NYC 2012 Thread

[Vol-Crane-O]

Brilliant! Thanks for the wrap-up.

 

[Broncos thats my team]

Seen them on TV, how?

And yeah, 3 of our best players are playing QCup and we have a few key injuries as well.

Sorry I meant I have seen the Titans on TV not Broncos.

 

[Leagueaddict]

Thanks Big Pete, loved all the background info.

Cheers!

 

[GoTheBroncs]

The warriors were too big, strong and fast. It seemed like an unfair match-up somehow, the Warriors bench came on one by one seemingly bigger than the previous.

The Broncos showed glimpses of some enterprising footy, but were either not quick enough or lacked execution to get across the line.

I think it's hard to say who the standards are when you are so dominated in the forwards. Sorry I didn't have any audio, so I'm not sure what the players names are. Our fullback has good footwork (Levi I think), but lacks a bit of raw pace. Number 10 had a good game considering how much our forwards were dominated. Thought Tristan Lumley was ok, but again top flight speed a concern. Must admit I was pretty disappointed with Timu, after seeing his stats for previous games I was expecting a bit more. Maybe he had an off day, or the Warriors didn't let him have a good game.

All in all I couldn't really spot any obvious future stars. I guess its hard when you are so completely dominated... and they are only very young.

 

[Big Pete]

Warriors 34 def. Brisbane Broncos 10 (Lumley, Webster tries; Frisby 1/2)

Good summary GTB and I agree with pretty much everything. I don't think that scoreline was really all that reflective of the game, Brisbane were in the arm wrestle for long durations and like their senior brethren were only one last pass away from troubling the Warriors.

Team write up...

Daniel Levi - Our MotM, troubled everytime he had the ball, featuring in a couple of big breaks and threw a great ball to set up Lumley's try. Defensively he struggled taking the big Kiwi men on and was guilty of popping risky passes but otherwise a good showing.
Rhett Webster - I thought our entire backline did a really good job out of dummy half and that's where we really troubled them. Solid performance all-round.
Matt Berwick - Good game away from him blowing an important try. We kept catching them short down his side so like Levi all his runs were pretty valuable and I thought he came up with a couple of good defensive plays too. Just a shame he didn't attempt a better put down, that try would have changed the complexion of the match.
Soape Palau - Really liked what I saw of Palau, made a couple of valuable runs out of dummy half to give us early momentum in our sets.
Tristian Lumley - Again, did a good job out of dummy half. Otherwise he didn't do all that much.
Louis Frisby - It's funny how much this game mirrored the senior game. A lot of his last tackle plays were pretty poor and that's what really hurt us in the end. Made a couple of good choices from time to time but not enough.
Kodi Nikorima - Pretty much the same but probably worse. He looked so out of place out there against the bigger players and it showed at times. Probably came up with our worst 5th tackle options and while he did a couple of nice things I just don't think he's up to this standard just yet. Also lost the ball when the try line was beckoning but I'm of the opinion the onus was on Levi who should have just held the ball.
Stephen Coombe - One of our better defenders, unfortunately didn't pose enough of a threat up front which meant the backs generally had to cover for him.
Chris Binge - Ordinary service killed our momentum at times or resulted in mistakes. Can see a diamond in the rough but hooker isn't his position and he's going to have to lose the puppy fat.
Daniel Alvaro - Good game from Alvaro, involved himself a lot more and sold a great dummy to bust them open for what should have been a try scoring set.
Caleb Timu - Heavily involved and I can see why he's rated but definitely not his best game. Didn't like his attitude at times, didn't seem to be chasing as hard as what he should have, made a couple of cheap errors and his decision making while we were making breaks were a bit poor. He could be something special but he's going to have to take time.
Brandon Lee - Solid game from Lee, thought he made a couple of good charges and wasn't afraid to throw himself at the big Kiwi forwards.
Benn Malley - Defensively solid, like Lee just kept throwing himself at forwards attempting to slow their momentum. Didn't do all that much in attack unfortunately.

