Are the fans "over" the Broncos?

[Dee]

Sitting here a few days after the prelim finals loss, I've had time to really process everything that happened and I'm sure I share the same feelings as most of you. Disappointment. Anger. Frustration.

I've been thinking about how much the Broncos affect us, how much they consume our everyday thoughts and feelings so I thought I'd ask the question after this 2017 prelim finals loss - are we (the fans) starting to get "over" the Broncos?

I know its easy to ask that question after such a disappointing loss but let me finish.

When Wayne came back in 2015, I was one of the fans who knew that bringing him back would change us for the better, I knew Wayne would turn us around and turn us back into a top 4 team who can contend for the NRL premiership season after season. His record speaks for itself and honestly, Wayne Bennett is the Brisbane Broncos. He made us what we are/were so it was never a bad thing to bring the super coach back home where he belongs. He never should have left in the first place, but that's another story.

I also knew in 2015 that bringing in almost ANY coach at that point would be better than the Henjak/Griffin eras. In all honesty, 2010-2014 were the absolute lowest points to be a Broncos supporter, especially seasons 2012-2014. It was absolutely heart breaking what we were back then. 2011 was the exception. So when Wayne came back after the horrid seasons we were having, you couldn't help but feel positive, right?

It's been 3 seasons since Wayne came back. We changed our roster, changed a few coaching staff and we are always going to keep changing, that is the NRL salary cap. I'd like if everyone of you could answer truthfully - how do you think we are going as a club since 2015? How do you feel about the Broncos since then? Are you more passionate/less passionate? How do you feel about our future?

Are we starting to get "over" the Broncos?

I can only share my thoughts and opinions. When Wayne came back in 2015, I was highly optimistic. I thought we'd make the top 8 definitely, perhaps the top 4 but didn't hold my breath due to so many players leaving, bringing in new players etc so thought it would take at least a couple seasons for the team to gel. As the 2015 season went on, I started to see things in the way the team played that I haven't seen in YEARS. Commitment. Hunger. Desire. Playing as a team. Ball control. Confidence. Great tackling and defense. Communication. As the season went on, the club made me "believe" again and I truly felt we could actually win the premiership in Wayne's first season back in charge. We had "it". What is "it" exactly? I'm not sure but what I do know is we were a really really great team in 2015, and we made the grand final, I was extremely confident.
Well, then... we all know what happens next.

Devastation. Disbelief. Heart break. Sadness. Anger. Embarrassment. That pretty much sums up that 2015 Grand Final for me. It will never go away.

Since 2015, I honestly believe we are a changed team, and not for the better. We can't underestimate what losing that grand final did to us as a club, to our confidence, to our supporters, to the players, to everyone. We will always be laughed at whenever opposition teams and fans watch the 2015 GF. Always. And that angers me because we are so much better than that and it can never go away.

2016, this was the year for redemption. It's safe to say as a Broncos supporter, you thought the team would be absolutely hell bent on restoring pride within themselves as rugby league players and go out there in 2016 with a killer mind set and unshakeable hunger and desire to go one better and win the NRL premiership. What I saw in the team in 2016 was quite possibly even sadder than watching the 2015 GF. Instead of playing with desire, hunger and a never say die attitude, we were inconsistent, lacked hunger, confidence and just buckled and crumbled against teams that actually wanted it more then we did. Read this again - after losing the 2015 GF the way we did, OTHER teams in 2016 actually WANTED TO WIN THE NRL PREMIERSHIP more than we did. They showed it and played accordingly. Let that sink in. How is this possible for such a successful club like the Broncos? How can we bend over and buckle like we did? Why weren't we so hungry for success in 2016? We went backwards.

Who's the best team in the NRL? I think we'd all agree that it's the Melbourne Storm, right? Okay good. How did they do in 2016? Yep, made the grand final and lost. That's okay, shit happens. Now THIS is what separates US from THE BEST. How did the Melbourne Storm react to their 2016 GF loss? By coming out in season 2017 and playing with so much passion, desire, confidence and belief. Their attitude as a team and club is extraordinary. People are saying this Storm side this season is one of the best EVER. They've only lost 4 games all season and look absolutely unstoppable. They gave us a 30-0 lesson and are now in their second GF in row and honestly, they'll win and win big. You can tell. They just look so hungry for it. You can tell losing last year's GF hurt them and they've come out this season and showed they WANT and WILL go one better.

