Round 22 vs. Sydney Roosters Discussion

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos vs. Sydney Roosters
Suncorp Stadium, Friday 13 August 2021
Kick Off: 7:55pm

1. Tesi Niu 2. Corey Oates 3. Selwyn Cobbo 4. Herbie Farnworth 5. Xavier Coates 6. Tyson Gamble 7. Albert Kelly 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Danny Levi 10. Payne Haas 11. Alex Glenn 12. Jordan Riki 13. Kobe Hetherington

Interchange: 14. Xavier Willison 15. Rhys Kennedy 16. Ethan Bullemor 17. TC Robati

Reserves: 18. Cory Paix 19. Anthony Milford 20. Brendan Piakura 21. David Mead

1. James Tedesco 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Adam Keighran 4. Joseph Manu 5. Dale Copley 6. Drew Hutchison 7. Sam Walker 8. Isaac Liu 9. Sam Verrills 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Nat Butcher 12. Sitili Tupouniua 13. Victor Radley

Interchange: 14. Lachlan Lam 15. Egan Butcher 16. Fletcher Baker 17. Naufahu Whyte

Reserves: 18. Ben Marschke 19. Tukupa Hau Tapuha 20. Brad Abbey 21. Ben Thomas​

 

[Big Pete]

Keenan Palasia will miss at least a week after being charged with a Grade One Careless High Tackle on Hymel Hunt.

Tom Flegler is due back after serving his two game suspension for his tackle on Isaah Yeo.

 

[Big Pete]

Teams are in.

Coates, Cobbo, Flegler and Robati come in for Isaako, Arthars, Croft and Palasia. Both Piakura and Paix were also named in reserves and are a chance of coming into the 17.

Personally I like the move and the opportunity to rotate more of the younger players in. The only selection that's slightly confusing is Xavier Coates who won't be at the Broncos next year. The way I see it, this is Walters laying down a challenge to Xavier to end his stint at the Broncos on a high and play the type of footy he's capable of.

I expect the Roosters will avenge their previous efforts against the Broncos and win fairly comfortably. Something like 32-16 with Brisbane showing some decent signs but not being able to dominate the game for any length of time.

 

[Big Pete]

Mead will come in for Herbie Farnworth who is struggling with illness.

Anthony Milford will receive his third recall, coming onto the bench in place of Ethan Bullemor.

 

[Big Pete]

That was a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise gripping game of football. It wasn't a high quality game by any means but both teams were committed and it appeared that Brisbane were about to win it after Egan Butcher lost the ball in the play the ball. However, Tedesco challenged the tackle on Tupouniua, something that according to the rules he shouldn't have been allowed to do and got his team one last penalty to seal it for the Roosters. That whole decision highlighted some of the issues with the captain's challenge and where the system still needs to be ironed out. To be able to go that far back from the play the ball is just ridiculous, once the tackle is complete that should be the end of it.

Stepping away from that decision, I just don't think the Broncos played enough footy. The forwards laid a decent platform and the left edge of Mead and Oates worked the ball well out of trouble. However the kicking game was largely poor and the Broncos had trouble moving the football with a couple of their shifts ending in really bad errors.

Once again they were found wanting in the line speed department. Brisbane are just too slow off the blocks and haven't realised that the good teams are going as soon as the ball is being planted on the ground. I noticed the Roosters were doing it all night whereas the Broncos would push off late and would hold which is how Tedesco was able to set up Copley for the second try of the night.

I thought it was a gallant effort, there were some good try-saving tackles and I thought the young pack held it's own albeit against an under-strength Roosters pack.

Milford had a couple of nice touches. There was one instance where Kelly threw an absolute hospital pass but Milford was able to bounce off the tackle and find some space. Unfortunately for Milf there was one moment that defined his night and it's when he beat the tackle on the last and instead of taking the available space he rushed a kick straight down the gullet of Copley which gave Sydney their chance to kick the field goal. Sydney did have cover but had he stepped towards his right he could have potentially put himself one on one with Tedesco with cover coming.

As far as the rookies, I thought Willison had some nice carries and continues to look like a player of the future. It's a shame he tore his ACL and will miss half of next season but hopefully it gives him time to add some muscle to his frame and get used to being a full-time footballer. I thought Cobbo and Robati were pretty quiet outside of a couple of plays from Cobbo. I thought Selywyn was pretty unlucky with that advantage played call, if he had have known Klein ruled a knock on I'm sure he would have taken the scrum instead of trying his best to work the ball out of trouble.