Our Depth

[blaza88z]

it's almost unfair to the rest of the league, think about it..

The only guy we've lost this year and has been irreplaceable would be Yow Yeh but even then we have been known in the past for bringing through backs who just seem to shine

We lose Parker/Teo (not at the same time) and both times we've missed 1 or the other it's hardly been noticed they're gone and then tonight we were without Wallace and I will go as far to say that we looked better and far more creative without him there. I know it's not an option to leave him out because he adds that experience which we lack in the halves but it's nearly an embarrassment of riches..

One of the huge things which stops teams dead in their momentum is injuries, the way our team is I feel that no matter who got injured someone would step in and do just as good a job, how many other clubs in the league can boast that?

Obviously if we lost Gillett, we would lose a bit of spark off the bench and come origin time we may miss the bulk of our pack which will be the true test of depth but with the way we're travelling at the moment I don't know how big a difference it will make to our position on the ladder

I mean the ultimate comparison is that we lost Lockyer (one of the modern day greats) and Norman steps in and looks like he could be anything at the rate he's developing..

I know fans from other clubs will come in and say "1 city club" and whatever else but honestly, it is unfair..

Look at Canberra tonight, they were at a stage where they didn't want to leave Campese out because let's face it.. without him they aren't much of a team (we seen that last year). We were able to leave out our major playmaker and we looked better without him, even though in recent weeks he's been really good. We lost nothing by having Hunt out there tonight..

 

[Seagullsrock]

Easy to say when you're winning. Bet you won't be applauding the depth if you lose a few.

 

[Big Pete]

Seagulls, you are our depth.

 

[hellteam]

This is a jinx thread if I've ever seen one.

But, this year it is good knowing that if we lose one player our season won't be over. Years gone by whenever Lockyer was out we were pretty much gone.

This season, I think our most valuable player may be Hodges.

 

[blaza88z]

if we lost Hodges it wouldn't mean inevitable defeat, sure we lose an option in attack but you're right about Lockyer and reading the threads where people gave opinions on where they expected us to be this year, noone gave us any chance of being where we are right now (purely because of Lockyer), everyone had us scraping into the 8

did you even watch the game tonight Seagulls? Hunt was really good, he lacked execution with a few of his kicks but it was far more creative then what we've had in recent weeks

 

[AuDragon]

Easy to say when you're winning. Bet you won't be applauding the depth if you lose a few.

Man that is a post reeking of desperation if I've ever seen one... :lol:

I know the Bronco's success is a thorn in your side, and seeing this team perform this way while still so young and full of improvement, must be like purgatory to you!

 

[Bretto]

If we lost Hodges it would be a massive blow, particularly offensively. He's an absolute gun out wide this season, and being fully fit really shows. The last 2 seasons I think he's played a total of about 20 games.

Having said that, if we lost Hodges, we would put Beale into the centres and bring Gagai in from the NYC. Beale is a big, strong kid with plenty of pace and a good offload.

Even if we lost Parker, Thaiday, Hannant, Petero, Gillett (which we probably will come SOO time) which is effectively our entire forward pack, we have the likes of Anderson, Gibb, Frie, Lui, Baptiste to step in, and under the current structure that Griffin has in place, all those guys will do a job.

We have some quality players, yes, but the players are made to look better by the great coaching of Griffin. Who was that other coach we had? Wayne who?

 

[GoTheBroncs]

I think we will field our strongest side (on paper) in many years during the origin period this year.

 

[Seagullsrock]

Man that is a post reeking of desperation if I've ever seen one... :lol:

I know the Bronco's success is a thorn in your side, and seeing this team perform this way while still so young and full of improvement, must be like purgatory to you!

No I love the Broncos depth. Wynnum wouldn't have Dodds otherwise. You can send out Beale too if you want seeing he's not in the long term plans. Still waiting for the world is ending style posts from some on here though once you lose a game. They'll call for someone to be dropped or say Griffin is useless for some reason.

Blaza, where did I say Hunt was bad? He's not depth anywhere. He's in your starting 17 every week.

 

[blaza88z]

No I love the Broncos depth. Wynnum wouldn't have Dodds otherwise. You can send out Beale too if you want seeing he's not in the long term plans. Still waiting for the world is ending style posts from some on here though once you lose a game. They'll call for someone to be dropped or say Griffin is useless for some reason.

Blaza, where did I say Hunt was bad? He's not depth anywhere. He's in your starting 17 every week.

he's depth because he's a halfback not a hooker, he plays the hooking role but everyone who knows anything about the guy will know he's not a hooker

however I will say that whilst he's been coming off the bench and playing hooker I have no doubt that makes him feel right at home when he's required to play 80 mins as a halfback, if he was playing Q Cup and was having to come into the NRL team randomly to fill the void left by an injured Wallace I very much doubt we'd get the kind of game we saw from him last night

 

[Seagullsrock]

he's depth because he's a halfback not a hooker, he plays the hooking role but everyone who knows anything about the guy will know he's not a hooker

however I will say that whilst he's been coming off the bench and playing hooker I have no doubt that makes him feel right at home when he's required to play 80 mins as a halfback, if he was playing Q Cup and was having to come into the NRL team randomly to fill the void left by an injured Wallace I very much doubt we'd get the kind of game we saw from him last night

Bingo..that's your depth...Dodds,Gibb, Slyney, Capewell etc. Hunt is your bench.

 

[diddi kong]

Hodges is irreplaceable, he is the only player who would leave a huge dent in our side if he got injured. Obviously every injury weakens our team to an extent. Norman is another who we don't have a capable replacement, unless Capewell is good, I haven't seen much of him

 

[blaza88z]

Hodges is irreplaceable, he is the only player who would leave a huge dent in our side if he got injured. Obviously every injury weakens our team to an extent. Norman is another who we don't have a capable replacement, unless Capewell is good, I haven't seen much of him

Not now we don't, he's really really come good.

 

[Country Bronco]

If we lose Norman? I think the answer is simple. Ben Hunt. Wallace would return to left side of the field and hunt would play on the right. Halves don't necessary play a half and five eighth role anymore although i'm not saying it doesn't happen. But for us first and second receiver changes depending what side the ball is being passed from. Wallace would have the most responsibility guiding the team around the park and we would be no more worse off than the other night when we had the halves pairing of Hunt and Norman.

As for depth. Depth is the ability to cover all positons with a player. In truth, you need 18 players each game so depth would have to cover this amount. Even though one is a emergency you still need that player capable of stepping up to nrl.The other is your whole entire squad ability and experience to play nrl. We've got good depth but its obvious you lose your best players to injury or suspension or representative commitment and your team will suffer a bit.

I don't want to put a jinx on us so I'm not going to say who we can't win without.

 

[AuDragon]

I don't think there is a single player which will make such a difference as missing Locky or even Wallace in previous years. We have Hunt and even Capewell (who has been going pretty good in Qcup) as capable backups, and depth in every other position, be it in the backs or forwards.

The biggest test is gonna be Origin, where we'll miss most of our forward pack, Hodgo and possibly Wallace!

 

[hellteam]

It also helps that several of our key players are kiwis or English