2017 Brisbane Broncos Thread - we hate them for their freedom

Ice wrote:'


Kahu, who IS a rep centre, who has played for his club and country as a FB is not a more suitable replacement for Boyd than Dylan Edwards or Will Smith, possibly even Gordon. Right? Slater clearly better, And Coote wouldn't be a certainty in everyone's eyes to jump Kahu in the Kiwi pecking order if he was Joyce's brother.  The point was, you had a serviceable cover in Those positions and plenty of rep players across the park, that should pick up the slack,  something some other teams remaining don't have.

If your argument is that Dylan Edwards & Will Smith aren't better FBs then Kahu, in part because Kahu has played at FB for the scaffolding XIII previously... Im more then happy for you to make that argument and stand on that hill by yourself. Both of them have played lights out in the last month.

The counter point is that
- Kahu isnt "serviceable" cover in finals football standards. He's a mid season stop gap at best, as fullback.
- Rep players across the park dont help you pick up slack at fullback. Gillette and Moose arent exactly going to be hanging behind the defense, getting under a Cleary bomb.

Ice wrote:Forgot about Milk also,

1. Milford
6. Marshall
7. Nikorima
9. Hunt

Plenty of teams would be happy with that as there spine with other rep players in the pack and three quarters.

Im sure plenty of teams would be happy to trade their spine for those guys.

StMerge. Raiders. Bulldogs. Rabbits. NZ. WTs. Titans. Knights.

Notice anything in common with those teams? Doesn't cut it when you're playing finals football.

Milf hasn't played fullback since 2014 and Benji is a generation removed from rep football, but dont let that get in the way of whatever convoluted point you're trying to make.

Honeysett wrote:Depth gets sacrificed when you spend big money on name players.

I thought Kodi Nik was meant to be a superstar in waiting?

He is? I don't even want him as our halfback next year. I think we need someone better but that won't happen because Bennett is stubborn.

Ice wrote:Forgot about Milk also,

1. Milford
6. Marshall
7. Nikorima
9. Hunt

Plenty of teams would be happy with that as there spine with other rep players in the pack and three quarters.

Pretty sure Milf will never play FB for us while Bennett is coach. He hasn't played there once for us and his legs are tree trunks so he isn't as fast as he once was.

We need to hold the ball this week and not miss so many fucking tackles. Stating the obvious I know, but the unforced errors cost us the game last week. If we do the same this week we will lose. The Panthers are a very dangerous team and if we give them space they will run straight through it.

My point is, the Broncos have rep quality players across the park, almost more than anyone else in the league and should be capable of still performing a a high level when one or two are out and I don't think their season is over because of it.

Edwards and Smith have played well later in the season. If I'd asked you to pick a fullback to cover you in finals out of Kahu, Smith and Edwards at the start of the year, we all know who you and pretty much everyone else is picking, me included.

The only reason Kahu hasnt been there has to be because of injury. The same reason he isnt kicking goals. He is a gun. When healthy, he is clearly a better FB (at this stage in their careers) than Smith, Edwards and you are right, possibly even gordon.

If you cant pick your first and second choice FB tho, any team will struggle covering the gaps IMO.

And I wouldnt take Nikorima over Lamb at halfback or Marshall over Watson at 6 - not at this stage in their careers.. And if it was a choice out of Milford and Ponga for playing fullback, I would be leaning towards ponga considering how overweight Milf is for fullback. Then again it would be hard to pass milf up.
Hunt, obviously would take him at hooker over levi.

Pieman wrote:The only reason Kahu hasnt been there has to be because of injury. The same reason he isnt kicking goals. He is a gun. When healthy, he is clearly a better FB (at this stage in their careers) than Smith, Edwards and you are right, possibly even gordon.

If you cant pick your first and second choice FB tho, any team will struggle covering the gaps IMO.

And I wouldnt take Nikorima over Lamb at halfback or Marshall over Watson at 6 - not at this stage in their careers.. And if it was a choice out of Milford and Ponga for playing fullback, I would be leaning towards ponga considering how overweight Milf is for fullback. Then again it would be hard to pass milf up.
Hunt, obviously would take him at hooker over levi.

