Round 2: STORM vs TITANS

[JunctionBlock]

God some of our fans need to take a hard look at themselves. No point sugar coating it but I've already heard people saying we should just deadset sack players or they are changing teams. While we fell apart, what more can you expect from a team like Melbourne? They are the classiest team in the comp and we just gave them too much possession.

Ash Taylor and Davis probably our best. Hoff had a shocker in D.

Good effort though imo for a team that has gone through a full rebuild.

Same team that last week barely beat St George which is the same St George that got an absolute toweling from the Sharks today. I guess we will gauge our performances on bottom 8 teams. Let's see what happens against the Tigers next week.

Perhaps if people are going to give interviews about making left centre their own and have the coaches backing they need to back it up with performances rather than finding another spot on the field which they can't play in. He finsihed the game on the wing and perhaps that's all he is, a winger. Broncos knew it.

[Barrels]

I really like Davis. I think we play people like Hoffman and Zillman in an attempt to justify us buying them in the first place and not playing players who have earned it. I've never seen much in Hoffy ( as many of you are probably aware) and I it's no secret how we all feel about Zillman. Mead played well at fullback and should stay there. Nene takes Hoffman's spot and Davis keeps his centre spot. Our forwards play alright. Douglas had a better second half and Shillo made a few errors but was pretty solid. Paasi plays with so much courage he has really earn't my admiration. Pulu is beginning too aswell. Bring back olive, and have don on the other wing.

I didn't have much hope for us to beat Melbourne. They are too good, but the longer the season goes on without King addressing these issues than will be beaten week in week out. We played the first 30 minutes and then went to sleep and it isn't good enough.

[Mexican titan]

God some of our fans need to take a hard look at themselves. No point sugar coating it but I've already heard people saying we should just deadset sack players or they are changing teams. While we fell apart, what more can you expect from a team like Melbourne? They are the classiest team in the comp and we just gave them too much possession. Ash Taylor and Davis probably our best. Hoff had a shocker in D.

Good effort though imo for a team that has gone through a full rebuild.

Classiest team in the comp - you must be joking and they will struggle to make the top 6. I agree with your second point though in that we gave them too much possession and that sums up the crash and burn in the last bit of the first half. I think we are a workman like side but I was critical of buying blokes like Shillo etc as they are the ones coughing up the ball and putting us under pressure. All that said, I thought that there was a bit to like as we showed promise in patches, although the kicking game was back to kick high and hope.
Someone posted earlier today that our backline was great (or words to that effect). Well they were shown up badly tonight and I must agree with comments re Hoffman. Nothing positive about his performance at all.

[JunctionBlock]

Fresh off the NEWS limited press....

HAVING made it to within one game of last season’s grand final without their champion fullback, the Melbourne Storm have proven before there is life after Billy Slater.
Now, as Slater prepares to undergo exploratory surgery this week on the chronically injured left shoulder that could keep him out of the game for another extended period, they will have to prove they can do it again.
The initial signs in a mostly impressive 34-16 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at AAMI Park were promising. Particularly the seamless way Slater’s brilliant young understudy Cameron Munster returned to full-back and played a starring role in a rollicking victory.
Munster’s rampaging second half try was merely the punctuation mark on an excellent performance during which the 21 year-old revelled in the extra space — space which he seemed to miss when moved to the centres for the season-opener against St George-Illawarra to make way for Slater.
But if Munster’s brilliant form was reassuring, the Storm will still be anxious about the extent of Slater’s injury and, most particularly, how long they will have to deal with his absence.
Slater had scans on the injured shoulder after last week’s two point victory over the Dragons during which the champion full-back had appeared to make a successful return.
The Storm concealed Slater’s injury until about an hour before yesterday’s game when they put out a media release stating Slater had ‘’pulled up sore’’ after Monday night’s game. He will have an arthroscopy this week to determine the extent of the damage.
Munster’s immediate impact at full-back was an obvious fillip for the Storm. But over the long haul Slater’s absence could still prove a tough test of their depth.
Munster’s place in the centres was taken by 18 year-old debutant Curtis Scott, the former Cronulla schoolboy prodigy who had been pursued by a dozen NRL clubs before signing with Melbourne.

