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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2647575, member: 1899"] Round 5, 2007 Suncorp Stadium GOLD COAST TITANS 28 v BRISBANE BRONCOS 16 Christmas has come early. I've been able to access the way back machine and check out a lot of matches I didn't pay much mind to, beginning with 07. 07 is an odd year. I've been meaning to discuss it in that old History thread but the truth of the matter is my memory is foggy. I consider the entire season a mere aberration, a year where most teams struggled and the best team cheated. As a Broncos fan, I've never felt more conflicted in my life. We had a good side but played terribly only to have a bad side and play extremely well, it was two bites of the same bitter fruit. This game was a good example of the latter. Brisbane had just won their first game of the season and were looking to make amends after a slow start to the season against a very raw Gold Coast Titans outfit. It was a strange evening for the Broncos. Not just within the 80 minutes, but also how they entered the game as the away team. Since the Gold Coast were awaiting the completion of Skilled Stadium, they played the match at Suncorp and drew an impressive 47K. This meant the Broncos had to wear their away uniform, prepare in the away sheds and all the usual Broncos pre-game entertainment was nixed. It sort of set the scene for the evening. Brisbane had plenty of early opportunities to get on the scoreboard but kept shooting themselves in the foot time and time again. Even after all these years, I was very frustrated with their play as they'd do all the hard stuff, only to burn through their opportunities with unforced errors or pedestrian play. Eventually Michaels coughed up the ball while making a routine kick return and the Titans made them pay by scoring consecutive tries. Still, time was on the Broncos side. A kick return blunder by Matt Hilder enabled Karmichael Hunt to score a simple try running a second-man play. Unfortunately despite a lot of possession, the Broncos were unable to add more points and went into the break 6 points down. It didn't get better in the second half. Brisbane kept shooting themselves in the foot and Henderson crossed off a neat outside inside play from the Titans, the game was all over with 20 to play at 22-6 Titans. Through out the game, I was trying to figure out how I would have voted if a BHQ poll was in place. Outside of a couple of good touches, nobody played well and the team lacked cohesion. In fact, let me expand on that last point. Not only were they playing like individuals, the team really struggled to get into any type of formation. This meant that the forwards would struggle to do the bare basics and that's hit the ball up hard, make good metres and get quick play the balls. Instead they'd do their best to catch a Berrigan pass that was as sloppy as a pig in mud, reconfigure their line and be met just as they're standing flat footed. It was painful to watch, only accentuated further whenever they'd commit a basic error, give away a soft penalty or do something unbelievably stupid like putting their foot over the sideline while they're at dummy-half. (Tate...) Titans deserved their victory but the Broncos basically gifted it to them which was the theme of the past two Suncorp encounters. Thinking on it, I would have been calling for Berro to be moved out of hooker and either onto the bench where he could play a number of roles and moved TC to the backrow instead of the make-shift centre role he was playing. Tate would have taken his spot with Michaels and Boyd on each wing. I also would have been making moves to replace Michaels with Kemp. If I was feeling desperate (which I would have been) I would have been calling for Davies or Tupou to be selected. Watched the Round 6 07 clash against the Knights earlier and been watching the Rd7 07 clash against the Storm. May write up my thoughts later. [/QUOTE]

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