I wrote an article after Round 6 of the 2019 NRL season titled ‘The Broncos spine is broken’, and after round six of the 2020 season, it is still broken – despite some new faces.
One of the issues with the 2019 spine was coach Anthony Seibold persisting with a halves combination of Anthony Milford at five-eighth and Kodi Nikorima at halfback. They were two playmakers of the same mould – two running halves trying to play to structures and they didn’t complement each other.
The side lacked direction because neither had the ability or personality to be the chief playmaker and handle the responsibilities of game management.
12 months on, Kodi Nikorima has been released to the Warriors and Melbourne Storm outcast Brodie Croft was recruited to become the team’s chief playmaker and to execute Seibold’s attacking structures.
During the first two rounds before the competition was suspended, bringing Croft into the setup looked to have solved the puzzle of the Broncos’ playmaking woes. But unfortunately for Brisbane, the new rules introduced since the resumption haven’t suited Croft’s style of play.
He’s a halfback who relies heavily on structure, but now playmakers need to adapt to a more ad-lib style of attack to keep up with the quicker pace of the game and Croft is now looking predictable and out of his depth.
This is not to say Croft can’t adapt, the problem is he hasn’t.
During Brisbane’s Round 6 loss to Newcastle, Croft’s counterpart on the Knights, Mitchell Pearce, ran the ball 21 times for 141 metres and he produced a try, a try assist, a line-break, a line-break assist and three tackle busts.
One player who should be thriving under the new rules and quicker pace of the game is Milford. Unfortunately for the Broncos, he’s badly out of form, lacking confidence and looks incapable of injecting himself into the game.
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Milford’s strength is his running game, but whenever he receives the ball, he looks clueless as to what to do with it and simply palms it off to someone else.
Despite his lack-of-form, Milford is a world-class player and Seibold needs to reject calls for him to be dropped and instead figure out how to get him more involved and running the ball again.
I believe the best way to do this is to shift him back to fullback. I know he tried this late last year without any success, but with the quicker pace of the game and the new rules, it would make the transition a lot easier this time around.
From fullback, he has to run with the ball. Whether its kick returns, support play around the ruck or sweeping plays on both sides of the field, the change will play to Milford’s strengths.
He has plenty of experience in the position, bursting onto the scene in his first two seasons as fullback for the Canberra Raiders.
It would mean shifting Jamayne Isaako back to the wing, which is his best position. Although Isaako is usually safe under the high ball and has a strong kick return, he is not suited to the modern fullback role.
It would also mean 19-year-old Tom Dearden comes into the halves to partner Croft, which would be a tough ask considering he hasn’t played any footy for a while with the cancellation of the reserve grade competitions, but it’s a risk that Seibold has to make.
To complete Brisbane’s woes with their spine, hooker Jake Turpin suffered a leg injury and will miss several weeks of football.
In what was a comical development of events, one week before Turpin suffered his injury, backup hooker and 260-game veteran Andrew McCullough was granted a release by Brisbane to play for the Newcastle Knights, leaving the Broncos without an experienced rake.
Seibold has since publically acknowledged that decision was a mistake.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
They’ve tried 20-year-old Cory Paix, but his inexperience has shown and it looks as if he’s not quite ready for first-grade, which is why they have now recruited 33-year-old 274-game veteran hooker Isaac Luke from the Dragons.
It is easy to say that Brisbane’s spine has not been given many opportunities or the space to create while playing behind an underperforming forward pack – which is partly true, but every time they have crossed the advantage line during their four straight losses, they are firing blanks in attack.
The Broncos spine is just one of the many problems they have at the moment – their defence is equally, if not more woeful, but they can ease some of that pressure by building pressure with their attack.
Seibold’s spine moving forward should be Milford at fullback, Dearden at five-eighth, Croft at halfback and Luke at hooker (to rotate with Turpin when he returns). It wouldn’t be a worse option than the spine they have now.
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
Fair enough
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Bennett didn’t bail out - he was sacked.
Nat
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I understand that. Does it look like he wants to run? Otherwise he has poor positioning, bad reads and little talk. I'm all for shaking thing up but no point taking weakening 2 positions by bringing in a rookie in the halves and keeping an unwilling FB.
Big Moose
Guest
Two years in and it’s still Bennett’s fault? Wake up! This group can play football but Seibold is not the man to harness that talent. I don’t blame him however, as Paul White and Karl Morris are the corporate heavies who made this decision and yet have escaped much of the criticism. Say what you like about Bennett, but he has 7 premierships. If you are Going to replace someone like that it needs to be with a heavyweight such as Bellamy or Robinson or a club legend like Walters, who will get buy in from the fans and old boys. Morris and White failed in every aspect.
