Semi Final vs. Dragons Discussion + Voting

[Broncos fan!]

3.Lockyer - Wound the clock back. His running game was slick, he was so involved, and of course that field goal.
2.Wallace - I thought he stepped up a fair bit. Actually he has been doing that for a month or so now but i really think he stood out lastnight.
1.McGuire - Machine, 182m, 22 hit ups, 49 tackles, 3 missed, played about 45 mins before coming off for a break. Did the career threatening eye injury light a fire under him or something because every bit of his potential we knew he had just burst out at the same time when he came back from surgery.

Honorable mention to many others. Beale ran 280m, Parker, Macca and Glenn were great as always, Reed took Gasnier pretty well and Te'o was good on the fringe.

How many times does Hornby have to blatantly take out chasers before he gets sin binned? I can remember other games where he did it to Folau as well, it's ridiculous.

Don't mean to whinge after a win but man were they pushing the limits of holding us down in tackles. There should have been plenty more penalties but oh well, you have to expect that from every game these days.

 

[Snappy]

Lol

 

[renouf]

Don't mean to whinge after a win but man were they pushing the limits of holding us down in tackles. There should have been plenty more penalties but oh well, you have to expect that from every game these days.

Teams can dominate us in the ruck like that, Manly did it a few weeks back and it's like we just let it happen. The players don't make enough of a fuss out of it. What pisses me off is when the Dragons wanted to play the game quickly in the second half - they were allowed to. But when we wanted a couple of quick play the balls, it wasn't allowed.

 

[Dragoness]

Teams can dominate us in the ruck like that, Manly did it a few weeks back and it's like we just let it happen. The players don't make enough of a fuss out of it. What pisses me off is when the Dragons wanted to play the game quickly in the second half - they were allowed to. But when we wanted a couple of quick play the balls, it wasn't allowed.

Congrats on the win guys,it was a great game, penalty count went your way by the way.... just wanted to say that the Eagles & Storm are champions at doing what you are complaining about, they are (more so the Storm) masters at it & have been doing it all season.. Good luck in the following weeks

 

[Mr Fourex]

Great game ........finals footy at it's best.

All hail King Locky !!

3. Lockyer
2. McGuire
1. Parker

McGuires form resurrection continues to blow me a way.

Time for a little critic. The saints defence was fantastic

but

.......our inability to convert metres into points is going to cost us against a team like Manly.

We desperately need someone other than Lockyer to find some creative spark in the oppositions 20.

Wallace's one and only attacking play of kicking for yow yeah isn't cutting it.......

McCullough's prowess is still 50/50.

The bounce of the ball will have to be going our way for us to succeed against the likes of DCE and Foran.

 

[Dazzat]

3. Lockyer
2. McGuire
1. Beale

One of the best games I've ever watched and both teams were sensational.

On the negative side, we didn't convert field position into points, which as mentioned above, could hurt us against Manly.

I'd like to see Gillett get more game time - I think he offers so many more options than Glenn on the left hand side.

Hala looked good when he came on ... Anderson offered little. If Hala can give anywhere near 40 minutes in a game he'd be my preferred bench front rower.

We will be reminded all week in the press about whether Lockyer will play or not. Kimmorely had a similar injury a couple of years ago and took two weeks to get back on the paddock. Let's hope.

Otherwise, get your halfback head on Ben Hunt, and welcome Baptiste onto the bench.

 

[Mr Fourex]

I really can't see Locky not playing......fractured cheek bone or not, he'll be there.

 

[AuDragon]

Finally got to watch the game's recording and it hasn't made it any easier to decide the vote tbh.

It's true we didn't convert the field dominance into more points, but only the Dragons defense at their best could hold us out like that.
No way Manly or even Melbourne can defend as well, so I'm again quietly confident in a win over Manly, in fact more than I was against the Dragons, who really worried me.

Anyway, every single Broncos player deserves a mention in Saturday's victory, but I'll give my votes to whom I think had the biggest influence in our victory:

3- Lockyer (Setup Te'o for first try and the winning field goal)
2- McGuire (No mistakes, just amazing go forward and defense)
1- Wallace (Made the call to setup the second try)

 

[The Crane]

Hala looked good when he came on ... Anderson offered little.

I disagree with this... Hala only ran twice, but it was in defence where he truly scares me. Weyman kept running at him, and without seeing a replay, I'm pretty sure Hala was the culprit in that sequence where Weyman ran on the 5th and offloaded to Cuthbertson for their first try.

Hala needs to get a little fitter and step up in defence before I feel confident in him while defending our line.

My points:
3. McGuire - Wow... I can't help but think about the years ahead for this guy, with Petero coming to tutor him.
2. Lockyer - how good was his running game prior to the injury
1. Beale - has he just about wrapped up the NZ fullback spot now?

 

[user_nat]

1. Beale - has he just about wrapped up the NZ fullback spot now?

Warriors fans will certainly disagree with that. Beale has been great the last couple of weeks, but Locke has also had a fantastic season.
Might come down to how the Warriors and Broncos go for the rest of the year.

 

[AceAv]

I've watched the game now and here's my pro's & cons:

Pros:
-Brisbane played with enthusiasm and vigor for the FULL 80 minutes.
-Mistake rate was as low as you could ask for
-The go forward was stong as usual making 50 meters on average with perfect depth on the 5th tackle kicks
-Defensively there was some real danger plays snuffed out by players marking on danger men well. We also were very good at rushing up on them and keeping them away from our 20
-Lockyer put on his Origin boots for this one and did what was necessary to seal a victory

Cons:
-We still are guilty of allowing some annoying offloads that created space and opportunities and eventually a crucial Dragons try.
-We need to execute our opportunities better when we are camped in the opposition 20. I was displeased mostly with McCollough trying that sneaky kick on the 2d Tackle and no one else knowing it was on. -This looked dangerous and I was waiting for him to do it again on the 4th tackle another time.
-We ended up trying to keep it alive and run it on the 5th a few to many times which just ended up with a knockon/changeover. Get the ball into the in-goal and force a drop out!!
-Penalty options: Parker was smart to push it to 8-0 in the second half, but I think it was silly to go for the 2 before half time. If the Broncos were all tired maybe and needed a rest, maybe that was the strategy. But I would have preffered another 5 strong attempts to go over followed by a field goal -same result I think.
-McColloughs strip. I felt utterly sick in the last 10 paranoid another Ashton Sims 2008 moment would occur and this was it. Really dissapointed this happened and I hope Macca and the other team has re-learned the sheer importance of ball security when it comes to grinding for the win.
-Lockyer's injury: Why was he even going for the ball. If Honrby was getting away with impeding players all night surely Locky shoulda just run the path and trusted Beale (who was 98% brilliant).
I trust he will play, but will he be at his best or will old face-slap fend Trex target him...?

Amazing game in the end, even though we had to sweat for it. Broncos spoke a lot about the red V wall and not getting frustrated when they couldn't break it. They did very well to predict this and I think Griff has really proven himself as a coach this year to study the enemy and train the players how to deal with their style.