Round 23 vs. North Queensland Cowboys Discussion

[Big Pete]

North Queensland Cowboys vs. Brisbane Broncos
Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Saturday 10 August 2024
Kick Off: 5:30pm

1. Scott Drinkwater 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Valentine Holmes 4. Viliami Vailea 5. Murray Taulagi 6. Tom Dearden 7. Chad Townsend 8. Jordan McLean 9. Reece Robson 10. Sam McIntyre 11. Heilum Luki 24. Jeremiah Nanai 13. Reuben Cotter

14. Harrison Edwards 15. Thomas Mikaele 16. Kulikefu Finefeuiaki 17. Griffin Neame

18. Jaxon Purdue 19. Jake Clifford 20. Tomas Chester 21. Semi Valemei 22. Marly Bitungane

1. Reece Walsh 2. Josiah Karapani 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Deine Mariner 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Joshua Rogers 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Corey Jensen 9. Billy Walters 10. Xavier Willison 11. Brendan Piakura 12. Jordan Riki 13. Patrick Carrigan

14. Blake Mozer 15. Kobe Hetherington 16. Tristan Sailor 17. Martin Taupau

18. Cory Paix 19. Benjamin Te Kura 20. Jaiyden Hunt 21. Corey Oates 22. Vaa Semu​

 

[Big Pete]

The season is in tatters for the Broncos and Kevie is coaching for his career. Without Cobbo (personal), Mam (ankle), Haas (foot), Smoothy (ankle) the assignment only becomes more difficult as the season winds to a disappointing close. He can ill afford to throw in the towel and desperately needs results otherwise management will be left with little choice.

The team list doesn't inspire much confidence. I hope that backline ends up:

LW. Jesse Arthars
LC. Josiah Karaipani
RC. Kotoni Staggs
RW. Deine Mariner

Because I think the Mariner at left centre experiment clearly needed to be re-thought after back to back 40+ defeats.

Otherwise his hands are tied. The Broncos have a bad injury toll and their depth is virtually non-existent. The only position where they have any depth is dummy half and the elephant in the room is Billy Walters. Unfortunately Tyson Smoothy suffered an ankle injury playing for the Magpies so he couldn't come straight in and Paix is on the outer at the club. If I wanted to send a message, at the very least I would have started Mozer and benched Billy just to send a message.

If there is one positive, it's nice to see Te Kura named. The Broncos need to find some value out of these remaining games, so giving Te Kura some time in the middle and giving Willison or one of the young charges a spell would be welcome.