Official Match Day Thread: Roosters v Broncos

[milanja]

When you say you’re realistic about this year, what do you mean by that? That you accept that our terrible recruitment & retention has plagued us for a wasted season?

Recruitment and retention were thrown out the window when Sam and cheese got injured. All of a sudden you’re down four players instead of two: the two injured, plus 2 backups, to the backups.

realistically speaking, would I like a team that could compete for the comp, sure. But it didn’t pan out that way.

I’ll enjoy the ride, and the meltdowns I’ll probably have one too at some point in the season.

[HunchoRooster]

Ignore the haters man. I'm growing less and less patience for engaging with such people as my years go by.

I love the club and back it. A plain English hearing of Robbo's presser gave various technical and strategic insights that literally nobody on here coulda provided. As a fan I appreciate the insights.

I'd like to think all of us love the club.
Is it wrong as a fan to want strategic and technical insights reflected on the field? Robbo loves talking...nobody doubts his ability in that department.

[milanja]

I'd like to think all of us love the club.
Is it wrong as a fan to want strategic and technical insights reflected on the field? Robbo loves talking...nobody doubts his ability in that department.

How many other coaches give these insights that you are after?

he went into the defensive lapses, and a few other insights.

What level of insight are you asking for?

[HunchoRooster]

How many other coaches give these insights that you are after?

On-field insights? Bellamy, Cleary, Ciraldo, Madge and even a few others you can see the blueprint they're trying to instill every week. The first two showing how a system is extremely effective regardless of the personnel.

In terms of speaking and articulating these insights, Robbo is second to none. He's a very smart individual, which I think has helped him stave off criticism from his underperforming team in the last few seasons. I was always impressed by Robbo's responses when the team was winning or playing well. When we play horribly and display the same shortcomings in all of those horrible performances, the articulate insights start to lose their sparkle.

[ChookMaster]

There was a key moment in the game where Elvis Presley stuffed it. It was after when Teddy regained the ball in the first half and got tackled 10M out.. he had a fast play the ball and broncos on the back foot and were short out to the right - Elvis receives the ball and instead of quickly throwing a cut out ball he went for the Hail Mary chip kick to Dom and shanked it which led to the broncos being able to cover.

Another blown opportunity as well early in the second half Angus doesn’t pass the ball to mark when there was only cobbo marking him and tupou unmarked

[Rooster1908]

How many other coaches give these insights that you are after?

he went into the defensive lapses, and a few other insights.

What level of insight are you asking for?

When he's going to fix it would be nice

[milanja]

On-field insights? Bellamy, Cleary, Ciraldo, Madge and even a few others you can see the blueprint they're trying to instill every week. The first two showing how a system is extremely effective regardless of the personnel.

In terms of speaking and articulating these insights, Robbo is second to none. He's a very smart individual, which I think has helped him stave off criticism from his underperforming team in the last few seasons. I was always impressed by Robbo's responses when the team was winning or playing well. When we play horribly and display the same shortcomings in all of those horrible performances, the articulate insights start to lose their sparkle.

a lot of these coaches are happy to give these insights after a win, after a loss, I think Robbo still gives more.

I question some of Robbo’s ideas when we have a gun team,
but with this team, there is only so much you can do without the cattle, we’ll see how he goes in rounds 3,4 and 5 where we play some comparable teams.

[HunchoRooster]

a lot of these coaches are happy to give these insights after a win, after a loss, I think Robbo still gives more.

I question some of Robbo’s ideas when we have a gun team,
but with this team, there is only so much you can do without the cattle, we’ll see how he goes in rounds 3,4 and 5 where we play some comparable teams.

Yes he does, and rarely comes across as the sore loser like most. In years gone by I enjoyed his analysis even after close losses or when games went wrong for us becsuse no team is perfect. But over time the losses have become more damning with the same issues that he doesnt seem to address, yet we get the same "im in control" psuedo-intellectual response.

I agree with your last paragraph. I think unless it gets diabolically bad this season, I would've had more vitriol and anger for the 2023 and 2024 seasons given we underperformed with a potentially premiership winning roster. Never laid a glove on the big boys of the comp.

This season our roster is as weak as anyones so to expect anything but hidings against the good sides is very optimistic. I think the club will try and make a couple big signings for next year but for the remainder of this season it's all about giving the young players a go and building experience.

[milanja]

When he's going to fix it would be nice

what type of fix are you after? Top 4,top8?

