Round 8 Melbourne Storm v Warriors at AAMI Park

[TITAN PETE]

WEDNESDAY

Melbourne Storm v Warriors at AAMI Park, 7:00pm (local). #NRLMELWAR

STORM: Billy Slater, Matt Duffie, Dane Nielsen, Will Chambers, Justin O'Neill, Gareth Widdop, Cooper Cronk, Jesse Bromwich, Cameron Smith, Bryan Norrie, Kevin Proctor, Ryan Hoffman, Todd Lowrie. Interchange (from): Ryan Hinchcliffe, Rory Kostjasyn, Siosaia Vave, Jason Ryles, Anthony Quinn

WARRIORS: Kevin Locke, Bill Tupou, Ben Henry, Krisnan Inu, Manu Vatuvei, James Maloney, Shaun Johnson, Sione Lousi, Nathan Friend, Ben Matulino, Feleti Mateo, Simon Mannering (c), Elijah Taylor. Interchange: Russell Packer, Ukuma Ta?Ai, Lewis Brown, Sam Rapira, Pita Godinet, Glen Fisiiahi

[TITAN PETE]

Johnson hints at secret Storm upset plan

RSS
Ben Blaschke NRL.com Tue, Apr 24, 2012 - 1:45 PM

Fresh from another impressive performance in his Test debut for New Zealand, young Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet to Melbourne, claiming he isn’t worried by what the undefeated Storm have to offer in Wednesday night’s Anzac Day clash.

It is now seven months since Johnson ended Melbourne’s 2011 season with a stunning play to send Lewis Brown over for the match-winning try – his jinking run not only propelling the Warriors into the 2011 grand final but also announcing the 21-year-old as the NRL’s latest superstar.

Now a Kiwi Test representative and having shown no signs of the so-called ‘second-year syndrome’ in 2012, Johnson told NRL.com that he was looking forward to rekindling his rivalry with the Storm and snapping their seven-game winning streak.

“Any game you play in the NRL is going to be tough but I actually don’t mind playing Melbourne,” Johnson said. “The way they’re going at the moment, they are going to be pretty hard to beat but I think we’re up for the challenge.”

Asked about his memorable performance in last year’s grand final qualifier, Johnson added: “That’s probably why I don’t mind playing them so much. I’ve played them once and beaten them once! Hopefully we can do it again on Wednesday night.”

Despite his cockiness, Johnson insists he is under no illusions as to what the Warriors are up against in the second of the NRL’s Round 8 clashes on Anzac Day.

It will be the second game in a row for the talented playmaker that he has come up against the Storm’s big three – Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith – following New Zealand’s 20-12 loss to Australia last Friday night and he expects that they will again hold the key for the home side.

“They are always going to be very important to how their team goes so I think we’ve got a big job on our hands there,” he said.

“But I think it’s a big opportunity for us, too.

“Someone like Cooper [Cronk], he is one of the best halves in the comp at the moment and I certainly relish the challenge of playing against him.”

Following the game plan will be key, according to Johnson, and he believes the Warriors have found a good one – albeit one he is reluctant to divulge. When pressed as to what his side must do to prevail, he hesitates and quips, “Oooh… I don’t know if I should tell you that one mate. I’ll pass,” before adding, “I think we need to look after the ball and complete our sets. I think we need to really come up and meet them out there – we can’t wait for them to come to us.

“Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, the boys know what we need to do and what we can achieve if we stick to our game plans. Last game (when they beat Souths 44-22 in Round 7) was a very good indication of that.”

Still, there is little doubt that if the Warriors are to prevail against Melbourne, Johnson will be central to their plans.

Despite the Kiwis’ loss last Friday, their new halfback showed enough to suggest he will cause the Australians – and everyone else for that matter – plenty of headaches over the coming years and he has continued on this season with his penchant for producing the big play.

“A lot of people talk about the second season but I wasn’t too worried about it,” Johnson, who is confident of taking the field against the Storm despite suffering bruising to his shoulder in the Test last Friday, explained. “I was confident that I had done the hard work in the off-season. I think if you do that then everything else takes care of itself.

“I think I’m lucky that I’ve got real good players around me so I don’t really need to do too much. I just have to do my job and play my role within the team. I don’t try too hard to do things, I just let the big play come and keep doing the little things right.

“That’s what I did with New Zealand last week.

“Just the whole week, being with experienced players and players that have played a few Tests – it was good. I’m feeling confident that I got through the Test and was able to play at that sort of level. It’s always hard to judge how you go when you didn’t win but I’m happy that I got through the game and contributed to the team.”

