POST GAME World Club Challenge - Wigan vs Brisbane

[Sproj]

I thought Maranta played really well. It was a mud bath yet he still looked quicker than any time under Hook and went looking for work. He was also there in support nearly as much as Milford, what more do you want from the guy? I'd take a safe as houses winger over a flashy inconsistent one any day.

Also, for those that are saying he would never get a game under Bellamy, did you never see a guy named Steve Turner?

 

[broncos4life]

I thought Maranta played really well. It was a mud bath yet he still looked quicker than any time under Hook and went looking for work. He was also there in support nearly as much as Milford, what more do you want from the guy? I'd take a safe as houses winger over a flashy inconsistent one any day.

Also, for those that are saying he would never get a game under Bellamy, did you never see a guy named Steve Turner?

I get what your saying and I am liking maranta more this year than last year. I like all of those parts of his game you mentioned accept he can't stay on the wing if he isn't going to back himself. The running to the sideline and cutting back in behind his centre has to stop. If he can't get past this block and just pin the ears back and run of the corner, he can't be a first grade winger.

It's probably the only part of his game that lets him down, but it's a massive part. It's like saying a bloke is a great accountant and awesome at every part of it except the maths

 

[Rally Towel]

I get what your saying and I am liking maranta more this year than last year. I like all of those parts of his game you mentioned accept he can't stay on the wing if he isn't going to back himself. The running to the sideline and cutting back in behind his centre has to stop. If he can't get past this block and just pin the ears back and run of the corner, he can't be a first grade winger.

It's probably the only part of his game that lets him down, but it's a massive part. It's like saying a bloke is a great accountant and awesome at every part of it except the maths

This right here. It's a deadset shame, as he has tremendous heart and can't be faulted for effort. But his general inability to finish is always going to be a massive mark against him.

 

[abashii]

It's like saying a bloke is a great accountant and awesome at every part of it except the maths

No, it's like saying a bloke is a great accountant and awesome at every part of it except he's too interesting.

For what it's worth I find myself drawn to Maranta and hope he can break out of his shell and become a great winger. But as you say if he can't back himself and finish tries he's just not ever going to be even a solid first grader. And that's a shame because he really seems like a good bloke and has all the other skills in place.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

I'm rewatching the Souths game and there is no way that St. Helens played better than Wigan. They're giving away ridiculous penalties and dropped the ball constantly. Their defense is also terrible.

Wigan would have won the GF if they had 13 on the field.

Couldve, shouldve, woudlve.

You can only play as well as your opposition lets you. Maybe some of the credit for St Helens playing bad should go to souths?

 

[Sproj]

I get what your saying and I am liking maranta more this year than last year. I like all of those parts of his game you mentioned accept he can't stay on the wing if he isn't going to back himself. The running to the sideline and cutting back in behind his centre has to stop. If he can't get past this block and just pin the ears back and run of the corner, he can't be a first grade winger.

It's probably the only part of his game that lets him down, but it's a massive part. It's like saying a bloke is a great accountant and awesome at every part of it except the maths

Great points you've raised and I've been a critic of him, still am to an extent as his finishing is a big problem. BUT, he really looked willig in the Wigan game. He was there in support and in a good position running on when he received that awful pass from Whitchurch. I think he will have a break out season and if he doesn't, we've got Oates.

 

[K-Style]

Maranta always looks better outside Copley than Hodges for some reason and Copley can be as bad a ball hog as Hodges. Half the time they do give it to him theres no space left. I am going to keep an eye on him wherever he ends up. (Even if its ISC).

 

[Cult]

Couldve, shouldve, woudlve.

You can only play as well as your opposition lets you. Maybe some of the credit for St Helens playing bad should go to souths?

Yeah Souths totally made them drop the ball when nobody was anywhere near them, especially in the first five minutes. Souths definitely made the St. Helens stand ten metres off Reynolds every time he was going to kick. And Souths should get some credit for every 50/50 call going their way.

To be fair, Souths played well but even the Raiders would have flogged St. Helens. They weren't the same team who won the final against twelve men last year.

 

[Super Freak]

Maranta did well against Wigan.

He wasn't given many good opportunities. Most of the time when he got the ball he was swarmed by Wigan defenders and there was no way he was going to score. Having Whitchurch on his inside didn't help him much.

He had 3 good scoring opportunities. Two of those were squandered because of bad passes, the other he scored.

Another thing I liked was that he seemed more willing to keep the play alive rather than let it die. You see Broncos first try, he could have just let that ball go out, but he didn't.

Broncos nearly scored another try because of Maranta keeping the play alive, unfortunately McGuire ended any chance of it happening.

He was very safe defensively. He stopped Charnley from scoring a couple of times.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

Yeah Souths totally made them drop the ball when nobody was anywhere near them, especially in the first five minutes. Souths definitely made the St. Helens stand ten metres off Reynolds every time he was going to kick. And Souths should get some credit for every 50/50 call going their way.

To be fair, Souths played well but even the Raiders would have flogged St. Helens. They weren't the same team who won the final against twelve men last year.

Broncos didnt make the wigan fella hit parker high for us to win the game either. Its a silly argument

 

[Cult]

Broncos didnt make the wigan fella hit parker high for us to win the game either. Its a silly argument

My argument was St. Helens played like shit and nothing like they did in the previous year. As someone who actually watches the English Super League regularly, I have an idea of what teams are capable of. The Rabbitohs were 100% made to look better by their opposition playing terribly.

