Round 1 Eels V Broncos

[eel01s]

I think there is a fair bit to be positive about.

Forwards held their own. Mau and Scott were great. Edwards adds a lot from the bench.
Goal line defense has improved.
It was round 1. Our combinations will improve.
No major injuries (Norman had precautionary scans).
Foran back next week.

Brisbane looked very good and had excellent defense. Of course we were going to struggle to score when we lost Norman for the second half. Kelly did his job in the 1st half but was no hope to run the show to win the game.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Tough loss to a very good team. We were missing our starting halves and had brand new centre and wing combinations. The forwards competed well in the middle, but I still think Watmough has something to add as far as line speed and aggression. Kelly is below average at the best of times, and was well out of how depth as the primary ball player. Bigs wraps to Mau and Edwards who always looked likely. Gordon has to back up these blokes wherever possible.

We lost by 13 to a well coached team that wont lose many this year. The Broncos are calm in defence and patient in attack.

I agree, hopefully watmough can get back on the field. Will definitely help us around the ruck.

 

[phantom eel]

:lol: You're very hung up on the authority side of things, little man. This is just about who has the best information. I don't take orders from Brad Arthur any more than you do.

I think authority was only mentioned in relation to how you never appear doubt someone who happens to hold a particular position (coach). Just like you can have good and bad doctors, you can have good and bad coaches. Trusting or trying to justify the bad ones (e.g. Kearney) is a waste of your energy ;-).

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Broncos are the competition yardstick. They are the best side in the Comp.

It was a good indication on how close/far we are from them. Plenty of positive, we will improve a lot especially when Foran / Norman return.

Defence was great. I like how in the second half when we threw the ball around, we started worrying the Broncos defence, shame we just couldn't get that try to put us back in the game.

Broncos defence is the best in the game and with Kelly as our sole half the second half was always going to be a struggle to get back into the game.

The turning point I reckon (apart from Normans injury) was semi dropping the ball, and Broncos went onto score. We were just starting to get back into the game at that point.

 

[phantom eel]

I agree, hopefully watmough can get back on the field. Will definitely help us around the ruck.

There han't been much mention of how Moeroa went in Watmough's place... missed a few tackles, didn't really inspire anything.

If Watmough returns (which presumably would be from the bench), I'd consider elevating Edwards to the starting side, and skipping over Moeroa altogether (so he can further develop into the 13 role in NSW Cup).

 

[Gary Gutful]

Not bad. Broncos are f**ken good and we didn't disgrace ourselves.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Scott was a positive. I questioned his signing on top of the Watmough one. But if he plays like that every week we have an excellent signing on our hands.

Our pack more then matched theirs our halves and right aside defence was the big difference.

You have to beat the Broncos they won't beat themselves, they only do enough to win, boring as batshit but hey it wins games.

Yep, very true. They just grind away.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

There han't been much mention of how Moeroa went in Watmough's place... missed a few tackles, didn't really inspire anything.

If Watmough returns (which presumably would be from the bench), I'd consider elevating Edwards to the starting side, and skipping over Moeroa altogether (so he can further develop into the 13 role in NSW Cup).

Not his best game, but he wasn't terrible he will get a lot better, I woulnt be dropping him yet. Broncos defence is bloody good and don't really give sides much room.

 

[Forty20]

Definitely plenty to improve on for our team but it was a decent effort against what has been billed as the benchmark of the competition.

Brisbane are very stout around the ruck in defence, which limits one of the areas in which we are extremely dangerous in - fast shifts to the edges. We pounded it up the middle and fared well in general when considering the balance of the ruck but they were very disciplined in defence.

They read our sweeping moves pretty well for the most part, pushing up and then sliding when necessary. I think we actually had them a couple of times when we ran the option-plays from the sweep (Gordon off Norman's hip, Scott running the under/interior line off Kelly) but our poor execution squandered those chances.

Our right-edge needs a stack of extras at training this week. The structure of the defence in the red zone was a tad confusing. We played ultra compressed (and I mean ultra) instead of man-to-man. I think BA tends to favour the compression defence with an emphasis on the inside men working over in cover but it is vulnerable to quick shifts out wide (i.e. faster than the cover defence can track from the inside) and Milford ate that edge alive with how much space we gave to their outside men.

