & he's not playing in a team struggling with as many injuries as ours is.

Hoffman (sternum + ankle), Copley (leg), Reed (leg), Glenn (hamstring), Thaiday (groin + shoulder), Parker (shoulder), Gillett (shoulder?) & McGuire (eye) are all dealing with injuries that should have ended their season but they've had to come into a side with absolutely no confidence playing against sides with complete confidence and they're coming up with typical mistakes you'd expect given the circumstances.

Excuse maybe old, but that's just the reality of the situation. When you throw in injuries to Yow Yeh, Kahu, Hala, Anderson etc. well there really isn't any wonder why we were bundled out so emphatically.

We had our best 17 out there (barring Yow Yeh), and it simply wasn't enough to match up against Thurston, Bowen, Scott, Tamou.

Sure those injuries aren't ideal, but that is not the reason we lost the game imo.

 

[Big Pete]

I don't think it was the main reason either but it certainly affected not only this game but every game since R16 vs. Souths.

Hook should have changed things up, it was clear he was still basing his gameplan around having a fully fit forward pack but that's difficult to do when players are in one week and unavailable the next.

It's frustrating and I think this patch of form has brought out the worse in not only them but us as fans as well.

I really don't think it's a coincidence that the players who are booked in for post-season surgery are those who struggled the most. Whether it was that bad or they just used it as a crutch to excuse themselves when times got tough remains to be seen. Right now, it doesn't really matter and won't matter till around March next year.

 

[Big Pete]

3. Justin Hodges
2. Peter Wallace
1. Andrew McCullough

Honorable Mentions: Copley, Civoniceiva, Thaiday, Glenn, Gillett

 

[josh1111]

Just to many errors, knew we were up against it when Beal slips picking up the ball knocking it on. Cowboys gave us nothing, don't think we got a penalty until the 65 minute mark. It's not all doom and gloom, i thought we were still a chance up until the cowboys got a bulls**t call for a strip and went 14 in front. We needed to get our share of 50/50 calls which we haven't seemed to be getting for the last month of two. We have a young side and they will be better for it next year. Not how we wanted to finish the year but they never gave up PROUD TO BE A BRONCOS SUPPORTER!!!!!!!!

 

[DeeJ]

3. Hodges
2. McCullough
1. Wallace

-100 Hoffman, please never play for the Broncos again.