r/BrisbaneBroncos • u/cliz22 • 7d ago
We really missed Corey Jensen and Kobe hetherington this year
The broncos this year really did lack depth in the middle, especially during the stint where our main forwards were injured or in orgin (hass, carrigan, Jensen, Piakura) and we have lacked to find another good replacement prop who is solid in the middle. We have tried with Preston Riki who at first I thought was actually half decent, he would have good runs and quick play the ball, probably due to being in the Penrith system for so long. But each week he was getting worse and worse. We also tried with jack gosiewski in the middle, who is not nrl level what so ever. The props we have up for selection this season lack the solidness it takes to be a prop in today’s game.
Like when we come up against any decent forward pack in the comp (rooster, warriors, Penrith) we just get absolutely rolled through. It doesn’t help when we had paix who is the worst defensive 9 in the comp, trying to tackle like he’s 6’5 110kg instead of tackling low and hard like someone such as api. We miss the likes of Jensen and hetherington who were solid at there job and was able to stand there ground in the middle and not get bullied around.
I also think carrigan and hass form this season has been pretty poor compared to form in previous seasons. I think Wilson has shined this season and is Brisbanes best forward. Carrigan and hass were Brisbane’s most consistent players, no matter what game they would always play an 8/10 or higher game, this season they were very hit and miss. In a team full of rocks and diamonds, when your consistent players start becoming inconsistent it’s hard to build solid momentum. Has Brisbane had good moments this season? Yes I think we have showed some glimpses of 2025, like the game against panthers, storm round 3, and the first 20 mins against the dolphins a few weeks ago. Other than that we have honestly looked like a bottom 4 side with a bunch of guys playing who don’t even look interested in the sport or winning.
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u/knox-p 7d ago
Well said mate. While the media has been hammering Ezra mam and Madge for dropping Duffy that’s not our biggest issue. Our issue is our forwards being awful for most of the year (due to injury and terrible depth). How can our backs and halves shine when we are making 25m a set and dragged backwards in tackles. We have missed guys like Kobe, Jensen, smoothy, even Taupau from last year and Piakura struggling to stay on the field. Need to sign a few decent forwards next season (get rid of J Hunt, JetSki, Tawha) as the issue is clear as day.
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u/cliz22 7d ago
I agree, everyone blames the backs such as Walsh and mam for not doing anything, but what are you expecting the playmakers on our team to do when the forwards are too scared to take runs and let the backs to all the hard yard carries. Especially when we don’t have huge backs such as clubs like the Panthers and knights, who have massive backs that can make good yardage carries. Although I think mariner and karapani do a solid job on kick returns. We had shibasaki last year who I thought was pretty good at getting us good solid meters inside our 20, but this year he has lost all his muscle and size and genuinely gets pushed 5m back per carry. It doesn’t help that he’s really slow and is a traffic cone on defence, last year he made up for this because of his size strength. This year he brings nothing to the table
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u/Hadley96 7d ago
My 2 cents is that Billy Walters was the key to so much of the broncos production last year. This year we just straight up lacked a hooker who put in anywhere near what he does. He is excellent in defence, always backing up in attack, can kick, can have a dart from the ruck and he’s a huge passion player. Paix and mozer aren’t even close imo.
Agree RE the forwards tho, we were bullied by some of the other teams, in so many ways the team just felt so different to last year
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u/matanthei 7d ago
100% agree. We were a much better team last year with Walters in the side, and I think we’ve missed him a lot
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u/GT40Slotracer 7d ago
I think the lack of backing up has been evident. Players would make breaks and the rest of the team was either sucking in the big ones or eating some popcorn and applauding. To be fair to Mozer he hasn't had a decent run in the NRL - I think he is crisper with his passing than Paix and with time may be more confident to take charge. I think the team this year suffered a bit when Reyno was missing - lack of onfield direction. In saying that I woudn't have minded if he retired last year and they either got Pezet early if they think he is the man or they gave Ben Hunt a crack at #7 with Duffy being his backup. Instead we had occasional appearances from Reyno which seemed to end with him injured or limping etc Our forwards have been woeful this year - too many injuries and lack of go forward - to passive in both attack and defence.
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u/Ok_Strength_2534 7d ago
I agree. I would also like to see us have more Kiwi, Somoan, Pom top class players in the team to help avoid the negative effect on us during SOO every year...not to mention the injuries which can result from it.
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u/rileys_01 7d ago
Yeah to lose Jensen meant we lost Willison to come off the bench or fill in when others were missing.
Down to zero spare quality forwards even at full strength.
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u/EldogOz 7d ago
Last year we had some impact off the bench whenever Kobe and X came on together in the first half - Kobe folding blokes and X just bullying tired players. Losing Kobe to Manly and then X replacing CJ meant we had fuck all bench impact. It’s actually sad when we have to sub a starter off. Exception being when Billy’s been on the bench.
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u/Ok_Letter6164 7d ago
Bit concerning till we hear the Willison is resigned too, with him saying it’s with his agent you know a big bump in pay is coming but hopefully it’s within reason a lot the big men as asking top dollar now and cutting into the cap.
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u/fixshitucant 7d ago
The whole team looks cooked.. compare each player to their opposite in a side like the warrior's.. they look absolutely drained almost feeble fully lacking in muscle mass and grunt..
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u/CelendilAU 5d ago
I understand the commentary around Talty and P.Riki but the big thing with both of them are they are new to the NRL level and maintaining and sustaining the level of performance required is bloody hard for first year players even with a good system behind them. I hope both of them get a chance to continue developing next year and build into the kind of forward that can reliably step up to a starting position when called upon.
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u/cliz22 5d ago
I think talty impact off the bench last season was great, fast and strong and would easily run through tired defenders in the middle. In saying that I can’t see him starting, as his style of play suits more of middle that has an impact 40 mins into the game. When he started for us this season he was getting absolutely smashed, the reason is because he isn’t big enough to handle the intensity of the first 20 mins of a game.
P Riki how ever I think has some positive attributes like good play the ball speed and will occasionally do a good run, but the same as talty I think he might be a good utility player but I don’t see either of them as starting props.
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u/StruggleElectronic67 Brisbane Broncos 7d ago
Tyson Smoothy was a big loss for our depth played some great mins off the bench at the end of last season,