We have to compare ourselves against the best otherwise we'll never know what the bench mark is. The point is, the Melbourne Storm show us and every other club how it's done year in year out for over a decade. What I'm asking is - why can't we? What's wrong with us?

As a Broncos supporter, we just expect success. That's how it's been from the beginning and it'll never change. We the fans want success and we demand it because we are the Broncos. We are a damn good team when we want to be, I'm not denying that at all. I rarely question the teams EFFORT, I believe in 99% of our games, the effort to win is usually there so there's no issue with their effort. Effort was there during the Henjak and Griffin era so effort is ingrained in us so I'm happy with that. But, effort only takes you so far. When it's a tight game and it's 12-12 with 5 minutes to go, both teams are giving all the effort they can and one team has to step up and take the game. It's in THESE moments where I question us as a team, I question our desire and attitude. I question our game plan. I question our leadership. I question the body language of the players. The look in their eyes. Their hunger. Their want. Their never say die attitude. Their execution in the big moments. Their confidence.

Our effort alone can and will beat the bottom 8 teams. Effort alone can probably take us to wins over teams coming 5-8, but effort alone will never win us a premiership.

2017 in all honesty was a pretty successful season. Most teams would love to play in prelim finals with a shot at making the GF. We had a very unlucky season this year with injuries and we navigated well during the origin period. We were pretty inconsistent but we still made it deep into the finals. But us as a club and fans expect success and the ONLY success we want is winning the NRL premiership. Then and ONLY then does the talking stop. It's been 11 years since we last won a premiership. Some clubs haven't won a premiership in over 30 years so we are quite lucky as fans with the success we've had in our lifetime. But 11 years without a premiership is WAY TOO LONG as a Broncos supporter and this NEEDS to change.

How do we change it?
What do we do?
Have we got the players here to win a premiership?
Do we have the coach?

Because we haven't won a premiership in 11 seasons, we'll always watch every Broncos game every week and cheer until we can't cheer no more. We'll always support the club and the team no matter what. But, because we haven't won a premiership in 11 years and we aren't the best club in the NRL anymore - are you losing faith and getting "over" the Broncos?

 

[Renegade]

I'll never be over the broncos.

I'll be disappointed every time we don't win the premiership, some years more than others, and sure cumulatively it gets more and more frustrating, but that's the beauty of sport.

You can't win every year and if you did it wouldn't mean anything, that's what makes premierships special, because they are rare.

I might want certain players/coaches/non-football staff to leave the club, but I'll never be over the club itself and I'll never support anyone else. it's my team, always has been, always will be.

 

[Renegade]

to be fair too, we have it pretty good despite us not winning one in 12 years.

would you rather be parramatta? or newcastle? canberra? the warriors? souths have won 1 in 40 odd years.

i totally get your frustration but we dust ourselves off and try again next year.

 

[Cult]

I'm over the NRL and the fans. Will always love the Broncos.

 

[broncos4life]

I'm never going to be 'over' the Broncos, and to be honest if people are they weren't fans in the first place.

I'm regards to this year some perspective needs to be had. We finished in the top 4 and got to the prelim. That's a great year by anyone's standards and there are another 12 teams that would have given anything to have that, regardless of how they went out. We need a halfback and a big bopper (hopefully Lodge signs) but we really aren't that far off.

 

[Skyblues87]

I'm never going to be 'over' the Broncos, and to be honest if people are they weren't fans in the first place.

I'm regards to this year some perspective needs to be had. We finished in the top 4 and got to the prelim. That's a great year by anyone's standards and there are another 12 teams that would have given anything to have that, regardless of how they went out. We need a halfback and a big bopper (hopefully Lodge signs) but we really aren't that far off.

I am not over the Broncos but am very disappointed with them. Look at the adversity the Cowboys have had to endure this season yet they have managed to get into anothet GF.
Too me the Broncos are mentally weak. Boyd has no motivation always looks miserable and he is the captain. This has to change. We need some mongrels. Not sure either abt WB. Maybe past his sell by date. Walters needs to return as coach. For us to go 11 years without an Premiership is pathetic. Its getting to the stage that we are the Cowboys little brother. One final thing. Origin screws us every year. Time to recruit players who dont qualify for origin. An extra 3 wins during origin could see us as top 2 contenders.