[TITAN PETE]

A young confident halfback may have the game plan to give the Storm a shake, looking forward to this match.

[TITAN PETE]

Storm v Warriors preview

NRL.com Tue, Apr 24, 2012 - 2:55 PM



Melbourne Storm v Warriors
AAMI Park
Wednesday 7pm

The high-flying Storm are off to the best start by any team in a season for 16 years – but if one team is capable of slamming them down to earth with a thud it’s the Warriors who kept their unbeaten record at AAMI Park alive when they knocked Melbourne out of last year’s premiership race.

Melbourne have been ruthless over the first seven weeks, offering few opportunities while grabbing everything thrown their way. They’re undefeated in four home games, the latest notch on their belt a clinical 12-6 defeat of the Bulldogs before the Representative Round. However, their Anzac Day opponents are unbeaten in two starts at AAMI Park.

After a tepid start to the year the Warriors gave their fans cause for celebration last round, cutting loose in attack to savage the Rabbitohs 44-22 at Mt Smart Stadium. Their second home victory for the season pushed them to ninth on the ladder, four wins adrift of the Storm. It featured eight sparkling tries and showed a dramatic improvement in their missed tackles and error rates – something they’ll need to replicate if they’re to have any chance against Melbourne.

Having scored exactly as many points as they’ve conceded (164) this could be the game that defines their season.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy has made a couple of changes to the side that accounted for the Bulldogs, with Kiwi debutant Jesse Bromwich to start at prop for Jason Ryles and Todd Lowrie to start at lock (for Ryan Hinchcliffe) after being a withdrawal last round. Both Ryles and Hinchcliffe revert to their extended interchange, with one member to be cut.

Meanwhile the Warriors’ camp have again named Kevin Locke, a late withdrawal last week, to return at fullback and are confident both Manu Vatuvei and Shaun Johnson will take their places after copping bumps in last Friday’s Test match.

Sione Lousi will start at prop with Russell Packer benched, and Feleti Mateo will start in the second row with Lewis Brown to warm the pine.

Pita Godinet and Glen Fisiiahi have been added as cover for Johnson and Vatuvei.

It’s a big week for Ryan Hoffman who plays his 178th game for the Storm, overtaking Scott Hill to become the franchise’s fifth-most capped player. He’ll be hoping to register a positive career record against the Warriors after winning half of his previous 14 encounters.

Watch Out Storm: Manu Vatuvei is a feared opponent: ‘The Beast’ has scored seven tries from only six appearances in the Victorian capital – and the only time he’s failed to trouble the scorer was in their finals win last September. One more try and Vatuvei will join ex-Dragon Nathan Blacklock as the most prolific tryscorer against the Storm in Melbourne. Vatuvei is in good if unspectacular form by his standards: he has scored three tires, made four line-breaks and offered five offloads. He’s making 10 metres in each of his average 10 hit-ups a game. Last Friday he topped all players for territory across Eden Park, with 173 metres gained.

Feleti Mateo is capable of tearing the Storm apart if the Warriors get plenty of time in the opposition 20-metre zone. Mateo leads all second-rowers for line-break assists (six) and has made 10 offloads. Melbourne will need to pay close quarter when he assumes control at first or second receiver heading back infield from the left edge – he’ll get his arms up high and look to pop a pass to a hard-running support like Ben Matulino or five-eighth James Maloney.

Danger Sign: Cross-field bombs loom as a definite threat for a seemingly otherwise impenetrable Storm. To date wingers Matt Duffie and Justin O’Neill are defusing kicks sent their way just 53 per cent of the time. The ploy worked a treat last time the sides met (see below). Also, Melbourne have conceded four tries adjacent to their right corner post, so expect James Maloney to send the ball skyward for Vatuvei.

Watch Out Warriors: The Storm’s ‘spine’ of Billy Slater, Gareth Widdop, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith are the best in rugby league and it will take a mighty defensive effort to counter their creativity. The quartet are responsible for 30 of the side’s total 35 line-break assists, with Widdop leading the way with nine. Cronk leads the NRL for try assists (14) while Slater leads the league for line-breaks (eight).

The Warriors need to fix their defence 10 metres in from the left sideline – to date they’ve conceded 14 tries there (NRL-high) and the Storm have scored more often in that exact spot than any side (13).

Also, the Storm are the benchmark for utilising decoy runners and synchronising them with their backline sweeps. Three of the top 11 decoy runners are Storm members – Jesse Bromwich (37), Ryan Hinchcliffe (33) and Bryan Norrie (31). Any time they line up in the front line 20 metres out the Warriors had better be alert.

