Official Match Day Thread: Roosters v Broncos

[Rocky Rhodes]

This is embarrassing. The fact that our club is in this position is unacceptable. The so called academy has done bugger all......we are trying to emulate Penrith but we don't have thousands of juniors.

I have always supported Robbo but it is clear we are going backwards and need a change

Good points. I'm confused though, that our "Centre of Excellence" is producing "Centre of mediocrity" results. Sure, u need good development in the background...but don't rely on blooding a thousand youngsters at once. It's never worked and never will.

[Davo]

Well as some have said on here that Billy Smith if fit is the first centre picked, who drops out? I thought Toia and Mark were really good tonight.

[HDTONE]

Well as some have said on here that Billy Smith if fit is the first centre picked, who drops out? I thought Toia and Mark were really good tonight.

Yeah agree wouldn't drop Toia or Marky. Still raw but both are strong and attracted defenders. The thing with Billy is IF and WHEN I guess.

[Rooster_6]

It was a bit more than a second mate. I think it's his whole demeanor in these pressers. It's all rinse and repeat. He always says the high level buzz words or phrases and almost convinces the media in the presser that it's all under control. Doesn't actually answer any of the hard hitting Q's. Nor does he need to in all honesty in a press conference setting. The issue now though is he doesn't answer them with his team's performances either. The same issues over and over again are met with the same blasé philosophical crap.

But he wasn’t very philosophical, in my opinion he spoke very technically on the game, more so than usual. He said their issue was footy smarts.

Spoke about 4th tackle plays being an issue in the first half. Counting numbers of short sides in the 2nd half caused issues as did last tackle chaos (adhoc play). Spoke about defensive connection, making good decisions when rushing out to shut down the first play but then not to reconnecting when the Broncos moved to plan b or c, leaving holes, creating overlaps etc.

Then spoke about the struggles for new players in the NRL having to make decision under fatigue and high intensity periods which is hard to replicate elsewhere.

Spoke technically on Rob Toia’s aggressive defence, saying he made good decisions to rush up and then not back track like a lot of other centres do.

I don’t think you’ll see another coach talk as technically about their game in Round 1 as he did tonight so I don’t understand the buzz words or phrases claim.

I think he’s just clearly relishing the challenge of building a team almost from scratch again, after years of high expectations and injuries I’m sure it must be freeing to be able to build from the ground up again. Don’t think I’ve seen him so upbeat in a while and he seems to have lost a bit of weight too.

When you say he dodged hard questions, which questions did you think he dodged?

[Rocky Rhodes]

50 in Round 1 with 10 minutes to go is ****ing embarrassing.

Going for the short 10 off kick off when we are 40-8 down and 46-8 down tells you everything you need to know, we’re more concerned about trying to attack than defend. There’s a point where it becomes about pride and damage limitation. At 46-8 you should not be concerned with getting the ball back off a kick off so that you can attack.

And yet u are one of Trobbo's staunchest fan boys...so stop complaining...u made your bed........sleep on it,

[Rooster_6]

And yet u are one of Trobbo's staunchest fan boys...so stop complaining...u made your bed........sleep on it,

If you make your bed, you don’t sleep on it. You sleep in it.

But don’t be so limited in your thinking, it’s ok to criticise someone you like or typically agree with. That’s called nuance, not everything has to be so black and white.

Even you I’m sure are capable of saying something positive about Robbo if you looked deep in your heart?

[HunchoRooster]

But he wasn’t very philosophical, in my opinion he spoke very technically on the game, more so than usual. He said their issue was footy smarts.

Spoke about 4th tackle plays being an issue in the first half. Counting numbers of short sides in the 2nd half caused issues as did last tackle chaos (adhoc play). Spoke about defensive connection, making good decisions when rushing out to shut down the first play but then not to reconnecting when the Broncos moved to plan b or c, leaving holes, creating overlaps etc.

Then spoke about the struggles for new players in the NRL having to make decision under fatigue and high intensity periods which is hard to replicate elsewhere.

Spoke technically on Rob Toia’s aggressive defence, saying he made good decisions to rush up and then not back track like a lot of other centres do.

I don’t think you’ll see another coach talk as technically about their game in Round 1 as he did tonight so I don’t understand the buzz words or phrases claim.

I think he’s just clearly relishing the challenge of building a team almost from scratch again, after years of high expectations and injuries I’m sure it must be freeing to be able to build from the ground up again. Don’t think I’ve seen him so upbeat in a while and he seems to have lost a bit of weight too.

When you say he dodged hard questions, which questions did you think he dodged?

In fairness my comments were general in nature and not specific to this exact presser. There weren't really any hard questions asked of him in this presser, but in previous instances he either goes on the defensive almost with a "how dare you ask me that" or a condescending long winded response aiming to diffuse the argument against him.

He was technical to an extent this evening but to say he was happy with the effort from what was a really poor defensive performance. Getting rolled over defending our line merely 20 mins into the new season with minimal pressure before we crack. The same defensive errors... instead of him relishing rebuilding a premiership roster, focus on winning games of rugby league with the players at your disposal.

Noted I also see he's lost weight. Good for him. Respect the hell out of him and wish nothing but good for him. I just dont see a long term successful future anymore... Sounds a bit dramatic like I want to break up with my lover in hindsight lol.

[King Salvo]

How was your drive home from the game tonight Salvo ?

