Pretenders or contenders?

[broncos4life]

Pretenders.

No team has won a comp after having 50+ put on them. 50 points = Instant OHKO of season. Season over.

If it was mind games we would have let about 20-30 points put on us. Not abruptly have our season end with that shit we just dished up.

People are clinging to this stat like it is some full gone conclusion. Like we are disqualified from the finals because we reached the magic 50 mark. I bet there are 100's of things like this and they are only a thing until they are not.

Up until last year no team had won the premiership that was based in Cronulla.

 

[broncos4life]

You guys stating we are still contenders are living in a fools paradise.

We are waaaaay too inconsistent. 2 weeks before the finals and playing to secure a top 2 and top 4 spot and we dish THAT up on our home turf? C'mon guys. Wake up. I'd like to think it was just a blip in the road but this team just doesn't have the hunger or cattle to win the premiership.

We got bullied extremely bad tonight. We are soft.

So one rubbish performance and we ignore the rest of the season? One rubbish performance and we ignore that we are second on the ladder?

If a team got towelled up all season and then had one big win you wouldn't call them contenders, and
it is just as ridiculous to have one shit game and call us pretenders.

 

[Super Freak]

we ignore that we are second on the ladder?

And conceded 52 points.. While sitting in 2nd.

Name me a contender in previous years that conceded that many points in a single game right before the finals and even made the GF.

 

[Sproj]

So one rubbish performance and we ignore the rest of the season? One rubbish performance and we ignore that we are second on the ladder?

If a team got towelled up all season and then had one big win you wouldn't call them contenders, and
it is just as ridiculous to have one shit game and call us pretenders.

Yep exactly. This is the thing really, if we do something like this again next week, I'll be in the boat of just about writing us off but not yet, not after what has been a really good season despite rarely looking like getting out of first gear. We have a fair bit of firepower to come back in through Joffa and TPJ, plus our first choice goal kicker. It is certainly is gloom but definitely no doom...yet.

Before 2015, no team from NQ had won it. Before 2016, no team from Cronulla had ever won it. No team will have ever conceded 50 in a season, especially two weeks from the finals and gone on to win it until 2017 either.

 

[jd87]

ppl look to much into stats on the whole no team has ever won x when done y.

its silly really.

at some point a team will win comp while conceeding 50 in season

at some point a team will win comp being outside the 4.

so why cant it be us this year?

i still think as long as the players dont dwell on this game and play with confidence in the finals. we are still one of the more likely team to try and steal it from the storm. ( still personally think the storm are shoe ins this year though )

 

[Super Freak]

so why cant it be us this year?

Because teams that concede 50 points, especially in a game like last night, are teams that don't have the attitude or the mental toughness required to win a premiership.

It's arguably been our biggest problem over the past decade, our attitude. Our mentality.

 

[winslow_wong]

Yep exactly. This is the thing really, if we do something like this again next week, I'll be in the boat of just about writing us off but not yet, not after what has been a really good season despite rarely looking like getting out of first gear. We have a fair bit of firepower to come back in through Joffa and TPJ, plus our first choice goal kicker. It is certainly is gloom but definitely no doom...yet.

Before 2015, no team from NQ had won it. Before 2016, no team from Cronulla had ever won it. No team will have ever conceded 50 in a season, especially two weeks from the finals and gone on to win it until 2017 either.

To be honest when I heard kahu was out, for some reason that gave me a feeling the eels were gonna serve up an upset. Lo and behold mead lets in 4 tries and it's game over. Kahu, offa and tpj are massive inclusions for the squad.

 

[Sproj]

Lo and behold mead lets in 4 tries and it's game over

This is exactly right - three players had ABSOLUTE howlers, possibly the worst games of their careers - Boyd, Blair and Mead. They were directly or indirectly responsible for about seven or so tries between them. Boyd has been below average for a few weeks now which is a MASSIVE concern but he is a champion representative player for a reason. Blair won't play that bad ever again and while Mead seems like he well might, he won't be in the team again we all hope.

So factor in those three letting in about 40 points between them, this is one of the major reasons some of us are not giving up hope. Yes, I'm aware others like Thaiday and Ese'ese were also rubbish but so be it. We still lost by 18 and scored 30+ while playing with three or four guys effectively playing for the opposition.