Danger Sign: New Aussie skipper Cameron Smith is in career-best form. He leads all hookers for try assists and line-break assists and is far and away the most involved player in the NRL, his 773 receives a whopping 81 more than next best Matthew Keating.

Smith is relishing a more expansive role as playmaker – he’ll look to mix up the attack and hit a runner rather than just fire the ball out the back to Cronk and Slater. He did this to great effect last round against the Bulldogs, hitting ‘decoy’ Hinchcliffe with a short ball and sending him through a gap to score.

Cooper Cronk v Shaun Johnson: A battle between the consummate team player and the sizzling solo performer. The pair meet for the second time in five days after Cronk earned a solid points decision over Johnson in the Anzac Test.

The Kangaroos halfback kicked strongly (341 metres), made a line-break and an offload as he pushed the Aussie players around Eden Park with skill.

However, Johnson was largely responsible for knocking the Storm out of the competition in last year’s grand final qualifier (see below) and he’s shown similar spark in several outings in 2012. In fact no halfback has tallied more line-breaks (six), while he ranks second behind Cronk for try assists (eight). He’s always a danger – as shown by his 70-metre intercept try (off a Cronk pass) for the Kiwis last Friday.

Where It Will Be Won: Respecting the footy. The Warriors have the job ahead of them given they rank worst for missing tackles (37.6) and make the second-most errors (13.6). Meanwhile the Storm don’t give much away: they average the second-fewest missed tackles (24) and commit the fewest errors (8.9).

The History: Played 29; Storm 14, Warriors 13, drawn 2. The honours are even four games apiece over the past eight clashes. The Warriors hold a 2-nil advantage at Skilled Park.

The Last Time They Met: The Warriors knocked Melbourne out of the 2011 premiership race with an upset 20-12 win at AAMI Park in their grand final qualifier.

Sika Manu got the home side off to a great start when he charged onto a Gareth Widdop short ball to score in the fifth minute before the Warriors struck back when Bill Tupou crossed off a Shaun Johnson cross-field bomb with 11 minutes gone. The visitors went further ahead five minutes later when a Micheal Luck pass sent James Maloney over but Melbourne tied things up at 12-all when Billy Slater, acting as a second five-eighth, put centre Beau Champion through a gap for a 70-metre try.

A Maloney penalty goal on the stroke of halftime saw the Warriors hold a 14-12 lead at the break.

The second half provided arguably the closest contest of the season as the sides arm-wrestled for ascendancy – the Storm completed their sets at 89 per cent and made just one error, while the Warriors failed to finish just one of their 21 sets with the Steeden and made only four mistakes.

However, the game was blown apart with less than four minutes remaining when halfback Shaun Johnson bamboozled the Storm defence with a series of dummies and sidesteps down the left edge, eventually passing to Lewis Brown who scored the match-winner. It was one of the three best individual plays of the year.

Although defeated the Storm managed four line-breaks to their opponents’ two, and missed 12 tackles less.

Match Officials: Referees – Tony Archer & Chris James; Sideline Officials – Jeff Younis & Dave Munro; Video Referee – Chris Ward.

The Way We See It: Despite the stats that show the Warriors are the Storm’s biggest adversary at home, and the fact seven of the past nine encounters between these sides have been decided by single figures, we can’t go past Melbourne. The Warriors will need to bring their A-Game in attack and defence – and still hope Melbourne’s star playmakers have an off evening. Storm by 10 points.

Televised: Fox Sports 2 – Live 7pm.

[Ryan]

Where It Will Be Won: Respecting the footy.
Inu single handedly won the game. For the Storm....... :nope:

[DIEHARD]

First team to go undefeated for 8 Round since 1996. That caught my attention.

[TITAN PETE]

Warriors nearly calm Storm again

RSS
Guy Hand AAP Wed, Apr 25, 2012 - 10:17 PM

They did it in last year's preliminary final.

They've done it in three of the four previous matches against Melbourne.

They nearly did it again at AAMI Park on Wednesday night.

No matter what shape or form the Warriors are in, they are capable of beating the Storm - or at least pushing them to the brink.

Were it not for the cheese slipping off their cracker with 11 minutes remaining, the Warriors could have pulled off another big occasion victory in Melbourne - this time the now-regular Anzac Day clash between the two clubs.

Instead it was a 32-14 defeat which both coaches believe did not accurately reflect the match.