 

[Dee]

When I ask are the fans "over" the Broncos, I don't necessarily mean the fans will grow tired of the Broncos not winning a NRL premiership and stop supporting them, what I mean is will the fans begin to lose faith in the team and the direction they are heading football/team wise?

 

[Dee]

I am not over the Broncos but am very disappointed with them. Look at the adversity the Cowboys have had to endure this season yet they have managed to get into anothet GF.
Too me the Broncos are mentally weak. Boyd has no motivation always looks miserable and he is the captain. This has to change. We need some mongrels. Not sure either abt WB. Maybe past his sell by date. Walters needs to return as coach. For us to go 11 years without an Premiership is pathetic. Its getting to the stage that we are the Cowboys little brother. One final thing. Origin screws us every year. Time to recruit players who dont qualify for origin. An extra 3 wins during origin could see us as top 2 contenders.

One thing I know for sure is the Broncos are no longer the #1 team in Queensland. It obviously is the Cowboys, it has been this way since perhaps 2013?

 

[Nashy]

I'll echo some thoughts. I'm over the NRL and what it does to our great game, and our great clubs. I will always love the Broncos, and care about the Broncos.

I'm not sure how we work out who's number 1 and 2 (We all know who 3 is). Certainly at the moment, we aren't it. But I'm sure overall, we are. It'll depend who you ask, but at the end of the day, I couldn't give a shit.

 

[Mister Wright]

Way too scathing on our 2016 season. We were on a nine game winning streak, then we lost McCullough for a long stretch and we lost Gillett, Thaiday and a few other key forwards for long stretches. I think there was one game against the Roosters that we pretty much had an U20s forward pack and you can't compete with that sort of a team (even though the Roosters had a bad run last year). We then started getting players back on deck and won something like 5 straight to almost steal 4th place only to lose out to the Cowboys on superior for and against. Smashed Titans in round 1 (despite what the media said) and almost overcame the Cowboys in a game we should have never been in in Townsville. This competition is so close and unlike the 90s when you could pretty much have a first grade level side as your reserves we can't do that anymore, so injuries, particularly to key players hurt you now, more than ever.

 

[BroncsFan]

I wouldn't say I'm over the broncos but I'm over the current standard they're putting up.

In 2015 our defence was rock solid and our attack was efficient and lethal from everywhere. This has declined significantly year on year in both facets.

I am fully over the NRL at the moment though. Our draw was fixed and the hardest in the comp by far... or was it by chance that we had to travel to NZ during origin.

I'm also fully over the refereeing which appears to manufacturer results. We were garbage on the weekend no doubt, but there was Billy playing it forward in the opening minutes, getting a drop out overturned on a very close call (which i believe was incorrect) and what appeared to me a forward pass from kaufusi to slater for his first try.

There's also the fact that only one offside penalty was called all game and it just so happened to be when we would've had excellent field position and a little bit of momentum.

I love the broncos but **** me it is hard to watch NRL each week and still try and enjoy it. Us as broncos fans cop it from everywhere yet teams like the cowboys are perennial 2nd favourite team but to me they get clear bias by the NRL with just about every game on a Saturday night and their draw this year didn't have them leaving qld until rd 10 or something. Clear favouritism from the referees... this year they had a penalty differential of +40 the highest in the league by far!! That's effectively 40 extra chances to attack their opponents line through the year.

Could you imagine if the broncos got these kinds of advantages there would be uproar... hell we don't even get these kinds of advantages and there is still uproar. I'm totally over the shit from Sydney who can't stand that we flogged their piece of shit comp for the best part of 20 years even though we've been keeping their comp afloat for the last 30.

 

[Mister Wright]

I wouldn't say I'm over the broncos but I'm over the current standard they're putting up.

In 2015 our defence was rock solid and our attack was efficient and lethal from everywhere. This has declined significantly year on year in both facets.

I am fully over the NRL at the moment though. Our draw was fixed and the hardest in the comp by far... or was it by chance that we had to travel to NZ during origin.

I'm also fully over the refereeing which appears to manufacturer results. We were garbage on the weekend no doubt, but there was Billy playing it forward in the opening minutes, getting a drop out overturned on a very close call (which i believe was incorrect) and what appeared to me a forward pass from kaufusi to slater for his first try.

There's also the fact that only one offside penalty was called all game and it just so happened to be when we would've had excellent field position and a little bit of momentum.