 

[broncos4life]

You know this is just a spun way of saying pessimist don't you?

Because teams that concede 50 points, especially in a game like last night, are teams that don't have the attitude or the mental toughness required to win a premiership.

It's arguably been our biggest problem over the past decade, our attitude. Our mentality.

You make these grandios statements yet you have no idea about the behind the scenes.

Maybe they were all buggered from being flogged at training.

Maybe they were told to conserve energy.

Maybe Bennett doesn't give a **** about proving anything to anybody or saving fans from their childish tantrums.

Who knows.

 

[Porthoz]

What's this stuff about one shit game?

Did we all suddenly forget we had a similarly shit game just 4 weeks ago, and an even worse game another 4 weeks before that...? Coincidentally against teams in our face, with capable halves willing to take on the line, and commit players in order to disrupt our defensive line.

 

[ivanhungryjak]

What's this stuff about one shit game?

Did we all suddenly forget we had a similarly shit game just 4 weeks ago, and an even worse game another 4 weeks before that...? Coincidentally against teams in our face, with capable halves willing to take on the line, and commit players in order to disrupt our defensive line.

So what you're saying is we're good to go for another four weeks?

 

[Super Freak]

Maybe they were all buggered from being flogged at training.

They had a remarkable amount of energy for a side that was buggered from being flogged at training.. They just couldn't defend.

Maybe they were told to conserve energy.

They tried their ass out to get back in the game when the Eels got off to an early lead.. As we saw by the fact that the forwards were rushing up out of the line to put on big hits and get over the top of the Eels forwards.

They tried their ass out to score points, and managed to score 34.

You don't try that hard if your objective is to conserve energy.

I would buy all of that if this type of performance was a once off.. But it's happened a fair bit over the past few years and it wasn't the first time this season.

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

We have played 1,840 minutes of footy this season....

We have played crap for 220 minutes of it.....

If you took that 220 minutes away (when we have had something like a combined 8 players (for different games) missing who are in our best 17, we have the best for and against average of any side in the comp...

We are sitting second on the ladder and we are the only other top 5 team to play all the other top 5 teams twice this year...

We also have a coach who has won nearly double the premierships then every single other coach currently in the top 8 combined, and a 5/8th who was the best player on the ground last time he was in a grand final and is hitting peak form, and an assistant coach who has won everything possible every year for the last 4 years, as well an extrodinary amount of experience in finals/big matches in the playing group

But hey, we are just making up the numbers because we had a big loss....

 

[ivanhungryjak]

Darren Lockyer: Broncos shouldn’t hit the panic button after horror show against the Eels

THE Broncos should not hit the panic button after Thursday night’s horror show against the Eels, but alarm bells will ring if they can’t get it right this week against the Cowboys.
In such a brutal competition, you can understand if a team has a bad night at the office.
I’m prepared to write off Brisbane’s Suncorp shocker against the Eels. It should not be viewed as a sign that they can’t win the premiership.
But how they respond will be a window to their soul.
If they come out and play poorly for a second consecutive week in the Queensland derby, it will start to impact on morale, and Broncos coach Wayne Bennett will then have every right to be nervous about his side’s title credentials.
There are two key facets the Broncos must address to right the wrongs for the playoffs.
One is their ball control. The other is the attitude of their forward pack.
INJURY: Season over for Sims
PRESSURE: Nikorima failing in key moments

Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford after the losing to the Eels.
If the Broncos are going to beat the likes of Melbourne, the Roosters and Parramatta, you need to be completing at 80 per cent. In their previous win against the Dragons, Brisbane completed at 68 per cent.
A completion rate like that will not be effective in the finals.
The Broncos have attracted some criticism for the enterprise they are showing in their attacking approach. Some would say they are playing too “loose”.
To me, the issue is less about how Brisbane are operating in attack and more about the latitude being provided by their big men.
If the Broncos are going to play to the strength of their halves Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima, who are both quick, instinctive players, their forwards need to win the arm wrestle to let them flourish.
Milford and Nikorima are most potent against a retreating defence. Unless Brisbane’s forwards win the middle third, their offence will not get the scope to execute.
The Broncos should not tinker with their game plan so close to the finals. Instead, the likes of Adam Blair, Josh McGuire, Sam Thaiday and Tevita Pangai Jr need to roll the sleeves up and dominate the yardage battle.

