Round 21 vs. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Discussion

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos vs. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Suncorp Stadium, Saturday 27 July 2024
Kick Off: 3:00pm

1. Reece Walsh 2. Selwyn Cobbo 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Deine Mariner 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Corey Jensen 9. Billy Walters 10. Payne Haas 11. Kobe Hetherington 12. Jordan Riki 13. Patrick Carrigan

14. Blake Mozer 16. Xavier Willison 17. Martin Taupau 18. Corey Oates

15. Tyson Smoothy 19. Josiah Karapani 20. Tristan Sailor 21. Vaa Semu 22. Brendan Piakura

1. Connor Tracey 22. Jeral Skelton 2. Jacob Kiraz 3. Bronson Xerri 5. Blake Wilson 6. Matt Burton 7. Toby Sexton 8. Josh Curran 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Samuel Hughes 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Jacob Preston 13. Kurt Mann

14. Bailey Hayward 15. Lipoi Hopoi 16. Kurtis Morrin 17. Harry Hayes

4. Stephen Crichton 19. Poasa Faamausili 20. Liam Knight 21. Hayze Perham 23. Drew Hutchison​

 

[Big Pete]

I'm happy to see Mozer regain his place in the team. Realistically, the Broncos aren't in the premiership mix this season, so they need to get some value out of these remaining games. If the Broncos can play direct early on, it will play dividends later on as Blake enjoys playing with width and can make life easier for the rest of the spine.

The other interesting selection is Mariner maintaining his spot in the centres. I presume both he and Cobbo will switch depending on the situation, but it should at least help the Broncos cart the ball out of trouble as Cobbo is better at winning the contact than Deine.

 

[Big Pete]

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 41 def. Brisbane Broncos 16 (Reece Walsh, Kotoni Staggs, Martin Taupau tries; Adam Reynolds 2/3 goals)

8-11

Slowly but surely the Bulldogs began to win the arm wrestle and once they had this one defensive set where they smashed Arthars and Cobbo the Broncos appeared in all sorts.

Out-muscled, out-skilled, out-enthused etc.

It was one of those games where if anything the scoreline flattered the Broncos. It could have been a record score had Canterbury had their full contingent on the field and taken advantage of more opportunities.

The Bulldogs heavily targetted both edges and were constantly able to get on the outside of the Broncos. This prevented the Broncos from ever applying any pressure and the few reprieves they had came from Bulldogs mistakes.

The only silver lining was an all or nothing try Staggs scored on half-time. It started when Walters shrugged out of a couple of tackles, floated the ball right to Mam who put it on the toe inside his own 20. Staggs raced onto the ball, beat two cover tackles and planted the ball down right on the shadows of half-time. It should have prompted a big response, instead the Bulldogs scored in the second half off a simple offload from Kikau.

The concerning thing about the Broncos was their inability to play to their strengths. There were a few times where they created opportunities but the follow-up play was either mistimed or forced. So often a player would beat a tackle, shape to pass only to find his support runners weren't available. That right there was a major difference and it just gave the Bulldogs more confidence.

Sadly, Brisbane made themselves the supporting cast in somebody elses' story this afternoon.

 

[renouf]

Just shows you have to be in form to win at this time of the year, regardless of who is in the side. Not sure what happened last week.

 

[Big Pete]

Just shows you have to be in form to win at this time of the year, regardless of who is in the side. Not sure what happened last week.

Last week it took Newcastle 50 minutes to get into the game and they had their setbacks.

This week, Canterbury were on from the opening minute.

The difference is the Broncos are frontrunners and if they're not busy scoring points, they're barely treading water.

 

[renouf]

Last week it took Newcastle 50 minutes to get into the game and they had their setbacks.

This week, Canterbury were on from the opening minute.

The difference is the Broncos are frontrunners and if they're not busy scoring points, they're barely treading water.

Right.. makes sense, they can certainly leak some tries when it's not going well

 

[Fangs]

Why were the Broncos flat?