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

Wanting to watch the game in full. Missed it the other day but don't have a digital pass on NRL.com. Anyone have a log in I can use just for a night or two ? Or a code where I can have a free trial.

You get a free 7 day trial on the app :) just sign up. cancel at any point

 

[bazza]

The pleasing thing is that its not our defence that is the problem this time around. Defence is a lot harder to get right than attack. Attack just needs a few minor adjustments, whether it be passing further in front of the player, or moving forward in attack rather than too laterally etc. However if your not defending well it just puts more pressure on your attack, but since our defence is working well, it takes away a lot of that pressure, and our attack will come together off the back of that.

Although our attack hasn't clicked as such, one thing I've noticed is that we look more structured in attack and that our attack has a lot more shape. We look to be standing a lot deeper, and have players running on to the ball rather than receiving the ball flat footed. Our players seem more organised and understand their role when inside attacking territory, but we still have the flair and unpredictability with offloads and players such as Hunt, Milford and Hodges who play what's in front of them.

 

[Big Pete]

The English Super League 2014 Grand Final could have gone either way. Both teams were missing key personnel heading into the game and it turned into a bit of a dog fight that was basically decided by a mid-field bomb that Bowen couldn't get to. I wouldn't say that one side was categorically better than the other and thus far, I'd say that St Helens have been better the Warriors who have been very scratchy so far in 2015. They got rundown with a one man advantage against a determined but ordinary Widnes Vikings outfit and then they trailed for the majority against Huddersfield only to make it through thanks to a couple of key performances, namely John Bateman who's been one of the better players so far in 2015.

Souths never let St Helens into the game. Yeah there was an element of luck to their play but they made it happen in most cases whether it was through their support play or vision combined with some great defensive plays. I'm already going to nominate the first try-saver by GI for the 2015 award and would be surprised if it didn't finish at least in the Top 10. Great tackle and for mine, it turned what may have been a tough but comfortable victory into a shellacking.

PS Had to laugh at the British commentators. Carney, who basically is the voice of reason over there calls it a no-try and they're getting bent out of shape about him being biased. Seriously, forget importing more English players, can we import Carney to do some commentary?

I think both sides have got it wrong.

Souths basically went in full-strength coming off winning a premiership against a St Helens side that had to stick their best backrow into the halves to compensate. Don't read into this wrong, but it'd be like us playing with a halves of Milford/Gillett in a match that somewhat means something.

By the same token, Brisbane were pretty fortunate in their game and the Warriors made plenty of mistakes. Brisbane's first try was basically gifted to them, not only by Burgess but by the video referee's who didn't even blink at McCullough being a good metre off-side. On top of that, those penalty goals to Brisbane were pretty fortunate. Not saying the Broncos didn't deserve the win, but if you're going to apply the same standards well...there was a fair share of luck involved. If we're making special mention of missing players - Wigan were missing their captain and lost Tautai early.

 

[bazza]

PS Had to laugh at the British commentators. Carney, who basically is the voice of reason over there calls it a no-try and they're getting bent out of shape about him being biased. Seriously, forget importing more English players, can we import Carney to do some commentary?

Hahaha. Got to agree it was hilarious when other commentators pretty much accused Brian Carney of being biased towards the NRL teams, when he was the only one calling it as it really was hahaha. Carney would be wonderful at channel 9 or even fox sports.

By the same token, Brisbane were pretty fortunate in their game and the Warriors made plenty of mistakes. Brisbane's first try was basically gifted to them, not only by Burgess but by the video referee's who didn't even blink at McCullough being a good metre off-side. On top of that, those penalty goals to Brisbane were pretty fortunate. Not saying the Broncos didn't deserve the win, but if you're going to apply the same standards well...there was a fair share of luck involved. If we're making special mention of missing players - Wigan were missing their captain and lost Tautai early.

I think someone mentioned that since Burgess ran more than a radius of 10 metres, it rendered McCullough back onside.

In saying that the luck went both ways in my opinion. I believe Liam Farrell's try was a dropped ball everyday of the week. I reckon he dropped the ball and never regained control or possession of the ball which would constitute a knock on.

 

[Big Pete]

I think someone mentioned that since Burgess ran more than a radius of 10 metres, it rendered McCullough back onside.

In saying that the luck went both ways in my opinion. I believe Liam Farrell's try was a dropped ball everyday of the week. I reckon he dropped the ball and never regained control or possession of the ball which would constitute a knock on.

The video referee wasn't even looking at that and it was pretty touch and go that he even traveled 10m, let alone, whether that includes running side-ways.

Touch and go, the call went Brisbane's way just like calls went Souths way.

As for Farrell, there was no separation and he grounded it with his palm/wrist.

 

[Danoz Direct]

The video referee wasn't even looking at that and it was pretty touch and go that he even traveled 10m, let alone, whether that includes running side-ways.

Touch and go, the call went Brisbane's way just like calls went Souths way.

As for Farrell, there was no separation and he grounded it with his palm/wrist.

Sorry BP, I just could not give Farrell's try, he clearly had no control over the ball.

 

[Big Pete]

You don't need control, just downward pressure.