Round 5 vs. Manly Sea Eagles

[Big Pete]

Manly Sea Eagles vs. Brisbane Broncos
Central Coast Stadium, Thursday 11 June 2020
Kick Off 7:50pm
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1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jorge Taufua 3. Brad Parker 4. Moses Suli 5. Reuben Garrick 6. Dylan Walker 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Danny Levi 10. Martin Taupau 11. Joel Thompson 12. Curtis Sironen 13. Jake Trbojevic

Interchange: 14. Lachlan Croker 15. Corey Waddell 16. Sean Keppie 17. Taniela Paseka

Reserves: 18. Morgan Boyle 19. Jack Gosiewski 20. Tevita Funa 21. Brendan Elliot

1. Jamayne Isaako 2. Xavier Coates 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Darius Boyd 5. Herbie Farnworth 6. Anthony Milford 7. Brodie Croft 8. Matthew Lodge 9. Cory Paix 10. Payne Haas 11. Corey Oates 12. Joe Ofahengaue 13. Patrick Carrigan

Interchange: 14. Tesi Niu 15. Ben Te'o 16. Rhys Kennedy 17. Thomas Flegler

Reserves: 18. Jamil Hopoate 19. Richard Kennar 20. Tom Dearden 21. Ethan Bullemor

 

[Big Pete]

I like the changes to the forward pack. It would have been nice to ease Lodge back in after his ACL strain, but the Broncos are sorely lacking an assertive forward and Flegler has gone backwards since his standout performance against Souths.

It's harsh on Hopoate and Bullemor but something had to give. The Broncos have struggled defensively on the edges and one of the issues has been the inability for the backrows to cover. It also allows Oates to drift back to his natural position and let one of the young talented outside backs into the team. Coates is raw as anything but he's a freakish talent and the Broncos desperately need more points.

I'm surprised to see Te'o named. I'm not sure if it was a case of ducks and drakes but Seibs seemed quite adament it would take a couple of weeks for Te'o to work his way into the team. It put me off the signing because the Broncos need Te'o right now and can't rely on the development players to dig them out of this.

Sadly it's going to be an ugly game for the Broncos. One of those games where I expect them to be competitive in phases, but then it'll get ugly in others. Something like 30-10 with Manly having the game wrapped up after 50.

 

[DeeJ]

I love Oates but suddenly putting into the second row when he hasn't had a preseason there is quite unfair. He is going to be underdone big time. I remember in Origin a few years ago he was tired out by the sheer number of hit ups he had to do as NSW kept kicking to him - to his credit he kept on going.

Now he has to defend as well in that position. Te'o will replace him at some stage, but how good is his fitness at the moment?

I suppose we don't have many other options at the moment. Hopoate was terrible last game.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

I don’t want to seem very sympathetic to you blokes, but Ben Teo is bloody good footballer and he will do a lot to get you back up to speed.

 

[Big Pete]

Better effort this week, the senior players in the starting team made a difference and it appeared the game was unfolding nicely. A huge momentum shift in the back half and some questionable refereeing decisions hurt but it was the same story as last week where they barely had any ball in the second half.

Both Staggs and Coates appeared likely all night. They're raw talents and they have some mistakes in them, but they're also capable of special plays and they got Brisbane off to a great start.

Unfortunately the second half was much of the same. Manly started receiving calls and the Broncos couldn't hack it. Even if the Broncos manage to turn it around, it's just going to be like this. When it's going good, it's going great but then you'll see them conjure up some of the dumbest players imagineable.

He made a couple of mistakes, but I was impressed with Paix's speed out of dummy half. Hopefully he can just keep improving, he's always looked a class player coming through the grades.

 

[DeeJ]

A much improved effort. Disappointing to lose, but I'm glad we didn't exactly capitulate like in the previous games.

I just hope kicking to Coates all the time isn't going to be our plan from now on. We don't have that many plays and Manly already knew how to defend against it somewhat successfully in the second half.

 

[Nerd]

Much better than last week. Amazing what can happen when you stop making unforced errors though they did creep back in during the second half. The dodgy call on Boyds second try really hurt us but these are the things an experienced side takes in their stride. Thought Oates went ok in his first run in the forwards and starting with Lodge and Ofahengaue definitely was much better. Croft is still working out how to fit in with our forwards and I love how he takes the line on. When we get into a teams 20 Milford needs to demand the ball every 2nd tackle like Langer used to and just terrorise the defence and leave the last tackle options to Croft.

 

[gUt]

 

[renouf]

cherry evans 2nd half wasn't a try imo. Runner completely takes out the defence, but he was on the outside shoulder, load of bs

 

[Nerd]

cherry evans 2nd half wasn't a try imo. Runner completely takes out the defence, but he was on the outside shoulder, load of bs

Yep the change to the obstruction rule has bamboozled refs from day one. Just go back to if you run behind a player to gain advantage it's a shepherd and simplify it from this inside outside shoulder nonsense. As long as the player doesn't run behind the decoy all is good but the defending team shouldn't be penalised if the decoy gets nailed without the ball as after all his job is to fool the defense into going after him.