Nico's Roar Profile

Round 3 saw heavyweights Wigan and Saints return to form as a couple of upstarts from the early rounds were cut down to size, while the Wolfpack remain at the foot of the ladder. Here’s how the action unfolded.

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Nico

Roar Rookie

English Super League Round 3 wrap-up

League

Nico

Roar Rookie

Nico

Roar Rookie

English Super League Round 2 wrap-up

As the NRL sides toil away over the Aussie summer preseason the English Super League is already back in full swing.

League

Nico

Roar Rookie

English Super League Round 2 wrap-up

League

Nico

Roar Rookie

Nico

Roar Rookie

More than a bit of nuisance value: Getting one over the A-League pace-setters

It’s Round 24 of the A-League and with the whirlwind of the finals that is about to descend on the fortuitous top six, a much different prospect for the bottom four beckons.

Football

Apr

More than a bit of nuisance value: Getting one over the A-League pace-setters

Nico

Roar Rookie

More than a bit of nuisance value: Getting one over the A-League pace-setters

Football

Apr

Always had a soft spot for the ESL, went to a few WCC games during Super League back in the day to watch London Broncos get towelled a couple of times, have followed Warrington though ever since Alf had a stint there back in the early noughties, honestly though I just love the game and got a bit fed up that with such a crucial year for the ESL with expansion, big signings of SBW and Maloney, TV rights negotiations around the corner and such a wide open comp most of what we seem to get fed in the Oz media coverage revolves around what old mate posts on Twitter in some way. Thanks for the feedback will take on board RE how Aussies/Kiwis are faring

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Cheers for the feedback Walter, hard to imagine a tougher draw for the Wolfpack and without a fixture at Lamport Stadium until round 11. They’ve had some decent individual performers, Ricky Leutele is one who springs to mind, just wonder if the lack of depth in the squad will come back to bite them

Thanks for reading and for the feedback RoryStorm and Nat, will be aiming to make it a weekly fixture

‘Gee its good to see the footy back even if it is only on the other side of the world.’ – how good is it! The 0 on the end of that scoreline is pretty significant, definitely been a while since St Helens kept to nought. Their best hope coming into the wcc is that Roosters will be coming in with next to no match fitness behind them for 2020, not to mention the chilly north England conditions playing into Saints’ favour

Wakefield coach banned from Folau comments

I nearly forgot there’s a game of footy between Wakefield and Catalans on top of everything else. Here’s how it’s shaping up. On the field the focus will be more on whether Wakefield can muzzle Jimmy Maloney from reproducing his best form from the NRL. Both sides will be pretty desperate to get a first win for 2020 under their belts after round 1 trouncings. Wakefield narrowly avoided relegation last season with a second last round defeat of the celler dwelling London Broncos. Nevertheless the Wildcats proved a more formidable opponent at home winning 7 2019 fixtures there. This match also heralds the home return of Tom Johnstone on the wing, a talented prospect who has managed 67 tries in just 81 appearances, whose last couple of seasons have been ended prematurely by injury. Catalans Dragons endured a disastrous end to 2019 and have since lost 6 matches on the trot, particularly struggling on the road. Aside from ‘Izzie going to play or not’ it’s a side brimming with talent including James Maloney, Sam Kasiano, David Mead and Josh Drinkwater, brother of NQLD’s Scott. The question is whether Maloney is able to guide his side around the park after a timid opening round in which he was outshone by fellow expat Aiden Sezer. Wakefield in a close one for mine

One of the Titans (many) issues of 2019 was the limp way they started games (and indeed their season). They got themselves on the back foot early losing their first four games while only being able to muster a measly eight points (they were kept scoreless in three of these). The Titans ended up on the wrong end of the scoreline 20 times last season and could only manage 6 first-half points or fewer on 12 of those occasions. Quite simply Holbrook has to find a way to get his more than handy forward pack to come out of the blocks at the start of matches and lay some points on early.

Why your team will do better in 2020: Gold Coast Titans

Jan

I think you’ll find the whole ‘we’re hard done by because we have 5 day turnaround myth’ is overstated, if actual research is anything to go by https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/fiveday-turnarounds-have-little-impact-on-a-teams-chances-figures-show-20160409-go2f6s.html ,as for Storm/Warriors/Cowboys, sure they probably cop the rough end of the stick here, but for Sydney clubs and their fans to bleat about being disadvantaged by the draw is laughable, who wouldn’t want to play more games in their home town with conditions you’re suited to. As for the Broncos getting more FTA games, sure it’s tough on clubs such as the Titans who only get one but at the end of the day, it’s a financial decision, as was the decision to award Sydney the grand final for the next 50 years (and yet another leg up to Sydney clubs). Swings and roundabouts

NRL free-to-air fixtures for 2020: Where does your team sit?

Oct

Broncos have to travel interstate 9 times next season (10 if you count Townsville), the average Sydney club need only travel 5-6 times (only 4 if you’re Penrith). Who’s being spoon-fed?

