Could Cullen fix the Broncos' halves problem?

Terry, Cam is a long way down the pecking order at the Broncos – regardless who coaches them next year. Aside from Milford, Nikorima has increased his value substantially after his last 4 internationals for NZ under Coach Michael Maquire. He played and looked like a Keary clone using his pace to create an overlap. They have also recruited Sean O’Sullivan who is a genuine organiser with a beautiful pass and tactical short kicking game, and Thomas Dearden is in their top 30 and is the best young half in Qland. The list goes on as the Broncos have almost 40% of the Emerging young guns signed in QLand. Good is you follow the Broncos, but bad for the game that a single club can dominate like this.

Well Cullen never organised the Dolphins that well against the Bulldogs in the Intrust cup interstate game where Josh Cleeland, another journeyman playmaker left him in the shade. Broncs have been looking for an organising/kicking half for a fair while & they're rare at NRL level, rate the 16 clubs now & Nikorima would be in the top 8-10. O'sullivan may be an answer in 2019 but will he thrive behind a rookie forward pack, who knows?

What about O’Sullivan? I thought he was pegged as the next best thing.

fair enough

Broncos need a game manager. They should have let Bird go and went hard for DCE, as I'm sure Manly would have released him as they need the money for their cap issues. Missed opportunity!

I would agree with you on that. These days everything is so structured to a left/side side and stay within your channel so either side effectively has a #7 each. The FB brings that roaming, running and ball playing quality of the old 5/8. I like Munster a lot but there is nothing special about his ball skills, he's just strong and confident - like a fit Jack Bird could be.

I reckon the fact that Munster wasn't in many rep sides as a junior and was playing against men in the Queensland Cup rather then an under 20's side as a 17 year old says a lot about current developement processes for young players and the lack of any really dominant playmakers coming through.

Yeah, I'm a fan of Cullen too. Have been since his early Dolphin days. He seems to be stuck in that 'above average ISP player and not quite NRL standard. That said, I'd rate him better than Perry and he has a premiership ring. The downside for him (as Rellum says above), the Broncos are gaining depth is that halves position and O'Sullivan coming from Easts. That said, I know both Kodi and Milf need to work on their defence but their attacking capability is up there any combo in the league, 3rd best attack in 2018, their 1st season together.

I'd wondered for a long time where all the big strong 5/8's with talent had gone like Daley, Fittler and Wally Lewis as I couldn't believe that they were redundant. Then Munster came along and walked into the Australian team and won a title. The ability to win a game from 5/8 with skill and brawn if required is priceless in my opinion and if another one pops up he will transform any of the top teams I reckon.

I'm assuming you have not watched the last month of footy from Nikorima plus his performances against Australia and during the England series. Him and Johnson ran rings around Hunt and DCE. He has been electric and has taken his ball playing and game management skills to another level. Fans who calling for him to be replaced next year a just media driven sheeple. Kodi will fire in 2019, with or without Milford's help (who I believe should return to fullback).

I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm sure the broncos halves could definitely be improved, I just find suggestions that the halves are a massive issue that needs to be sorted ASAP. There are definitely issues the broncs need to sort out but the halves are far from a priority and I find suggestions that they are to be very shallow analysis of the team. It's an easy and lazy assertion to make and requires little more then a gut feeling as "proof".

I am not sure Cullen is even on a Broncs contract. You tend to just assume because he was at the Dolphins.

Cullen, Paix, Scarlett, the Broncs have many young halves. The club has to actually back one of them to develop in first grade and not expect them to be Langer or Lockyer from the first game.

I'm not sure Kimmorley or Orford were holding the Storm back that badly either but it's not really the point. They did much better by having Cronk. Manly lost Hodkinson and the raw figures show him scoring the winning try in SOO series and leading the Dogs to GF but it enabled DCE to play 1st grade and play a dominant role in a title win. Phil Blake was in a class of his own in his first couple of years at Manly scoring tries at will, playing in a couple of GF's and winning the minor premiership by 10 points. He was replaced by Hasler soon after because that was the best way forward despite what Blake's resume said. The same thing could apply at the Broncos , I don't know.

To be fair to the author, unless Cullen was already in the 30 man roster the broncs wouldn't have really been able to use him anyway

If the Broncos thought this guy was worth a crack, why didn't he play last year when they had so many injuries? There were plenty of times in the season when at least one of their spine was out? Maybe they don't see as much up side to Cullen as you do, Terry.

Cronk would be an upgrade for practically every halves combination in the league (funnily enough the broncs were 2 from 2 against the chooks), that's not what the authors suggesting though. I'm not saying the broncs should never look to improve their spine, just that I disagree with the idea that their halves are holding them back so badly that immediate changes need to be made (and that a reserve grader would be a significant improvement).

You could argue that Mitchell Pearce led the Chooks to a title and minor premierships and loads of wins against top 4 teams and on that basis you would be be crazy to suggest that the Chooks should have offloaded him. It will be interesting to see how Seibold views the situation at the Broncos.

After a poor start in 2016 it was declared by a fan at Manly that we would collect our first spoon if Cullen wasn't selected in first grade, he wasn't and we didn't but it shows that he has some very strong admirers and must have something going for him. The only full game I've seen him play was before this years NRL grand final for the Bears and unfortunately he was very average. It was a great time to put on a show and attract interest but you couldn't consider dropping Milford or Nikorima based on what I saw in that game. It's not easy to make the grade in the NRL especially in the halves but I hope he does well.

The broncos halves "problem" is greatly overstated. For all their supposed incompatibility and lack of direction they still managed 6 wins against top 4 sides.