Scott had some nervous moments early in his first game. On his first carry he was dragged backwards 10 metres by a pair of Titans tacklers and, soon after, he dropped the ball as the Storm looked to attack.
With Scott seemingly vulnerable, the Titans looked to exploit the Storm’s apparent inexperience on the left side where five-eighth Blake Green and Marika Koroibete appeared, for a time, vulnerable.
The Storm had taken an early lead when Dale Finucane seized on Cameron Smith’s perfectly placed grubber. But when Titans’ half-back Ashley Taylor connected with Tyrone Roberts to score Gold Coast’s first try and centre Nathan Davis exploited those apparent holes in the Storm’s left side defence to score another, suddenly Melbourne was on the back foot.
But the Storm responded strongly, tries by Blake Green and Will Chambers before halftime restoring their lead and seemingly sapping the Titans confidence.

Melbourne put on three more unanswered tries in the second half before the Titans could regain their composure. Encouragingly for the home team, Scott became more involved and Munster’s typically barnstorming try ignited the crowd while the Titans looked more like the bedraggled outfit that had struggled for much of last season.
Having endured Slater’s absence, the Storm will take some confidence on their trip to play Wellington next Sunday. But Melbourne — and Queensland — will be hanging on his long-term prognosis.
Only two weeks ago, Slater had been talking confidently about the season ahead. Now his decision to play the opening game after a limited preparation will come under scrutiny.


My God it's like reading communist propaganda.

[Barrels]

Also thought Taylor and Roberts played really well. Taylor's kicking was near perfect for me and he had the ball on the string for alot of the night. Tyrone is starting to look like a more range kicker but I kinda wish he would run the ball a bit more. Just me maybe but i thought halves were good. Bird also set up some nice attacking plays and is looking in good form, would probably like to see him come off late first half and back midway second half. McQueen and Taia were also ok. Defence is the only issue i could really pick up on. We also seem to have some mentality problems like penalties and giving up after multiple defensive sets but i guess we're not the only team like that.

[TITAN PETE]

It's a reality check tonight that most of us realists expected & I'm not fazed by the scoreline it was about the difference between the 2 sides Bellamy recognized Hoffman as a weakness & the rest is history...

Douglas is a great bloke but he's the weakest big man in the roster, like Zillman the team can't carry good blokes anymore..

[JunctionBlock]

Wasn't Douglas our best player last year?

[Mexican titan]

Wasn't Douglas our best player last year?

Yep and I am prepared to give him one bad game. I thought a few of our forwards tonight didn't so much play badly, but no one really lifted. I thought Ryan James for one would be doing a bit more than he has shown so far.

[karnage]

I am surprised at the negativity on here after that performance. If you came into this season thinking that we were even going to win half of our games you were way over optimistic. The thing is, we played top 8 standard football for the first 35 minutes. For 35 minutes we were playing like a team that could win in Melbourne. Then, as a realist would expect from a young and rebuilding team, we fell away. But we never gave up. We never dropped our heads and we gave them hell until the very last minute.

Yep, Hoffman was rubbish.

Yep, we lose a lot in the middle third when Morts replaces Friend.

But there were so many positives. We have got something in Davis and definitely in Ash Taylor. But more than that we played with as we moved over midfield. Our halves could run to the line with options inside and out and out the back with Mead (who hopefully did enough to retain his spot against the Tigers!!).

We scored 16 points (should have been 18 to cover the 16.5 point spread!!) and all those points were genuinely scored - there was nothing fluky about them at all.

We are 1-1 with the Tigers (home) and the Raiders (no halves) on deck. I am really pleased at the start to the season. If you are not pleased now then you are in for a long dark winter when the injuries set into the squad and when we lose Bird to Origin duties and his annual suspension.

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It's a reality check tonight that most of us realists expected & I'm not fazed by the scoreline it was about the difference between the 2 sides Bellamy recognized Hoffman as a weakness & the rest is history...

Douglas is a great bloke but he's the weakest big man in the roster, like Zillman the team can't carry good blokes anymore..

Douglas isn't worse than Shilington. That was his first game of the year and he didn't get the benefit all the other guys got of playing a QCup game against the Knights. Like a stayer first up on a Melbourne Cup campaign, he will be better for the run.