We used Public Transport

[QWERTY]

We started off really well, and for the first 13 I was quite impressed at how quickly we were able to turn our form around. Some really staunch defence on our line, our attack looked promising and it seemed like we were keeping calm and composed. Townsend looked alright…

…but then the rest of the game happened and to concede 50 points is just abysmal. Credit to the Broncos, they started a bit slow but once the scored the first try they just cracked our defence right open. We didn’t help ourselves either with our discipline. There were a number of times where we won the ball only to lose it early in our set. We just put so much pressure on ourselves that all the good work we started off with just eroded rather quickly. We need to get some steel when the game isn’t going our way, and our defence overall needs to be the main focus of Robbo to fix - I’d rather see our team defend competently at this point in the season than anything else.

Really disappointed with some of our senior players. Collins, while great in defence, offers nothing in attack nowadays. Clearly has lost a bit of pace in the last few years and runs with his back to the defence. Crichton seemed quite rusty, and just didn’t run with the same gusto as he did last year. Townsend was a speed hump (although I don’t think he played as bad as the trials).

Wong and S Smith had a game they’d rather forget, but I saw enough from them to think that in a few more games improvement will be seen from both

Dom Young needs to be dropped.

On the flip side, I was quite impressed with some of our younger players. Steep, Toia, Mark N and Foteki had some really good moments and with more experience you can see a great team forming in the future. Teddy, Tupou and Watson tried their guts out and played valiantly.


We have Penrith next week. I doubt we will be able to turn our form around that quick but if we concede less than 50 I’ll be content.

[King Salvo]

So you saying people can't distinguish between betting with their brains instead of their hearts?

Why throw away hard earned over a result that's going to be obvious.

And no I'm not hoping Robbo gets sacked over this result......I've said before he should have been gone earlier.

Tell me how anyone who supposedly supports a team can bet on that team to miss the 8 and lose the most games - admits to leaving games at half time and 25 or so minutes to go as well. Obviously to anyone not a real supporter are they.

Thick and thin you support your team.

[King Salvo]

And yet u are one of Trobbo's staunchest fan boys...so stop complaining...u made your bed........sleep on it,

Go back to your vermin sites as you only ever turn up here when the Roosters lose -joined 2009 and 2312 posts - same profile name on the vermin sites as you use here - coincidence no it's you

[King Salvo]

We started off really well, and for the first 13 I was quite impressed at how quickly we were able to turn our form around. Some really staunch defence on our line, our attack looked promising and it seemed like we were keeping calm and composed. Townsend looked alright…

…but then the rest of the game happened and to concede 50 points is just abysmal. Credit to the Broncos, they started a bit slow but once the scored the first try they just cracked our defence right open. We didn’t help ourselves either with our discipline. There were a number of times where we won the ball only to lose it early in our set. We just put so much pressure on ourselves that all the good work we started off with just eroded rather quickly. We need to get some steel when the game isn’t going our way, and our defence overall needs to be the main focus of Robbo to fix - I’d rather see our team defend competently at this point in the season than anything else.

Really disappointed with some of our senior players. Collins, while great in defence, offers nothing in attack nowadays. Clearly has lost a bit of pace in the last few years and runs with his back to the defence. Crichton seemed quite rusty, and just didn’t run with the same gusto as he did last year. Townsend was a speed hump (although I don’t think he played as bad as the trials).

Wong and S Smith had a game they’d rather forget, but I saw enough from them to think that in a few more games improvement will be seen from both

Dom Young needs to be dropped.

On the flip side, I was quite impressed with some of our younger players. Steep, Toia, Mark N and Foteki had some really good moments and with more experience you can see a great team forming in the future. Teddy, Tupou and Watson tried their guts out and played valiantly.


We have Penrith next week. I doubt we will be able to turn our form around that quick but if we concede less than 50 I’ll be content.

Lucky you aren't the coach from what you say - drop Dom Young - Clueless - If you had to drop a winger from that game it would be Toops - I wouldn't be dropping either

[QWERTY]

Lucky you aren't the coach from what you say - drop Dom Young - Clueless - If you had to drop a winger from that game it would be Toops - I wouldn't be dropping either

Salvo, I just wanted to say that I agree with you opinion that the Hutchinator is an underrated player

but every other opinion of yours though is really a waste of time.

Toops was better. The stats point to that, and pretty much everyone with eyes who watched the game would agree. You have quite a bit in common with tonight’s touchie in the eyesight, or lack of, department.

Don’t worry, Robbo obviously won’t take my advice, nor even notice it. If we keep playing like this though I wager that our next coach will have a different opinion on Young

[Rocky Rhodes]

Go back to your vermin sites as you only ever turn up here when the Roosters lose -joined 2009 and 2312 posts - same profile name on the vermin sites as you use here - coincidence no it's you

LOL..what a predictable twat. Oh and how would u know or think that i post on some vermin site? Obviously u frequent the site yourself.

Face it silly sally salvotard, u are a fool and a fraud, one has to say...

15459 posts of pure dribble, one has to say..

[MKCS]

I thought Teddy, Mark N, Toia and Crichton looked like they were trying the hardest out of the entire squad tonight. Very excited by both Mark N and Toia especially given that they're only 3 matches in (Combined).

This has been a long thread but there were some posts about recruitment and retention and it's hard not to agree with them. May should still be here, JWH probably should've done another year off the bench for us given the inexperience on that bench as well.

Recruitment needs to be taken incredibly seriously this year. Robson and some depth players that other clubs don't want aren't going to get the job done. The 3, 4 or 5 million that we allegedly have spare in the cap needs to be spent on key players.

Dom Young (In defence), Sandon Smith, Chad Townsend, Dockar-Clay and some of the other young lads aren't first grade standard.