Mitch Moore - Only had a short 20 minute or so stint but was good enough to make a break which finished in another bomb try. Size was an issue which is why I think he was taken off but a decent cameo all the same.
Travis Peeters - A little quiet. Came in and that's when we started to lose our grip on the game.
Josh Seage - An energetic performance, came on late and was using his foot work really well to get inbetween defenders and poke his nose through constantly. Another good cameo.
Richard Tuala - Pretty much the same as Peeters. Came on, made a couple of decent runs but the Kiwis started to run away with the game at that point.

 

[Big Pete]

Alright off the android and on the main PC now.

Basically...

Arrived just as the second half started. Seems like the boys made their comeback just as I was walking to the stadium.

Manly scored the first try off the weight of possession on the back of some cheap errors. Just went wide & Stickland caught us short out-wide.

Brisbane responded almost immediately through a soft penalty. Ball went out to Frisby who danced through to score.

Went back to back after two consecutive penalties with Timu crashing over in a similar fashion of Te'o against the Warriors. Try was coming a mile away.

Manly hit back after another error from us scoring through a cross field kick straight to Cooper.

We repaid the favour with a big bomb into the lights which Gutherson made a meal of & Nikorima cleaned up the scraps to give us a huge lead.

From there we got a bit too ahead of ourselves. Perfect example here is Frisby kicking a perfect 40/20 only to lose it on tackle one. Manly scored two fairly soft tries - one to Strickland which was a carbon copy of his first & a second to huge prop Lemalu who scored untouched on the fringe.

Manly threatened to score a few times but kept making errors. I missed what happened in the end, but the last Broncos try came after the full-try siren. Manly had the penalty, kicked out then somehow Nikorima ended up with it and he raced away to bring up the 50.

TL;DR - A scrappy game where team's took advantage of penalties or mistakes to score points. Defence was incredibly soft too, even for 20s.

Brisbane Broncos 52 (Nikorima 3, Timu 2, Lumley 2, Moore, Frisby tries; Frisby 8/9 goals) def. Manly Sea Eagles 36

 

[Big Pete]

On what I saw of the players...

Levi - Quiet second half but did everything asked of him in the back and was quite difficult to get a hold of.
Webster - Good out of dummy half, nothing more nothing less really.
Berwick - Strong out of dummy half, took a lot to bring him down.
Palau - Has good footwork & is making a lot of halfbreaks with little initiative.
Lumley - See Webster
Frisby - Mixed, did some great things like kick a 40/20, scored a nice try with his footwork & set up Nikorima's try with a great bomb but I thought he took some dud options at times that ended up inviting Manly back in the game. Didn't like his finish to the game at all.
Nikorima - Despite scoring 3 tries I didn't really think that much of him.
Coombe - Got through plenty of work but didn't trouble the defensive line one bit.
Binge - Must have got injured before the second half. Didn't see him.
Alvaro - Reminds me of a younger Hannant in a sense. Isn't too much of a handful but displays better footwork than his partner.
Timu - Was a class above today when he got his hands on the ball. Looked like the other players were in slow-mo when he had the ball & if he wasn't making big runs he was getting quick play the balls. Hard to handle & I think it'd be cool to see him training up with a QRL side. Defence is still an issue.
Lee - A solid tradesman like performance. Takes plenty of tough runs through the middle and makes a modest amount of metres with each charge.
Malley - Don't remember him being out there.
Moore - Solid, don't remember thinking there were any issues and thought he did well to hold up a pass in one of the lead ups.
Tuala - Tall & a little lanky, was hard for the defence to get down at times but looked to be sucking in the big ones at time defensively.
Adams - A big hitter, put on a couple of rib rattlers you could hear clearly from the stands. Struggled with the pace at times.
Molo - He's back! Were rumours that he'd gone back to NZ but I guess the shoulder rehab lasted longer than expected. Big fella, just like Tuala who was difficult to put down & earned some nice penalties.

Hope that helps somebody out there.