Eels haven't had their first or second choice FB to pick from for a while.

In fact we are playing our third choice FB and Hooker, so nobody has excuses against us.

Ice wrote:In fact we are playing our third choice FB and Hooker, so nobody has excuses against us.

Who is your second choice hooker?

Ice wrote:My point is, the Broncos have rep quality players across the park, almost more than anyone else in the league and should be capable of still performing a a high level when one or two are out and I don't think their season is over because of it.

Ice, 2017 Origin Time:
QLD are definite favorites because of their spine. Doesnt matter who else is on the park, the spine is crucial and they will never lose while their spine is so good.

Ice, 2017 Finals Time:
Broncos losing half their spine doesnt matter because of who else is on the park. The spine isnt crucial and they should never lose with any sub-standard peanut in there because the rest of the pack is so good.

Ice wrote:Edwards and Smith have played well later in the season. If I'd asked you to pick a fullback to cover you in finals out of Kahu, Smith and Edwards at the start of the year, we all know who you and pretty much everyone else is picking, me included.

We arent picking teams at the start of the year, we're picking them post-round 26. And Will Smith + DEdwards have both played circles around Kahu for the last month and a half. If we picked our teams at the start of the year, SKD would still be playing football and Moses wouldnt be. "Best team on paper in March" is a ridiculous argument.

Ice wrote:In fact we are playing our third choice FB and Hooker, so nobody has excuses against us.

Gutho, French - Smith. Surprised they didnt go with Hoffman at FB (not sure if he is still injured or whatever)

Pritchard, DeGois?? - King?

The injuries to Pritchard and Degois have been a blessing in disguise for the club. King is really fucking good, a lot of their attack comes from his playmaking around the ruck. I reckon King will stay starting hooker from now on when Pritchard is healthy.

ryno_ wrote:

Ice, 2017 Origin Time:
QLD are definite favorites because of their spine. Doesnt matter who else is on the park, the spine is crucial and they will never lose while their spine is so good.

Ice, 2017 Finals Time:
Broncos losing half their spine doesnt matter because of who else is on the park. The spine isnt crucial and they should never lose with any sub-standard peanut in there because the rest of the pack is so good.



We arent picking teams at the start of the year, we're picking them post-round 26. And Will Smith + DEdwards have both played circles around Kahu for the last month and a half. If we picked our teams at the start of the year, SKD would still be playing football and Moses wouldnt be. "Best team on paper in March" is a ridiculous argument.

I agree with you Ryno - missing your hooker, moving your halfback to cover hooker so basically missing your hooker, halfback and fullback. Any team in the world would struggle missing those guys especially with they quality they have lost (even if one is a coaching call). I think Ice's point is - when you have a team full of rep stars, losing a couple shouldnt effect the side so much. Origin is a different because because the entire teams are rep stars.

Personally I dont think they should have weakened one position to strengthen another, especially when its a halfback. As good as hunt has been at 9 in attack, Who ever has played 7 has been fucking shit. You dont change your fucking halves around this late in the season unless they are injured. He should have kept nikorima at 9 with alex glenn/thaiday starting. Or pluck one from the QCup and develop them through the year. Bennett doesnt value depth.

Kahu is injured.
Edwards was out for a few weeks injured. He is an energetic runner of the ball but has zero ball playing yet
Smith has been OK... he looks good in sparks but his defence isnt great and def not confident under the high ball all the time. I stand by, if they were all healthy Kahu is the top FB out of Edwards/Smith and possibly mochael gordon at this stage in their careers. Personally I think that Kahu is a class above those guys.

Pieman wrote:I agree with you Ryno

Jesus.

Pieman wrote:
missing your hooker, moving your halfback to cover hooker so basically missing your hooker, halfback and fullback. Any team in the world would struggle missing those guys especially with they quality they have lost (even if one is a coaching call). I think Ice's point is - when you have a team full of rep stars, losing a couple shouldnt effect the side so much. Origin is a different because because the entire teams are rep stars.

