My thoughts on the game and other things.
Canberra schooled us. As hard as that is to say and to swallow they schooled us. This is a side with what? 2 Origin players and those 2 Origin players only made it in through injury.
How so? Their defence was aggressive, in your face and they had the desire to win. They had the gameplan to win too, their attacking plays especially close to the line had a bit of structure to them.
Compare this to Brisbane. Our defence only lumbard up, we made some nice hits, but at other times our defence was down right embarassing. It wasn't in your face and there was little to no pressure.
Our attack was dull and frustrating. Our team isn't a team, it's a bunch of individuals and Lockyer is the glue that's slowly but surely fading away.
Firstly how to improve. DEFENCE, I know the cliche however if it's done right defence can win matches and we need to do that. Remember the match against the Bulldogs? It was clear our intense defence won us that match alone and IMO was our best win this season bar none.
Secondly attack and positioning of players. Boyd is a fine fullback. Not great, just fine. Tupou needs more clean ball. This man is becoming a game breaker. He has the strength the speed and most of all the power to score us tries and so we need more plays with him. He needs Hodges inside of him IMO. Hodges creates a lot of half chances which Tupou could exploit.
Tate and Hodges do need to trade centres though. Tate is a right centre, not a left centre. That's where he's scored his memorable Origin try and that's where he looks his most dangerous. While on the wing, either Scott Minto comes back or Bennent gives young Dennan Kemp a try. This man certainly knows the word try as he has been scoring a lot of them in the QRL and is long overdue for a shot in the NRL.
Lockyer is fine he just needs more support, Perry needs a lot more game time and needs to take the pressure off Lockyer more.
Webcke is fine. Berrigan is a mixed bag. The more he gets the ball out and mixes things up in dummy half the better. He did the same dummy half play 4 times and it achieved the same results. A gain of only 4 metres.
Petero is looking tired and maybe a shift to the bench would be a fine wake up call if not an axeing. Brad Thorn...THIS GUY IS NOT A SECOND ROWER ANYMORE WAYNE! He may of played a fine game against the Raiders but he's too slow and it slows our side down even more with the likes of Petero and Webcke. Second Row? If Parker doesn't get the call to Second Row I am deadset not here. He is what's needed.
Carroll is a mixed bag too. In attack he has nothing however in defence he's inspirational. IMO he needs a shift to the bench. He played his best game of the season off the bench and needs to do that with Eastwood slotting into lock.
Bench...hmmm Thaiday is basically doing what is needed, making an impact. He speeds up the tempo of the game IMO and needs to retain his spot. Who else was there? Kenny, I like the look of him honestly and the more game time the better he'll become. Costigan is a mixed bag and currently doesn't belong in our side sadly.
Hannant needs to come back IMO. He retained the hard running game of Webcke when he came on and that was what the side needed. I wouldn't actually mind risking him as starting prop and Petero dropping to the bench. Shake things up a bit.
Carlaw, I know he has a lot of criticism but I thought he was showing signs of form. He wouldn't do too bad in the starting second row position. He's just one yard of pace off breaking the line and becoming destructive again. If not starting side bench.
Stagg is solid...but is becoming the definition of the word nuffie. McGuire is the definition of the word nuffie and the sooner he stops wearing the jersey the better.
So my side would look like this for Round 24:
1. Darius Boyd
2. Dennan Kemp
3. Brent Tate
4. Justin Hodges
5. Tame Tupou
6. Darren Lockyer (c)
7. Shane Perry
8. Shane Webcke
9. Shaun Berrigan
10. Ben Hannant
11. Dane Carlaw
12. Corey Parker
13. Greg Eastwood
14. Brad Thorn
15. Petero Civoniceiva
16. Sam Thaiday
17. Tonie Carroll
18. Nick Kenny
19. David Stagg
However Bennent isn't going to listen to what I have to say...infact he chose basically the exact same side...
It's going to be a hard time Broncos fans...chins up.
Dazzat as much as everyone was giving you a hammering I knew what you were saying or trying to say. That we should focus on the positive. It's the right spirit, just fans don't want to hear it (for good reasons).