Zak
Roar Rookie
Yet another team that has fallen away badly after Bennett leaves them -just like the Dragons, Knights and Broncos when Bennett left them after his first stint at the club. Signing Bird to such a big contract and resigning Boyd to such a long contract has left the salary cap strained and unable to go to the player market. Seibold too has invested too much in the young boom forwards to the detriment of a balanced roster
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
Drop Milford completely. Had his chance! Didn’t Turpin play ok at halfback? Play him there and isaac luke at 9
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
Nat he said without any success under the old rules. I can see the logic playing him there now with the six again rule and faster game he might be dangerous running the ball. And what are you talking about he was fullback for 2 years at raiders. He can play fb. But I’d drop him completely though, he’s had his chance. Or at least a number 14 utility
rden
Roar Rookie
So every week the coach (and to be fair media) blames the players, changes players around, and get's the same result? Why don't people see where the problem is? He's a nice guy, seems to be a friend of the media meatheads, but Seib's isn't building a team, he's merely shuffling cards over and over hoping that they magically come out in the proper order. Brisbane Broco's need a coach. It's that simple.
Bunney
Roar Rookie
I'm with you Nat - no putting Milf to FB. He needs to be benched, because he's not even trying (same goes for Boyd). Everyone knows Milf's strength is running, but he just isn't, ever. He can play Left-right-out - bringing Dearden into the 13 can't go any worse than currently, surely.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Croft appeared to be a logical signing and in many ways he was but it's a big ask to anoint him as one of the leaders after being shown the door by the Storm. If things started to go wobbly it was always likely to dent his confidence and that's why they somehow needed a Cleary, Munster, Maloney or Wighton type or Williams from the Raiders who have the runs on the board and know they are superior players. Croft must have doubts about his ability to make it and that isn't who you want with a misfiring forward pack at a new club. Being on TV all the time is great if you're going well. In saying that , if he can tough it out , in a year or even sooner the team could hit their straps and it's happy days. Plenty of teams have fired up after looking very average in a short period.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Agreed I hate to labour a point but they just don’t look fit compared to other teams The Knights pack looked super intense and rock hard fit by comparison
The Barry
Roar Guru
I remember reading Bird has an option in his favour for 2021
Fraser
Roar Rookie
It's the coaching man. No line speed. Straight standing, jersey grabbing tackles. They haven't adapted to the new style of dominating the ruck.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Wow. I hadn’t given any thought of Coates as fullback. But he would be amazing. He’s now the fastest player in the game, brilliant under the high ball, is clearly competitive, and will (should) probably leave the bumbling Broncos as soon as he can. I can see a massive negative for him at fullback though. He’d still be coached by Seibold. Is Bird re-signed for next year? I thought his contract was over.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
5 games ago many (well, me and a few others)were calling this the pack to take Broncos into the Top 4. What the..happenened ? Fleg and Carrigan have gone off the rails and the others are walking indiscipline. Saifiti and Pearce going thru the middle.. This is shades of Newcastle in the final weeks of Nathan Brown, strawberry milkshakes, playing out painfully longer..it’s over.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Isaako’s just not a fullback... I wonder if Coates has any experience there. His big, fast, good ball runner and great under the high ball. Might be a big ask at this stage but I don’t think they’d be losing much I think Croft is going ok. I watched him closely on Thursday night. He’s playing with a lot of energy and directing the team around well. I think if his forwards start giving him ball in better position he’ll go better Milford looks flat as a tack. No energy, no enthusiasm. Looks like he doesn’t even like playing any more. 90% of the time he gets the ball he shapes left, steps back inside and surrenders to the first defender he meets - its insipid Having said that it’s tough for any half to play behind the pack that constantly makes errors and easy turnovers and rarely strings good sets together to build pressure. The Broncos spend a lot of time playing in their own half, in attack and defence. I think Croft in particular would improve if the forwards were giving him better field position None of the forwards are playing badly, but none of them are really killing it either But overall the Broncos have come back looking relatively unfit. Did Seibold just give them two months off over the break? They have approx 2.8M tied up in Bird, Boyd and Milford. But Bird and Milford will be there next year. If they can use some of that money wisely to fill gaps at fullback, centre and six (pretty key positions), their forwards get a bit of experience I can still see them becoming a competition threat
Nat
Roar Rookie
Milford to FB? You said it yourself "without any success". He doesn't have plenty of experience in the role, he went to the Raiders as a half and Ricky put him there for a handful of games. His efforts last season should have put that to bed IMO. There is so much more to the FB role than being able to run and his shot at the role ended with a 58 - 0 exclaimation point. His talent is undeniable, his attitude is questionable.