Sure, but having rep players in the forward pack (where ours predominately are) doesn't help to cover backline injuries. You could have the entire Australian forward pack in your side and you'd still struggle if you have peanuts playing in the spine.

Pieman wrote:Personally I dont think they should have weakened one position to strengthen another, especially when its a halfback. As good as hunt has been at 9 in attack, Who ever has played 7 has been fucking shit. You dont change your fucking halves around this late in the season unless they are injured. He should have kept nikorima at 9 with alex glenn/thaiday starting. Or pluck one from the QCup and develop them through the year. Bennett doesnt value depth.

Hunt was playing QCup 2 months into the year, before the injuries hit - he wasn't setting the world on fire at 7 either. Theyve been shuffling the halves all season long - Hunt's played more from the bench this year then Niko has.

Bennett values depth - just not at the "skill" positions (as gross a term as that is). He puts all his depth into the engine room.

Isn't the Brisbane Bombers the worst football team name ever??? Or am I missing something?

The other thing is when you lose Boyd, which we have, you lose one of the top 3 fullbacks in the world, so there is a fairly sizeable drop in quality even when the next best is still a good player. Gutherson was undoubtedly playing great this year, but he also was alternating between him and French at fullback. Will Smith is definitely a rung below those guys though, no doubt.

McCullough and Hunt probably aren't that much different in what they've done, but with injuries it means that instead of having Hunt or Niko as bench hooker, we've now got Thaiday. That's a huge drop off. Again with the Eels, there isn't significant difference in quality IMO between Pritchard, De Gois & King.

This is all no disrespect to the Eels, they've done great this year and if they win as expected, deserve to finish the season as a top 4 team. Just using them as an example due to the above conversation. I can't say the same as the Panthers, but that's the way the penny rolls sometime. I think the Broncos deserve to be a top 4 or 2 team this year on their performances, but with Boyd out I think that's really only a 50/50 chance (and almost a zero chance of making the GF).

ryno_ wrote:

Ice, 2017 Origin Time:
QLD are definite favorites because of their spine. Doesnt matter who else is on the park, the spine is crucial and they will never lose while their spine is so good.

Ice, 2017 Finals Time:
Broncos losing half their spine doesnt matter because of who else is on the park. The spine isnt crucial and they should never lose with any sub-standard peanut in there because the rest of the pack is so good.



We arent picking teams at the start of the year, we're picking them post-round 26. And Will Smith + DEdwards have both played circles around Kahu for the last month and a half. If we picked our teams at the start of the year, SKD would still be playing football and Moses wouldnt be. "Best team on paper in March" is a ridiculous argument.

Haha, you're the best going back and finding those, good for you. Stand by both comments re the specific spines/teams I was talking about.

No question Darius is a loss and the Broncos are a better unit with him in, but I still think they are a quality unit without him. It's not a knock, it's a compliment and it is the cold hard facts.

I can see Brisbane grinding a win, or blowing Penrith off the park. I could equally see Penrith racking up a score, but I don't see them winning in a close one.

Which Broncos turn up tonight?

dasherhalo wrote:I can see Brisbane grinding a win, or blowing Penrith off the park. I could equally see Penrith racking up a score, but I don't see them winning in a close one.

Which Broncos turn up tonight?

I would say we are fairly consistently inconsistent....so it probably more likely comes down to what Penrith turns up tonight.

Virtually overnight and on the back of 1 key injury (FAC), we have transformed from being too defensively orientated; to now being too attacking orientated.

G'day lads. I'm not confident at all tonight. But at the same time I feel like its a night that James Roberts can get the party started.

Ol Wayne has mixed things up this week at training (and the team stayed in a hotel last night), some very unlike Wayne things. I'll be very interested in our attitude as a result. I really just hope we bring some aggression because the Panthers got in teh faces of Manly last week through the middle and I fear we will be on the back foot all night if they are allowed to do the same.