Against lesser packs I think we will take control of the ruck, which in turn enables a lot of our weapons out wide. We were certainly raw but without Foran and then later Norman to tune that raw effort we were always up against it. Bring on the Cowboys.

 

[Tommy Coco]

BA has reported that he expects Norman and Foran back for round 2.

I didnt think the right hand side was that bad, 1 try over lap on a retreating defence, clearly a missed tackle on the next and then Milford try was off a kick chase, no?

Taka looked very good in attack and scrambled well, certainly quicker than last year. Clint is very tentative not to expose his knees.

I saw the melt down by the fat bearded bloke in the KT stand, his speech was so impressive and the rant reached crescendo when he suggested that coach put him on cause he would do a better job than Kelly. Much like the last 8 pages it really is a chore having Luke Kelly be the major talking point of the evening.

FWIW, if Cornish is 2nd tier, Kelly playing last night is a better option, would've thought you don't need to dip into the 2nd cap in round one.

Mannah & Edwards - I would like to see them get more minutes and Ma'u - has/will go to a new level this season

 

[Gronk]

The score flattered us last night.

We need to be better in D, better in finding 2nd phase and better in getting the ball wide.

 

[ParraSteve]

Overall from what I saw before my 1 year old had a meltdown, I thought we were decent enough. I mean we had no Foran, lost Norman at half time and having to have Kelly shoulder the attacking responsibility was never going to work out in the 2nd half, would have been better with Ben Kusto out there. We’re also fielding a totally different backline than last year. It is going take time for all things to gel and when it does we’re going to be a very good footy team.

I thought we did fade away abit towards the end of the first half and that’s when they did the most damage.

 

[strider]

The score flattered us last night.

We need to be better in D, better in finding 2nd phase and better in getting the ball wide.

I think our solid D made the score close. I never felt like we were gonna get back in the game and kept expecting them to kick away. They didnt.

Dont get me wrong i am glad sandow is gone but i think it showed how little else creative we have. Norman is ok but there isnt as much space in 13 a side.

Broncos are an amazing defensive team. I never expected to win this one - even if foran had played.

 

[Gronk]

I think our solid D made the score close. I never felt like we were gonna get back in the game and kept expecting them to kick away. They didnt.

Dont get me wrong i am glad sandow is gone but i think it showed how little else creative we have. Norman is ok but there isnt as much space in 13 a side.

Broncos are an amazing defensive team. I never expected to win this one - even if foran had played.

Agree with what you say. It will be interesting to see how we benchmark against other teams. Unfortunately we have the Cows next week, so it might be Rnd 3 (dogs) or 4 (Tigers) before we really know where we're at.

 

[strider]

I fully expected to lose the first 2 games ... and probably end up 1-3 after the first 4.

Hard to gauge where dogs n tigers are at this stage.

 

[Twizzle]

Given the circumstance I thought we did OK but geez it will be good to have 2 halves next game.

That said, we got schooled, Broncos have a very strong and young team and will be up there for years to come.

 

[Kornstar]

The crowd really turned on Kelly last night and for good reason, he was atrocious!

 

[Delboy]

In some Ways the Broncos reminded me of our 2001 side, tall, quick and ability to score when given an opportunity, very fast and effective in th defensive line

Our D held up for the most part, but as before, it's difficult to run effective lines in attack when your half is mentally slower than the runners, they were getting to the line before he passed given his lack of read and reaction, very frustrating for the fans and I would imagine for the players

 

[Delboy]

In some Ways the Broncos reminded me of our 2001 side, tall, quick and ability to score when given an opportunity, very fast and effective in th defensive line

Our D held up for the most part, but as before, it's difficult to run effective lines in attack when your half is mentally slower than the runners, they were getting to the line before he passed given his lack of read and reaction, very frustrating for the fans and I would imagine for the players

 

[Snoochies]

The Broncos kicking for goal may have helped the score look better. I thought they would keep attacking our line so I was releived when they took the shot/s.