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Super Cronk
09-08-06, 10:11 AM
Heraldsun.com.au

MELBOURNE would win an NRL grand final against the Bulldogs, according to the man who coached both clubs to premierships in the 1990s.
But Chris Anderson will be barracking for the Bulldogs if the competition leaders and red-hot favourites contest the grand final on October 1.

"It's tough. I'll get shot either way," Anderson said.

"I've got family at Canterbury (the Bulldogs) . . . so my head tells me Melbourne, but my heart and family tell me Canterbury.

"Melbourne just could have a better all-round game."

Anderson, the former national coach who was at the helm for the Bulldogs' 1995 and Melbourne's 1999 grand final victories, said he expected his former clubs to play the title decider.

"You can't see anyone getting close to them," he said.

"The others are falling over at the moment.

"They've both got areas in their game where they can be beaten, but you need a team to really fire up to do it."

A Storm weakness, according to the former coach, is its intense style that could be hard to sustain throughout September.

"Melbourne has always struggled late in the season," Anderson said.

"This year's the best they've been, but when they come to the semi-finals series, they're going to have four tough games. They've struggled to put them back-to-back because they play a fairly confronting style of football.

"It's tough to be up for that sort of game week in, week out, and they've been up for a fair while now.

"Every time you have a win like that, subconsciously you drop off a fraction.

"Craig Bellamy is a smart coach. He's resting players and doing the best you can do. It's going to be tough for them to stay on top of their game through that semi period."

Anderson said the Bulldogs' weakness was their inability to put sides away.

"The only problem with the Doggies is they can bash you in the forwards, but they don't put you out of the game with their try-scoring," he said.

"So when a team with 20 minutes to go is still in the game, anything can happen."

Asked if the Bulldogs' halves pairing of hot-and-cold Brent Sherwin and inexperienced Daniel Holdsworth were part of that problem, he said: "I think so, yeah.

"They don't ignite their backline a lot."

Anderson said the sides' only head-to-head clash this year, a 16-12 win to the Storm at Olympic Park in Round 16, illustrated his point.

"Canterbury dominated the match and didn't put them away and paid the penalty," Anderson said.

"I thought they really dominated in the forwards, Canterbury, and showed their achilles heel in that they could have scored another two or three tries to put the match out of contention.

"They're doing that against the lesser sides. But when they've come up against the better sides, they don't come up with a lot of tries for their domination."

Anderson said Melbourne's ability to interchange players' roles meant they were not relying on any one individual.

He said the Dogs needed their front-rowers Roy Asotasi and Mark O'Meley on board, but said Sonny Bill Williams was also a key.

Darren Lockyer
09-08-06, 02:40 PM
I think Doggies could win it easily. There forward pack is just to good