Oh sh’t knew I’d forgotten someone. Ofa to bench for Bullemor and Carrigan to 13. I like Coates but originally toyed with milf at FB in which case Isaako would be on one wing and Oates the other. Then I shifted back and forgot to put Coates back in (probably for Farnworth, who should probably be dirty to not get selected). Kahu I believe is back from injury, I’m talking a few weeks anyway and I specifically said I am going for a balance of experience and explosiveness

I think this team (in a few weeks with a few players back and with a few players like Dearden needing some time off the bench to get fitter for a full 80) would have the right balance of experience and explosiveness:
1 Isaako
2 Farnworth
3 Staggs
4 Kahu
5 Oates
6 Croft
7 Dearden
8 Lodge
9 Luke
10 Haas
11 Fifita
12 Glenn
13 Ofahengaue
14 Milford
15 Flegler
16 Bullemor
17 Teo
Boyd LRO, TPJ traded 😛 Probably could also consider Oates to bench if we need a forward with a bit of experience on the bench. Milf I would only drop to the bench if Dearden was playing the house down off the bench or in scratch matches

My point is that the laughing in the dressing room points to a wider cultural problem, just like going to play the pokies the night before a final.
I think Gillett was asked to medically retire to free up space. We definitely miss McCullough and his 50-odd tackles in the middle, and his experience. McGuire might be cancer in the dressing room but why weren’t these players replaced or traded for players of similar experience levels? It doesn’t take a genius to work out that you need some forward leaders, guys who’ve played between 100-200 games to steer us around the park, put their heads down when things are tough and tell Joe O and TPJ to pull their heads in.

The disappointing thing about the rebuild and the resulting form slump though is that it didn’t need to happen.

While I was not one of the fans booing, I can definitely see where they were coming from. I will not be wasting my money buying tickets again this season (we have our season memberships rolled over to next year but pay for individual tickets this year). I definitely disagree that the effort of the team is not one of the issues – no shoulders in tackles, letting other players make up for your poor defensive reads, bad tries under the posts, losing by over 50 twice in 4 games, and basically all the points I made in the article are about a lack of will.

Thanks Paul. Yes I agree – dropping or cutting players may be pretty reactionary. I hope Kevvie will come on board with the review (as specialist backs coach or similar). I think if the players won’t play for Seibs they will play for Kevvie.

Agree that fixing up the defence (and therefore convincing players to play for each other and the coach) would fix most of our problems. But I think putting players on notice for their mistakes and stupid penalties would also quickly fix a lot of these issues. TPJ wouldn’t be selected if I was the coach

I think Dearden would be a little underdone to play full 80 minutes – Seibold is right that it would be hard to drop Milf for Dearden. Dearden hasn’t played since May last year, and there is no QCup for him to test himself in. But drop Boyd – Farnworth could get a go there, Staggs will need to come back, or Jordan Kahu’s on our books and not being selected

My opinions in the article have been based on the abysmal showings over the past five weeks (and to an extent the end of last year), not just this weekend

Glad it has at least got a few reads – thanks. I think it makes it sound much more emotional than it is – I think I mentioned an emotion once (in the first paragraph). Tried to be objective

Agree with everything you are saying apart from moving on Alex Glenn. He is one of the only ones trying out there. He has so much passion in the jersey he looks like he wants to deck the next Broncos who drops the ball. I saw him make 3 tackles from marker in a row Saturday night – all heart. He would be on no more than about $250,000 so we are definitely getting value from him

I’m just going to point out here in the comments that I didn’t choose the headline. I wanted it to be ‘The Broncos’ problems are multifactorial’ which is more the gist of what the article is about

As a Broncos fan and member – the draw sucks! I can’t stand Thursday games. We have 6 of them. having a quick look through the other teams, Melbourne have 3, Souths have 5 and Dragons have 2. You can’t fully relax while watching a Thursday game as you have work and school the next day, and when restrictions are lifted it won’t be like you can entertain a few mates while watching a Thursday game or go watch the game live and have a few beers afterwards. I hope they revise the draw next year.

I’m not sure I get what is so good about free to air games anymore now. Pretty much everyone I know has some kind of streaming service, most people I know have Kayo or some other way of watching live games. Paying for TV seems to be becoming increasingly common. I say split the different timeslots evenly across all teams.

Great summary. My wife and I laughed out loud at this. Especially Storm=Nickelback and Roosters=One Direction

Really interesting article. Found the Newcastle story fascinating. Would love to read more about the Crushers (they were just before my time). Also loved the fun facts

To quote Phil Gould – “No, No, No, No, No!”. There is absolutely no way us Brisbanites would support an ex-Sydney team just because it was forced on us. Least of all an unsuccessful one. I can’t think of one Sydney team that would survive here if it was transplanted.