It’s a shame that Seibold’s top to bottom review probably won’t include one of the board that orchestrated the coach swap train wreck of last season (although Paul White is now apparently considering his position). For all the management talk about moving forward from Seibold and the senior players, the lack of consistency over the season suggests there are still some mental scars from 2018 at play here. Are the players really on board with Seibold? His hesistance to publicly criticise them after poor performances and willingness to offer excuses for them with tawdry statistic after tawdry statistic (‘so we got smacked by 40 right, but hey, our post-contact meters in the second half were up on the last 4 games, so we’re clearly definitely 100% ‘moving forward’) makes me think he’s been stepping on egg shells with the group all year. The great coach swap has ensured that 2019 is another wasted year for the Broncos – boasting a squad that should have been top 4 at least, it will now be remembered as another ‘rebuild’ year. But as much as the focus has been on the lack of halves (and fair enough, their attack has been average, points scored was down by 142 on last season, almost 25%), the Broncos defence has been poor for a number of years now, with ’18 & ’19 both ending up well on the wrong side of 500 (only ’09 was worse defensively, yet the still finished 4th) and this is where they will need to improve if they stand a chance in 2020

Six talking points from Parramatta Eels vs Brisbane Broncos NRL elimination final

Sep

Difficult decision for Seibold for next week about who he selects at halfback for the Broncs – does he persist with Turpin who’s put on a few match winning plays this year but looked fairly rudderless against the dogs, or does he go back to O’Sullivan who was solid against the Eels particularly in defence, but lacked penetration in his kicking game

Seven talking points from NRL Round 25

Actually promotion/relegation was used for about the first decade of the old National Soccer League. It was based on ladder position but also financial metrics which meant that the bottom -placed side wasn’t always the one that was relegated. Teams were promoted from the state leagues also based on on-field success and financial viability

Could the NRL survive promotion and relegation?

Aug

The AFL’s expansion success is a bit overstated in this article. Both the Swans and the Lions took a decade or more to start winning, the Lions needed salary cap concessions and a few handy imports from Fitzroy to do so, while the AFL has supposedly pumped in $50 million to keep the Suns afloat. While you get the occasional overnight success like the Storm, Broncos or West Coast Eagles, most expansion teams take a while to make their mark. The last thing the NRL would need is a court battle for relocating a team, and then having to prop the side up if they underperforming financially and/or on the pitch. Where the NRL can borrow from the AFL is their approach to established teams adopting certain regions – this season the Hawks and Melbourne play 4 ‘home’ games in Tassie. NRL clubs have still been pretty coy on this, taking one game to a certain region at the most, so perhaps a Sydney team could go a bit further and commit to 3/4 games in one region over a season and actually build some ongoing support there

Expansion: The dirty word in rugby league

The qld selection policy of picking your best 17 regardless of position should probably come under the microscope for next year. Arrow was good at prop, Hunt was serviceable as a dummy half and tried hard, but lacks the sharp passing of Granville or McCollough, Morgan (in games 1 and 2) and Mbye didn’t add a whole lot. Granville at hooker and Gagai in the centres with Feldt on the wing still leaves 3 playmaking options on field in Norman, DCE and Munster, with a 14 in Hunt/Morgan off the bench, 5 playmakers on the pitch at once is a bit of a waste

The Maroons had the passion but not the cattle

Jul

Part of the problem with stopping the NRL for 3 weeks for Origin is that it doesn’t counter for the post-Origin fatigue factor. As a Broncs fan, I’ve had to watch time and time again as each promising season gets derailed with a post-origin slump. So I’d like to see Origin played post-season. The only reason it’s played in June/July was that back in the day it served as a possibles vs probables trial for the test team, which seems fairly irrelevant now anyway since Origin is more or less the pinnacle of the sport. While you might risk losing a few decent players to post-season surgery, the trade off for a better quality and fairer NRL season seems well worth it.

There’s plenty going on outside the State of Origin bubble

Les Boyd was given a 15 month suspension for eye gouging as far back as 1984 so dishing out a few lengthy suspensions wouldn’t be without precedent

The NRL needs to open its eyes

Jun

Maloney might be a great ball player but he regularly tops the missed tackle and penalties conceded lists, I’m not sure he’s the answer to the Blues’ halves problems either

Why do the Blues insist on self destructing?

The only stat that matters for the Broncos

May

In general Seibold’s comments have been perplexing and unBronco-like along the lines of ‘results don’t matter’, ‘as long as we’re improving’ (and perhaps a little ironically “stats don’t matter” after losing to the Tigers). I wonder if he was saying those sorts of things during his job interview last year. Compare that to Craig Bellamy after last night’s game: “It was crap, the second half,” and “we better find it (mental toughness) or I’ll be finding some new players.” It all suggests Seibold probably doesn’t have the playing group onside just yet to mete out any tough love and it might continue to prove difficult while they are still mostly Bennett’s team

Darius Boyd showed the hunger’s still there. Was close to faultless at the back, made a desperate legs tackle to deny Morris a try and made some inspiring tackles rushing up in the line in defence

Eight talking points from NRL Round 7

Brisbane’s defence has been pretty average ever since they lost McCullough to injury in mid-’17. They were massively found out with big losses to Parra and Storm to round out the year. They rot continued in 2018, which ranks among Brisbane’s worst ever for points conceded (although this season is well on track to surpass it). The difference was despite their leaky defence, the Broncs were still finding ways to win against most of the top sides. They seem to stand back and wait for the other team to come at them, conceding big metres in the process. I can’t see changing the spine around making much of an impact until the defensive frailties are addressed

The Broncos' spine is broken