Round 3 vs. Parramatta Eels

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos vs. Parramatta Eels
Suncorp Stadium, Thursday 28 May 2020
Kick Off: 7:50pm​

1. Jamayne Isaako 2. Corey Oates 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Darius Boyd 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Anthony Milford 7. Brodie Croft 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Jake Turpin 10. Payne Haas 11. Alex Glenn 12. Jamil Hopoate 13. Patrick Carrigan
Interchange: 14. Herbie Farnworth 15. Joe Ofahengaue 16. Rhys Kennedy 17. Ethan Bullemor 18. Tesi Niu 19. Xavier Coates 20. Tom Dearden 21. Matthew Lodge

1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Michael Jennings 4. Waqa Blake 5. Blake Ferguson 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Ryan Matterson 13. Marata Niukore
Interchange: 14. Brad Takairangi 15. Ray Stone 16. Kane Evans 17. Peni Terepo 18. Oregon Kaufusi 19. George Jennings 20. Jaeman Salmon 21. David Gower

 

[Big Pete]

The break did the Broncos a world of good. Oates, Croft and Glenn have all recovered from their injuries and Matt Lodge is set to come in for Rhys Kennedy off the bench. Unfortunately it appears Fifita will be missing for the next six weeks after he recovers from knee surgery. Considering the last clash at Suncorp, that's a huge loss for the team. Ofahengaue also returns after a two week suspension following a DUI related charge, which should provide the Broncos with more punch in the middle.

It's going to be a tough ask against a very settled Parramatta Eels outfit. They've lost Brown, but it could be something of a blessing in disguise as it should bring Moses, Gutherson and D. Brown into the game more. Mahoney was set to miss a couple of weeks after his injury against the Titans, but he's recovered in time and will be a huge inclusion for them. The Eels were a little underwhelming to start the season, but appeared to be putting it together against the Titans and I can see them using this game as a platform to re-boot their season. I'll be very surprised if they start slowly, the Broncos will have to go with them to avoid another embarrassment.

 

[DeeJ]

Our backrow isn't looking as good as it could be. Carrigan has come along way and is now a good performer and I was impressed from what I saw from Hopoate earlier this year. They still aren't on the level of Fifita and TPJ in terms of physical presence and game breaking potential.

I'm also glad we aren't wasting a bench spot anymore. I think we should be able to overpower them in the forwards and hopefully Croft can lead the team on the back of that. I think some impact from Staggs will have the win the game for us.

 

[Nerd]

Well that sucks another belting by the fuxking Eels. Just too many mistakes especially once Parra made an error we just handed it straight back to them. I don't know that Hopoate is up to NRL standard. Seems full of agression but has some mistakes in his game. Thought the 6 again was overdone a bit at the start of the game but thankfully Sutton settled down in the second half.

Boyd went ok in the centres but he is still a passenger as he certainly won't be busting the line in attack any time soon and near the line his size makes him a defensive liability. It looks like it will be another long year and Boyd is just stopping a young player from getting some experience.

 

[Big Pete]

The Broncos played into the Eels hands. Extremely sloppy defence, they couldn't maintain a consistent line and the Eels ran rough shod offloading at will. When the Broncos could actually get through a set of six, they didn't look bad with the ball and were unlucky in the case of Milford and Boyd, the bounces could not be worse.

The second half was ugly. They kept turning the ball over and inviting the Eels back time and time again. The Broncos actually did well to keep the Eels at bay for as long as they did. Actually felt like there was going to be a shift of momentum, before the Broncos just turned the ball over after their 20m restart and then the match turned ugly.

The cat is out of the bag with the Broncos, there were always signs that the Broncos could turn in a performance like this, it's just surprising that it came this early.

 

[Eelogical]

The Broncos played into the Eels hands. Extremely sloppy defence, they couldn't maintain a consistent line and the Eels ran rough shod offloading at will. When the Broncos could actually get through a set of six, they didn't look bad with the ball and were unlucky in the case of Milford and Boyd, the bounces could not be worse.

The second half was ugly. They kept turning the ball over and inviting the Eels back time and time again. The Broncos actually did well to keep the Eels at bay for as long as they did. Actually felt like there was going to be a shift of momentum, before the Broncos just turned the ball over after their 20m restart and then the match turned ugly.

The cat is out of the bag with the Broncos, there were always signs that the Broncos could turn in a performance like this, it's just surprising that it came this early.

It happens. God knows I know it happens. We should have hurt you guys a lot more considering the amount of ball we had. Bronc's will come back from the loss.

 

[gUt]

I wasn't too unhappy to be honest. It was clear the Eels were faster, especially their mobile forwards. But those sustained defensive periods were good to see. I think the errors were a product of having to do a lot more defense and those early six-agains back to back, plus we lost Glenn. Good signs I think, I even thought Boyd was ok at centre. Add our missing players back into the side and we could go ok in the six-again era.

EDIT so happy we bought Croft. He could be our best signing in a long time.

 

[Bronco18]

We really need our edge forwards back, poor ol Hopoate couldn’t keep up with the pace (was it four knock ons?).

Hopefully Glenn isn’t out for too long, he seemed to go uninjured for a long time, now he’s captain and he’s never there.

 

[hellteam]

Hoping Staggs made his yearly quota of mistakes last night....

Might miss a few weeks?