It is not like we are Melbourne, with no established history in RL. We have our own culture and history here, and to see that disregarded just to save a failed Sydney team would be a kick in the teeth for Redcliffe, Ipswich, Wynnum etc fans

Joey Johns mentioned Croft to Broncos on nine this afternoon. As a Broncos fan I think it would be a good fit. Croft seems a good organising, kicking half. At the moment Milf is our only kicker so it is obvious what is happening. Could have Milf at 1, Dearden at 7, Croft at 6 and Turpin at 9. McCullough on the bench. Segeyaro, OSullivan and Boyd for cover

This is a better proposal than what Gus Gould put forward because at least you have given some consideration to the extra travel the National/out of Sydney conference would have to do by giving them an extra home game.

The other way to do it would be to split into 3 conferences of 6, based roughly around geography – North, South and West. This would keep local rivalries going and with good marketing new ones could arise. You’d play your own conference twice 10 games and other 2 conferences once each (12 games).

North – Sea Eagles, Knights, Broncos, Titans, Cowboys and new Redcliffe/Brisbane team
South – Warriors, Storm, Rabbitohs, Sharks, Dragons and Roosters
West – Raiders, Bulldogs, Eels, Panthers, Tigers and new Perth team

When I see him on the sidelines at Broncos game (lately he has been firing the T-shirt cannon!) I often wonder what might have been. Imagine him on one wing and Oates on the other!

He would be one of the dominant wingers in the competition and one of the first pciked for Australia and Queensland if he kept going at the rate he as going.

Good of the Broncos to give him a job. I think they paid out his contract and gave him a job in marketing. He must have done well at it cos that original contract would well and truly be up

Think I read that Kevin is Jharal’s uncle

He has been far from our worst player on the field and in 1-2 games he has been our best player. I know we need more from our star player but the same can’t be said for Darius. He has been our worst, most ineffective player in just about every game this year and I doubt he is on much less than Milf

I’m sorry, but the ‘not enough talent’ argument is a dumb one. Nobody can justify it with any substance or any evidence, it is just an opinion. Watch the QLD cup and tell me there is not enough talent. It is an easy one to get around anyway (if it is a problem), if you draw some players from outside Australia (I would target PNG and Fiji) and target players from outside RL (e.g. Track and Field, Rugby, Even American Football)

The 17 teams idea negates the best outcome of expansion – 1 more game for broadcasters and one more game for fans to engage with.

Wow what a team. You know it’s a great team when Tedesco can’t get a starting spot, and the Trbojevic brothers and Big Bad Brad Thorn can’t get a spot.

Speaking of which, I reckon if you made a current era team with just names starting with T they would dominate! Thurston, Taumololo, the Trbojevics, Tedesco, it seems to be that all the best recent players start with T.

I would like to have seen that Duncan Thompson play! Sounds like an interesting player, maybe someone should make a documentary about him

You’re a clown who doesn’t even understand basic geography and history. Nothing you say makes sense. Your opinion is invalid

I was reserving my judgement till after tonight. But I agree. Mass changes need to be made

I’m so sick of the not enough talent argument. This is one of the best breakdowns of the counter arguments that I have seen so well done The Barry. Can I add a few points.

I watched a few Redcliffe games last year which were low scoring and defensively tight. Some of these antiexpansionists would say that means second tier players don’t know how to score tries or attack but I would say that defence is more important and built on fitness which is needed at the top level.

The no talent/diluted talent argument always seems to assume that we need to find those 3-4 new players per club in QLD and NSW. There is more than 1 team worth of QRL or higher talent in PNG. St George recruited a Rugby winger from Fiji this year who had never seen a game of League, and I think Radradra was similar. Player wages in England are not that high at the moment and more are coming over to play. Not to mention that I am confident players like Cullen and Clifford in the Qcup could hold down a full time position at an NRL club if given a chance

You don’t need to convert the existing fans of other teams – you need to convert the kids. I saw the impact that having a new club had on kids (I’m a teacher in Brisbane) when the Titans came about. So many kids liked them and wore their stuff cos they were new and shiny and did school visits. That seemed to work for these outer suburban kids who didn’t feel like the Broncos represented them (this was on the Southside/Redlands where I worked at the time). And there seemed to be enough of them that didn’t follow the Broncos for people like that to come on to a new club.
When I was in primary school and was growing up around the Northside a few kilometres from Redcliffe you could have told me Moreton Bay was my region not Brisbane. You see signs for Moreton Bay Tourist drive around here. We got a paper called the Bayside star. You see similar signs around Wynnum. Kids don’t care what city or Shire they are in, they go for the team that is close to them or their parents take them to see. For me that could have been Redcliffe as it was close. By the way Moreton Bay LGA has a population of 400000 (twice Ipswich), add outer Northern Brisbane (another 400000 or so) and you have a huge and growing market. Capture a few hundred to a few thousand other people from other parts of Brisbane who don’t have a team/would feel represented by a Moreton team/want to support a Qcup team and you have a good base of support and members