 

[Vol-Crane-O]

Thankyou! I love these wrap-ups

 

[Big Pete]

Team vs. Storm

1. Daniel Levi
2. Jarrod Watson
3. Matthew Berwick
4. Soape Palau
5. Tristian Lumley
6. Louis Frisby
7. Kodi Nikorima
8. Stephen Coombe
9. Mitchell Moore
10. Daniel Alvaro
11. Caleb Timu
12. Ajuma Adams
13. Benn Malley

14. Cam Cullen
15. Richard Tuala
16. Brandon Lee
17. Francis Molo

http://www.leagueunlimited.com/article.php?newsid=22737

IN: Watson, Cullen
OUT: Webster, Binge

Webster is playing for Norths colts. Binge playing FOGS.

10th (Storm) vs. 11th & a win here will be a huge boost for our finals campaign.

Boys SHOULD be up for this game. We're both fairly similar sides & we absolutely spanked them in the trials. They've got a couple of gamebreakers in their side, otherwise they're really inexperienced and don't have the talent we do.

Brisbane have moved on from that awkward phase where all the talented 18s are in and out of MM Cup so the side should find some rhythm. Timu is our stand out player and has all the skills but there's some good support there from Levi who strikes me as the type of player who is one big game from a blitz, Frisby who has the capacity to steer the side & that bench which has the potential to be the best in the competition.

I don't think this side will take the 2012 competition, but wouldn't be surprised to see them up there in 2013.

 

[GoTheBroncs]

Good to hear your confidence in the team BP. Especially from someone that doesn't BS around. Yeah the team seems too new and young to get to great heights this year. Especially with Maranta, Whitchurch etc in QLD cup.

 

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos 30 (Palau 2, Lumley, Timu, Lee, Moore tries; Frisby 1/2, Nikorima 1/2, Cullen 1/2 goals) def. Melbourne Storm 10

Pretty much as predicted. Alvaro had a beast of the game & it looks like we troubled them a lot out-wide.

Particularly like Ajuma Adams 30 tackles no misses stat. We need more of that in the 20s.

We play Newcastle next week. They're one of the top teams in the competition and despite beating them once before I reckon the boys will struggle to back up against a more experienced outfit.

 

[Big Pete]

Newcastle 46 def. Brisbane Broncos 18 (Molo, Timu, Berwick tries; Hegarty 3/3)

Not a good day in the office. In fairness, Knights are one of the better teams of the competition but that performance wasn't good enough.

Congrats to Soape Palau, Kodi Nikorima, Caleb Timu & Francis Molo on making the Queensland Under 18s.

 

[Big Pete]

Sydney Roosters 28 def. Brisbane Broncos 18 (Lumley 2, Berwick, Moore tries; Hegarty 1/2 Frisby 0/1, Frei 0/1 goals).

As you can see, some of the Qld Cup 20s (Whitchurch, Frei & Binge) have been called back down to help out the 20s. This week against the Cowboys they'll welcome the return of Levi and maybe some of the U18s who were succesful on Wednesday. Try scoring machine Caleb Timu picked up a double.

 

[beads6]

So how good is Caleb Timu??? Did I read that he had a blinder last night in the under 18's Origin??

 

[GoTheBroncs]

From what I can gather from BP is that Timu is probably our best under 20s (when the really top ones play QLD cup). I've only seen 1 under 20s game and unfortunately he was pretty ordinary (we got smashed by warriors though). He is still very young and obviously dominated in his age group (as news reports on under 18s game has suggested).

I watched first half of under 20s origin and I agree with BP that he looked a bit lost.

Is there video of under 18s origin btw?

 

[Big Pete]

Sure is...

1st Half
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p0p9jC-oZg&feature=plcp

2nd Half
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWgjGnvSFVI&feature=plcp

You've done a good job of summing up. So far Timu has been the real stand out for the Broncos and I don't think I've seen a more destructive forward for the NYC Broncos at that age and we've had some decent players too in Tariq, Hala, Lui & Watene.

He's still young but if he can buckle down, work on his defensive game & areas of his game with the footy he could turn out to be the best NYC forward we've ever produced.

Otherwise it's like this...

Levi - 19; Livewire fullback, causes plenty of headaches with his footwork and acceleration but lacks the speed to really destroy sides.