[Barrels]

Hoffman is the only player i'd consider moving from the team. Douglas wasn't great but he was alright. as MT said, none played bad but none lifted. Against a lower class team we would've won. Hoffman for Nene and that free wing spot for Olive. Pettybourne for Pulu for now, but I am more than happy to have Pulu back in in the future. We need to get the legion involved in having a chant for Paasi. He has blown me away by his playing style and I think he has become a cult hero the likes of Fui Fui. Give the kid and a catchy chant and he'll lift.

[DavidBouveng]

i agree Pete - dougie looked far off the pace tonight. he made some big runs in last few minutes but damage was done. first game of the year from him, so maybe he was not quite match ready. ill let it slide for now

across the first two weeks... Ryan james has been our most consistent prop. he played most minutes out of the props last week and made tonnes of tackles and hit ups, and this week he seemed to be the one most likely in both of his stints. He also has our quickest play the ball and makes the next forward look good. Paasi was a freak last week, and maybe needs to start?

Mead was out of position a couple of places tonight, but Zillman is most weeks, and Mead was still safe under the high ball - he just looks uncomfortable when he runs his sweeping lines and is trying to pass.

Ash is looking slightly better each week, and i think tyrone and him will develop into a good pairing. early on, the long high kicks was keeping melbourne pinned and starting their set from on their 10 metre line.

It was errors from Shillo and Dougie that started the rot and storm punished us to the full 6 points for most of the errors we made. shillo had shades of Myles in him tonght, but also made some sdtrong runs in there as well.

Hoffman was a shambles in defense tonight. Ash taylor showed more gumption stopping blokes.

Davis is holding his own. would have preferred olive on wing and nene in centres, but Davis has put in and played strong, making it hard for henry to drop him.

against a clinical storm - might also have preferred to have the experienced pettybourne in the side and let Pulu drop out ( someone correct me if petty was injured i just saw the omission and it didnt say any injury).

overall i think we are a young side who wont get smashed in the forward as often as we did before, and we have some good young halves improving as a pair, but it will take a while to get the consistency over 80 minutes as a team to match good sides. while we are going from competing for 40 minutes, to 50 to 60 to 80, which will take a year or more, hopefully a couple of guys drop out of the side and others come into the team.

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Hoffman is the only player i'd consider moving from the team. Douglas wasn't great but he was alright. as MT said, none played bad but none lifted. Against a lower class team we would've won. Hoffman for Nene and that free wing spot for Olive. Pettybourne for Pulu for now, but I am more than happy to have Pulu back in in the future. We need to get the legion involved in having a chant for Paasi. He has blown me away by his playing style and I think he has become a cult hero the likes of Fui Fui. Give the kid and a catchy chant and he'll lift.

I think Ryan james lifted, and not just the hit and try, he was full of action all game.

But i love Paasi too. He is the cult hero for sure, but James performance seems to be going under the radar and is travelling really well.

[teke]

I didnt mind the Titans performance, they dominated areas of the game in patches.

[Mexican titan]

I think Ryan james lifted, and not just the hit and try, he was full of action all game.

But i love Paasi too. He is the cult hero for sure, but James performance seems to be going under the radar and is travelling really well.

We must have watched different games then, but I guess it's an opinion thing. I'm not saying Ryan is playing badly but I was just hoping he would really stamp himself this year. I guess King agrees with me because you don't start with your best players on the bench. It's a long season though.

[DavidBouveng]

We must have watched different games then, but I guess it's an opinion thing. I'm not saying Ryan is playing badly but I was just hoping he would really stamp himself this year. I guess King agrees with me because you don't start with your best players on the bench. It's a long season though.

thanks for proving my point so perfectly. King moved Paasi to the bench and started James.

maybe we were watching different games. In the match I watched James ran for the most metres of all of our forwards and was the forward who showed the most urgency when things were looking dire.

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i didnt get it immediately either though. Went home last week after the game and was bummed thinking James had fallen behind all of these new forwards, but watched it again on TV, and he was really good. busy, made lots of runs and tackles, and was making good yards with quick play the balls. he was also playing that Dougie roll and passing at the line to the second runner. so i watched him a bit closer this week and he really quite good.

[Manzo]

just remember hoffman was one of the games best wingers.... maybe he can try that again