If the Warriors have uncovered a secret to calming the Storm - who had been unbeaten in their previous seven matches - they weren't sharing it.

"We knew it was a big occasion, on a great day to play a game of footy, and there's a good history there between the two teams," Warriors captain Simon Mannering said.

"It's us coming over here for a challenge we enjoy, and we get it against Melbourne every time."

The Warriors' honourable Anzac Day defeat came two important men down.

Halfback Shaun Johnson, with less than a season's total of NRL games but a rising star nonetheless, withdrew late with a shoulder injury from the recent Test match.

And fullback Kevin Locke was taken off early with a sternum injury.

That forced centre Krisnan Inu to deputise at fullback, and two crucial mistakes which led to tries could be sheeted home to him.

The Warriors sit outside the top eight with just three wins from their eight matches - a long way adrift of the Storm and their eight-match picket fence.

"It's disappointing that we let it go because the game was a lot closer than that," Warriors coach Brian McClennan said.

"(Losing two key players) doesn't help does it?

"Turn it around. Would it make a difference if their 1 and 7 came out? It does affect you, but you just have to deal with it. Tonight we didn't do it well enough."

[TITAN PETE]

Chambers hat-trick leads Storm to NRL win

Melissa Woods AAP Wed, Apr 25, 2012 - 10:35 PM

Melbourne centre Will Chambers grabbed a hat-trick as the Storm stretched their unbeaten start to the season to a club record eight NRL matches with a 32-14 win over the Warriors on Wednesday.

Chambers broke a 14-14 deadlock with 10 minutes remaining in the Anzac Day match at AAMI Park and then capped the win with his third try, which like the others came off a Billy Slater pass.

Fellow centre Dane Nielsen also finished the match with a second try as the scoreline blew out as the clock wound down.

The Warriors have won three of their past four clashes, including last year's preliminary final, and it looked early on like they would ruin another Storm party.

But the competition front-runners dug deep to hold their bogey side at bay.

The Warriors showed no fear of taking on the Storm and used their big forwards to pile on the pressure early, forcing the home side into some uncharacteristic errors, and they took a 6-0 lead through athletic winger Bill Tupou.

The visitors suffered an early blow when they lost dangerous fullback Kevin Locke to injury just six minutes into the match, forcing Krisnan Inu to the back.

Their Test halfback Shaun Johnson didn't start after failing to overcome a shoulder injury suffered in last week's international.

Two ball-carrying errors by Inu proved crucial and led to two Storm tries.

The last was a school-boy error as he carried the ball from the restart in one hand and dropped it without a Storm player in sight with Justin O'Neill scoring in the ensuing play to give his side a 14-10 lead.

The Storm were forced to recover from a 6-0 deficit after a sloppy start.

The Warriors sent the ball wide with hard-working centre Ben Henry finding his winger Tupou, who dived across the line to open the scoring.

Tupou kept his side in the match with another sensational four-pointer in the 64th minute.

He ran on to a kick by Pita Godinet, who replaced Johnson in the starting line-up, into the in-goal and managed to somehow ground it before he dived over the dead ball line.

That tied the match up 14-14 and it looked like it would be a thriller before the benchmark side of the competition showed their class to pull away for a deserved victory.

Warriors coach Brian McClennan was disappointed with how his side finished after keeping pace with the Storm for the majority of the game.

"The game was a lot closer than that," McClennan said.

"I'm really proud of the effort of the team. For 65 minutes we were pretty well in the contest so I was very proud of the team's effort in that regard."

He said the loss of Locke (sternum) and Johnson (shoulder) disrupted the team and hoped to have both back for their next game against Brisbane.

"You get injuries and you deal with it but we didn't deal with it well enough," he said.

"With Kevin coming off and Krisnan moving back, that didn't prove too good for us."

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said for his club to become the first since 1996 to open the season with eight straight wins was a "proud moment".

"I think it is a bit special. To win eight games in a row in this competition is pretty tough to do," Bellamy said.

"It's not as if all the games have gone the same way.

"There's been times when we've really had to defend well and times when the game really has been opened up ... whatever the game has been it seems we've been able to handle it reasonably well, so that's very pleasing."

Bellamy believed Melbourne's improved attack was a key to the success and said it was something they focused on in the pre-season.

The only concern of the night was a leg injury to prop Jesse Bromwich, although it's hoped he will be available to take on Penrith in their next game.

[TITAN PETE]

Inu single handedly won the game. For the Storm....... :nope:

He is one of those players who either stars or looks like a ******, another Blake Ferguson :?)