[Schooner]

Recruitment and development have been our biggest problem in recent years. Brandon and Young weren't smart buys and no-one expected Chad to be playing first grade. The NRL team was getting older as players kept extending and we kept looking to sign players at the back end of their careers. We were getting a backlog of very good young players who would probably leave if there was no certain path to NRL. We have already lost a few recently. By the end of last season several young players were ready to be introduced gradually into NRL We held off on this till late last season when Steep and King got limited game time, so now we have to replace several experienced players with young player with no experience all at once. I've been told by a good club source that Nick said he wanted them to start using academy players instead of buying veterans. He has admitted privately that this is a rebuilding year. Obviously, Nick and Robbo aren't going to make public statements suggesting we will struggle, they have to keep talking the team up.
Watching at the ground last night, I thought the young forwards went OK considering how well the Broncos were going. Sutton got the Broncos into our half continually which made our forwards look worse than they were. Very few sides defend well for long periods in their 20m zone. On the other hand, I thought the halves were pretty poor in attack and defence. Sandon seemed to be running the team more than Chad. Thats tough for a young player who hasn't played much in the halves in NRL. He has mainly come off the bench as a hooker. The biggest problem is backline defence. Chad puts pressure on his outside men and they can't handle it. I dont think Young will ever be able to defend. The others may improve with time. They desperately need a fit Billy Smith.

[Qld Chook]

Every team has to rebuild eventually. Melbourne underwent theirs a few years back when they lost Cronk, Slater and Smith in a period of 2 years or whatever it was. Bellamy and the Storm team recruited well though and had Grant, Hughes and Papenhuyzen ready to go BEFORE those players were gone and now a few years later all three are rep players or potential rep players that every club wants to sign.

The difference between us and Melbourne in particular is that Melbourne is recruiting well, is developing these players well and then they're immediately ready when called upon. With us we've put our faith in Sandon Smith who currently isn't anything past NSW Cup/Super League standard, we have no young potential star hooker, no young future star props and in a couple seasons when Tedesco is done we don't have anyone to replace him either. It also seems that instead of slowly blooding these young players into first grade they're just being thrown in there hoping they can do a job.

I have no idea why Robbo and the Roosters recruitment were seemingly so opposed to signing 2-3 good depth players who have first grade experience. Even an average forward with a hundred NRL games would've been a huge breath of fresh air last night.

This is exactly my point. There has been no forward planning at all, now we are getting what we deserve for it. I don't want a coach who can't plan ahead and leaves us in a position to get pumped by 50 points in round 1.

[Qld Chook]

Recruitment and retention were thrown out the window when Sam and cheese got injured. All of a sudden you’re down four players instead of two: the two injured, plus 2 backups, to the backups.

realistically speaking, would I like a team that could compete for the comp, sure. But it didn’t pan out that way.

I’ll enjoy the ride, and the meltdowns I’ll probably have one too at some point in the season.

Injuries are a part of the game, yes they can be cruel at times but good clubs have depth to cover. Losing your half and hooker is admittedly hard to cover but I think Melbourne & Penrith could handle it and still make finals.

Cleary has missed lengthy stints during the last two years and still lifted the trophy, Munster was also out for alot of last year and Melbourne managed to nab the minor premiership. We have lost our aura under Robbo and are now rungs below both these clubs.

[Qld Chook]

When he's going to fix it would be nice

Good question, defensive lapses during last tackle 'chaos' as Robbo termed it has been an absolute mainstay during his tenure. There is no point in identifying it if you aren't going to fix it. May as well just bury your head further in the sand. That along with unforced errors leading to opposition long range tries and poor goal line ruck D have never been addressed.

[milanja]

Injuries are a part of the game, yes they can be cruel at times but good clubs have depth to cover. Losing your half and hooker is admittedly hard to cover but I think Melbourne & Penrith could handle it and still make finals.

Cleary has missed lengthy stints during the last two years and still lifted the trophy, Munster was also out for alot of last year and Melbourne managed to nab the minor premiership. We have lost our aura under Robbo and are now rungs below both these clubs.

Melbourne is the only team in 25 years that is always at that amazing level. Where was Penrith before this 5 years dynasty? broncos have been disappointing for numerous years, with all their advantages too. And then you have14 other teams that would love a snippet of the success of Storm,panthers and us, we’ve had so much good for the last 30years, I’m content enough to have a couple of lean years if progress is made.

[Steggles]

If Billy Smith is fit next week, do we through Marky Mark on the right wing and drop Dom Young?

Absolutely. That will strengthen our defence significantly and I don’t think we’ll lose anything in attack.