Corey Oates dejected after the losing to the Eels.
The loss of Korbin Sims, a willing prop with great heart, to a broken arm only amplifies the pressure on his engine-room cohort Blair.
The Eels defeat was a reality check for Blair.
Parramatta’s remarkable opening try, after just 12 seconds, came as a result of a poor offload from Blair, who had not yet earned the right to be creating second-phase football.
Nikorima has attracted some criticism but to be honest, I didn’t feel he did a lot wrong.
Still, he can take some lessons from the Eels defeat.
When the Broncos trailed 18-0, Nikorima, as the side’s conductor, needed to hold his nerve and steady the ship by kicking deep to apply pressure on the Eels.
The Broncos have done a lot right this season to suggest they can be there on grand final day, but this is no time for a slump. The next seven days are vital.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...s/news-story/e7cbe4fccbed6c43c4508146910fd8e1

 

[Mr Fourex]

Because teams that concede 50 points, especially in a game like last night, are teams that don't have the attitude or the mental toughness required to win a premiership.

It's arguably been our biggest problem over the past decade, our attitude. Our mentality.

They had a remarkable amount of energy for a side that was buggered from being flogged at training.. They just couldn't defend.

They tried their ass out to get back in the game when the Eels got off to an early lead.. As we saw by the fact that the forwards were rushing up out of the line to put on big hits and get over the top of the Eels forwards.

They tried their ass out to score points, and managed to score 34.

You don't try that hard if your objective is to conserve energy.

....sounds like we're

mentally tough

to be trying that hard/

 

[broncos4life]

They had a remarkable amount of energy for a side that was buggered from being flogged at training.. They just couldn't defend.



They tried their ass out to get back in the game when the Eels got off to an early lead.. As we saw by the fact that the forwards were rushing up out of the line to put on big hits and get over the top of the Eels forwards.

They tried their ass out to score points, and managed to score 34.

You don't try that hard if your objective is to conserve energy.

I would buy all of that if this type of performance was a once off.. But it's happened a fair bit over the past few years and it wasn't the first time this season.

So where was this remarkable energy? Was it in the multiple times they didn't even bother running to stop a try? Was it in the runs of some of our fastest players that looked like they were running in quicksand?

The put on points through throwing the ball around, not through fast running or aggressive hit ups.

 

[Porthoz]

So what you're saying is we're good to go for another four weeks?

No, I'm saying that what happened last night is part of a pattern, especially when we play those kind of teams.
Pretending it was just a one off, is as bad as throwing the toys out of the cot and write us off.

We have the talent, especially in attack to hurt any team in the comp, but we won't get there without attitude in defense and mental fortitude to deal with a bad bounce of the ball, a refs ****-up, or an opponent getting lucky. And we definitely do not have a leader capable of revving the team up if that happens.

I'm hoping this loss is what steels the players to leave everything on the paddock for the team and each other, but I am worried that some will be mentally too fragile, and this loss will come back to haunt them as soon as something doesn't go their way...

 

[Big Pete]

When the Broncos trailed 18-0, Nikorima, as the side’s conductor, needed to hold his nerve and steady the ship by kicking deep to apply pressure on the Eels.

I hate to disagree with one of the greatest players of all-time, but Nikorima did just that. He put in a couple of sublime kicks that should have swung the momentum the Broncos way. Unfortunately it went unrewarded and Roberts, Mead & Hunt were horrific in defence on the Fijian flyer.

If anything, it was the one area of Milford's performance I was disappointed in. Even in defeat, I thought Milford showed the skill-set of a world class player but his composure at times was shaky. There were times where he needed to take ownership of the set and just get his players to get him in position for a kick so the Broncos could complete their set, instead he was thinking about scoring that very play.

Milford knows that and I'm sure it's the one area he'll look to fix in the lead up to the 2018 season.