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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2631551, member: 1899"] Woohoo! Finally finished all my major assignments so I can finally catch up and watch some footy. By the last week, all I basically did was sleep and study - it was torture but fingers crossed it yields some positive results. Now who's up for talking about some old games of footy? I know I am! Let's party. [B]Round 4 2004 Brisbane Broncos vs. Melbourne Storm[/B] - Anyone who's into watching old games would appreciate how rare these games are. For years it was nearly impossible to watch anything pre-2005 so these games are like gold. - Special game for me since it marks the first time I got to experience a home win. For awhile there, it looked like I'd open my Suncorp account with 4 straight losses. - Both sides intrigue me. Want to see if there was any teething process in the Lockyer to five eighth move as well as all the other changes. Melbourne intrigue me too since this was a transitional period where they were bringing through the likes of Smith, Slater, King, Hoffman, Turner, Kaufusi etc. around Kearns, Howe, Kearney, Williams etc. - My memory of Melbourne from 03-05 was that of a team that could match the best every odd week but could be defeated by the worst every other week. Just very inconsistent with their share of coach-killing mistakes in them. Watching them is intriguing because it provides a really good comparison for what they were to become. - I thought this game was a good snap-shot of that. Melbourne out-played the Broncos in every facet but only lead by 8 going into HT. They blew a lot of opportunities and invited Brisbane back into the game. - You can also take a lot out of watching Melbourne play Brisbane because Bellamy does a good job of testing weaknesses. In this case, Melbourne basically aimed a lot of traffic at Lockyer and if things weren't working out, would test Stuart Kelly out in the air. - Crowd wasn't thrilled with Hoffman coming onto the field while Turner was being carted off the field since this came a week after the Wests Tigers incident. Easy to forget about Turner's unfortunate run with injuries, no doubt it reduced his best aspect which was his speed. - Daley is trying really hard to get over this 'See-You-Slater' nickname. Haven't seen it mentioned since. - Brisbane were always in the contest but in the first half, didn't seem on their game and were guilty of panicking and turning the ball over going for soft options instead of being patient and trying to put Melbourne under pressure. - Plenty of good tries on offer. My pick of the bunch would go to Kings try since it featured an inch-perfect chip kick in the build up. Love seeing those when they come off properly. - I liked Lockyer's chip kick for De Vere's try too had awesome back-spin that beat both Slater & King but the try shouldn't have been awarded since the siren sounded before the ball was played. Half-Time [B]Melbourne 18 [/B](Hoffman, Slater, King tries; Smith 3/3 goals) lead [B]Brisbane 10[/B] (Kelly, De Vere tries; De Vere 1/2 goals) - Worth noting that Melbourne had Kidwell and Hoffman playing in the backline as they'd lost MacDougall and Turner during the match. - Second half opens with Brisbane receiving a penalty near the uprights. As they were known for, they took the two, reducing the gap to 6. Was never a fan of reducing the margin, always felt prehistoric for me. - A good try-saving tackle from Barry Berrigan saved what would have been one of those ricochet tries to Hoffman. - Second half seemed to be the complete opposite of the first with Brisbane asking plenty of questions but just coming up short either with unlucky bounces or mistakes at crucial mistakes. One of them from Stuart Kelly lead directly to Melbourne scoring. - Brisbane hit the lead for the first time in the 65th playing an expansive brand of footy where they caught Melbourne out-wide. Karmichael Hunt in the lead up threw a good pass to Berrigan that gave Kelly plenty of space down the touchline even though he did his best to nearly bomb it. - Loved the vintage Tallis try. Caught the ball flat footed, spots half a gap and takes the Storm on with his foot-work and strength. - Brisbane only ended up using 16, Frawley took no part in the game. FT [B]Brisbane Broncos 34[/B] (Kelly 2, De Vere 2, Lockyer, Tallis tries; De Vere 5/7 goals) defeat [B]Melbourne Storm 26[/B] (King 2, Hoffman, Slater, Hill tries; Smith 3/5 goals) Overall, that was a game of two halves with Brisbane coming home too strong. They lifted in the second half and played some very exciting footy with some good interchange of passes and some very daring kicks that didn't get the result they deserved. Watching this game, you get the sense that neither team is perfect and there were a couple of mistakes that both sides would rue but it did make for an exciting game of footy. Broncos POTS would have been a nightmare since it was a team performance and not really down to any player. If I had to pick my stand-outs would have been De Vere, Tate, Lockyer, Webcke, Tallis and Carroll. With the lowlight being Kelly. For Melbourne Storm, I reckon you could almost make a case for Slater being the best on ground. He was kept quiet in the second half but he was the danger man for them in the first half and whenever he did get involved in the second, he was still creating problems whether it was saving tries or making nice breaks. As with Brisbane I thought there were plenty of players to like such as King, Orford, Kearns & Smith but I thought this was one of the worst games I'd seen Steve Bell play. It was his first of the season, so it makes sense but he couldn't catch a cold. [/QUOTE]

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