Lumley - Solid NYC winger. Gets through a bit of work in dummy half and can finish off a try but that's where it stops.

Berwick - 19; Tall rangy centre who uses his size to gain a lot of metres. Hands let him down a bit & a liability in defence. It's only his first real season at centre so too soon to say.

Palau - 18; A decent prospect with some good foot-work that usually beats the first defender. Probably doesn't receive enough ball to truly stand out but some good signs.

Watson/Webster - 18; Play like a bunch of rookies really. Decent signs but hardly distinguishable at this stage.

Nikorima - 18; Good on his feet but size is bit of a problem & his playmaking skills need plenty of work.

Frisby - 20; Bit of a jeckyll and hyde player. Has the skills to really dominate a game and I think he's still up there in Try Assists and Linebreak Assists but he plays the game as if he's a touch footballer and the side has to score every set. He's been a solid player but I don't see a future in him.

Coombe - 19; The workhorse forward who lacks the muscle & footwork to really trouble the defence.

Binge - 20; A good nuggety player playing out of position and I believe it's telling on the side. Binge is a talent who can really cause trouble out-wide but lacks the discipline to be the stand out player he should be. As a hooker, his service leads a lot to be desired & I applaud coach Richards for moving Moore to hooker.

Alvaro - 19; Looks and plays a bit like Benny Hannant. A solid prop who can bend the line a bit but not enough to really deserve too big a rap.

Timu - 18; Yep, said enough about him.

Adams - 18; Our big hitter of the group. That's about it.

Malley - 20; Captain & modest toiler. Big League tells me he's been a Bronco since 13 but I don't think he's got the size or work ethic to really offer anything as a first grader. As is, he's basically like a Dallas Johnson clone.

Moore - Little hooker who plays above his size and willing to back himself. Solid service makes him a far better hooker than Binge.

Oates - 18; A rangy backrow who like Timu knows his way to the try line. Currently injured but was one of our best early.

Lee - 18; Solid forward who's just as good in attack as he is in defence. His inexperience is a bit telling but has potential to make something of himself later on.

Molo - 18; Was heavily rumoured to have left the club but is back now and gee I got to say I'm glad. Big unit who really dents the line and isn't shy of getting his hands on the ball.

Then there's players like Cullen, Leedy & Tuala who are all good prospects but either are too young or just haven't had any luck with injuries.

Hope that helps!

 

[Big Pete]

North Queensland Cowboys 28 def. Brisbane Broncos 16 (Berwick, Timu, Lumley tries; Hegarty 2/3 goals)

Lead 16-6 at halftime.

11-2 penalty count against us.

Pretty disappointing stuff.

 

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos 34 (Berwick, Molo, Hegarty, Lumley, Palau, Whitchurch tries; Hegarty 5/6 goals) def. South Sydney 32

Down 26-0 the Broncos fought back to score a try at the death. Thrilling game, but gee they did it the hard way!

Hegarty played a big role in the comeback with 4 try assists and a try himself. Frei was strong through the middle with 16 hit ups (127m) & 36 tackles. Lee, Binge & Molo were strong off the bench too.

 

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos NYC Side vs. Cronulla
1. Daniel Levi
2. Soape Palau
3. Matthew Berwick
4. Corey Oates
5. Tristan Lumley
6. Che Fa'alafi
7. Bryce Hegarty
8. Francis Molo
9. Brandon Lee
10. Mitchell Frei
11. Caleb Timu
12. Chris Binge
13. Benn Malley

14. Mitchell Moore
15. Stephen Coombe
16. Ajuma Adams
17. Daniel Alvaro

http://www.broncos.com.au/team-announcement/matchup/NYC/Round 17

 

[Big Pete]

Cronulla Sharks 30 def. Brisbane Broncos 24 (Timu, Frei, Oates, Molo tries; Hegarty 4/4 goals)

Cronulla were up by 24 points until the Broncos chased them down around the 60 minute mark. They scored all their points in a ten minute period but couldn't post the winner in the end.

Frei was impressive topping both the hit up (17 for 143m) & tackle counts (46) for us. Our backs were busy with the ball but too many mistakes in them to really credit them.