I love the broncos but **** me it is hard to watch NRL each week and still try and enjoy it. Us as broncos fans cop it from everywhere yet teams like the cowboys are perennial 2nd favourite team but to me they get clear bias by the NRL with just about every game on a Saturday night and their draw this year didn't have them leaving qld until rd 10 or something. Clear favouritism from the referees... this year they had a penalty differential of +40 the highest in the league by far!! That's effectively 40 extra chances to attack their opponents line through the year.

Could you imagine if the broncos got these kinds of advantages there would be uproar... hell we don't even get these kinds of advantages and there is still uproar. I'm totally over the shit from Sydney who can't stand that we flogged their piece of shit comp for the best part of 20 years even though we've been keeping their comp afloat for the last 30.

This is a great post. Does this sound familiar? 7-day turnarounds. One team town. Favourable Draw. Able to pay players more. Sound like the Broncos? No. It's the Cowboys.

 

[Nashy]

This is a great post. Does this sound familiar? 7-day turnarounds. One team town. Favourable Draw. Able to pay players more. Sound like the Broncos? No. It's the Cowboys.

The only complaint should be that they don't look at both teams and thing "Holy shit, we would do amazing if we got rid of some of these useless Sydney teams".

 

[Thelmus]

I for one am onboard both with supporting the team and direction its gping. Unless you're the storm with perennial superstars and a production line approach to play, you'll have your good and bad years thanks to injury or players aging/falling out of form.
There's a couple of vital pieces in our puzzle for a premiership and their not as easy to get as people think: A great front row and a consistent spine with a consistent kicking game that you can rely on. We seem to be addressing both if you look at lodge and Taylor.
We've paid a price for hunt leaving and inconsistency in our halves selections. Next year I expect the spine to remain the same, barring injury (remember, not one player in our spine wasn't hit with serious time out with injury, sometimes several together, never mind the rest). North Queensland lost thureson and scott, but they always had Granville and they always had Morgan. Slater and coote spent time out, but atleast they aren't captains.
What stops us from doing what the cowboys and storm have done is a senior player to take game by the scruff of the neck. Maybe Milford or Boyd sans recovery can do that. One things for sure we can't buy it and you can't teach it. We have Milford now as that player with the money he's worth, and without hunt and Marshall, he will be the only one. Q

 

[Morkel]

I wouldn't say I'm over the broncos but I'm over the current standard they're putting up.

In 2015 our defence was rock solid and our attack was efficient and lethal from everywhere. This has declined significantly year on year in both facets.

I am fully over the NRL at the moment though. Our draw was fixed and the hardest in the comp by far... or was it by chance that we had to travel to NZ during origin.

I'm also fully over the refereeing which appears to manufacturer results. We were garbage on the weekend no doubt, but there was Billy playing it forward in the opening minutes, getting a drop out overturned on a very close call (which i believe was incorrect) and what appeared to me a forward pass from kaufusi to slater for his first try.

There's also the fact that only one offside penalty was called all game and it just so happened to be when we would've had excellent field position and a little bit of momentum.

I love the broncos but **** me it is hard to watch NRL each week and still try and enjoy it. Us as broncos fans cop it from everywhere yet teams like the cowboys are perennial 2nd favourite team but to me they get clear bias by the NRL with just about every game on a Saturday night and their draw this year didn't have them leaving qld until rd 10 or something. Clear favouritism from the referees... this year they had a penalty differential of +40 the highest in the league by far!! That's effectively 40 extra chances to attack their opponents line through the year.

Could you imagine if the broncos got these kinds of advantages there would be uproar... hell we don't even get these kinds of advantages and there is still uproar. I'm totally over the shit from Sydney who can't stand that we flogged their piece of shit comp for the best part of 20 years even though we've been keeping their comp afloat for the last 30.

+1

 

[Wolfie]

Big problem is we have been spoiled with the quality of players we have had. Since Locky finished, we havent had that genuine top line player.

 

[Mitchell_Broncos]

Broncos born, Broncos bred when i die i will be Broncos dead

 

[Dash]

My only real concern for the Broncos right now is that Bennett came out and said that 2017 would be the year where we'd be ready to compete for a premiership. Instead, we peaked 2 years early and have gone backwards since, with our roster for next year (so far) looking significantly weaker again.