Justin Holbrook discussion

krustykraz said:
Great news.
We just had our most successful season since 2001.
Players are obviously happy and buying in.
Ponga has turned into a true leader.
Hopefully this helps other players extend knowing he is staying (stability).
This year they played a brand of football that is exciting to watch (haven't seen that for years).

Storm, Roosters and Broncos will be looking for coaches soon.
Click to expand...
You can throw in tigers, titans and the eels also
 
So we all know V'landys and co have been trying to change the rules to make the game faster and more attractive to watch.

My question is, has Holbrook become the first coach to really embrace and exploit the new rules?
We were beaten in the GF by a team using the same old plan of grinding out a win by weight of possession and playing safe, but we beat several sides in the finals by razzle dazzle attacking skills and desperate defence.

Is it a new attacking era? Is dominating possession and field position no longer enough?
 
Billy said:
So we all know V'landys and co have been trying to change the rules to make the game faster and more attractive to watch.

My question is, has Holbrook become the first coach to really embrace and exploit the new rules?
We were beaten in the GF by a team using the same old plan of grinding out a win by weight of possession and playing safe, but we beat several sides in the finals by razzle dazzle attacking skills and desperate defence.

Is it a new attacking era? Is dominating possession and field position no longer enough?
Click to expand...
I think there’s a lot of truth to this. I was at a family member’s house and they had some random NRL highlights playing on their tv … including the Warriors vs Broncos game where Metcalf did his hammy and the Warriors had a big win. But it showed the final few moments of the first half, and even 20-0 or something ahead, the Warriors just took one out hit-ups towards halfway. It just struck me how very unadventurous it was, and we saw the result of that in their finals games.

Obviously there’s some caveats around this, the Warriors had just lost their halfback in that game. And you could argue the Roosters just won a Grand Final playing a very conservative, non-expansive style of play (albeit we had no props, so that made a bit more sense).

But I think we will see sides see the success we’ve had and start to push the envelope a bit more. I think going forward, sides that ask questions all over the field will have more success under the current rules. I just wouldn’t underestimate the talent we have in our spine and backline to make it happen, not many sides will do it as well as we do.

Anyway, after seeing those highlights I was just so thankful we are playing this style of football and the grindball of AOB is a thing of the past.
 
Billy said:
So we all know V'landys and co have been trying to change the rules to make the game faster and more attractive to watch.

My question is, has Holbrook become the first coach to really embrace and exploit the new rules?
We were beaten in the GF by a team using the same old plan of grinding out a win by weight of possession and playing safe, but we beat several sides in the finals by razzle dazzle attacking skills and desperate defence.

Is it a new attacking era? Is dominating possession and field position no longer enough?
Click to expand...
It makes a lot of sense. I think teams are getting way more comfortable defending on their own lines and the fullback is becoming and extra man in the line at that point. There may actually be more space attacking from further out.
 
As it was mentioned in other threads, AOB tried to be too much like Bellamy, doing all the one percenters (which all fell apart in 2025) and not really showing your hand until you're in the opponents half. That would look even worse this year if we played like that.
Solid dummy half service, kicking deep, good sets, forcing repeat sets, making the other team come deep out of their own end, until they crack and you get chances works when you have Slater/Smith/Cronk, compared to Gamble/Cogger/Hastings.
Defence wins games said:
Probably when he is booted for not doing well enough with a stacked roster.
Click to expand...
He's probably bought himself another decade cashing in on the talent Nick has pulled for him now. No way he wins against a healthy Penrith or Storm.
 
Billy said:
So we all know V'landys and co have been trying to change the rules to make the game faster and more attractive to watch.

My question is, has Holbrook become the first coach to really embrace and exploit the new rules?
We were beaten in the GF by a team using the same old plan of grinding out a win by weight of possession and playing safe, but we beat several sides in the finals by razzle dazzle attacking skills and desperate defence.

Is it a new attacking era? Is dominating possession and field position no longer enough?
Click to expand...
I’d say Christian Woolf was the first coach and Holbrook was second. The Dolphins played with that style last season as well as this season.

I think in both teams cases it was brought on through necessity as both teams had what was perceived to be weak forward packs. Both coaches had to come up with a different playing style to accommodate that and both teams had the right players to suit this style. It just happened that PVL’s want for a faster game suited our playing group

The difference between us and the Dolphin’s now is our forwards are young and they all developed faster than we all predicted
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top