Round 13 - Melbourne Storm vs. Penrith Panthers

[absentee]

Regarding the long-sleeved jersey - some of the players were wearing them at training this week. I'd assume they were trying them out.



Only Cheyse was wearing one tonight but Ryan Morgan was wearing one under his warmup shirt during the warmup. I think it's a good look and would like to see it get a run more often. Surprised we haven't seen a long-sleeved option before, actually - from any club and supplier.

Very pleasing to get another win. Also, it was great to finally get to a game without first having to travel almost 1400km.

[RobbieRoss]

Very good win against good opposition. Agree with the comments above, but I note also the excellent performances by Proctor and Finucane. Glasby is also bending the line much more when he comes on.

Marieke hurt his shoulder making a tackle ( actually looked like a shoulder charge by him ), and went off the field. He only reappeared on the bench in the last minute. I suspect that between his shoulder and Suli's fumbles, Young T will be playing next week. He was terrific early in the season - as Craig acknowledged mid week, and both Centres must keep their spots.

NRL website says Marieke was off with concussion.

[Gaiscioch]

Great victory, Penrith tried all night, they were out played and out-smarted.
J Bromwich just destroyed them up the middle, The Accountant was on song.
Besides mistakes, everyone came up with great plays, mistakes will happen. Obviously depends how crucial the mistake is will determined how much of it can be forgiven. But it being a slippery surface and greasy ball, I would take the fubbling errors with a grain of salt, but that's just me.
How about NAS's run at the end, it even got Brandy excited. He ran with the Hammer of Thor and struck as many Panthers down as he could, till he ran out of defenders. "Panther's, want some more, huh!?" Lol.

MK5 was more of a shoulder barge then a "shoulder charge". But that's just me, I'm sure the definition is the charging coming from front-on, diagonally-on and not side-on or the back.

[blazza18]

If our forwards continues to play this well we're going to be tough to beat. Cronk had his best game in over a year.

The only disappointing thing was the errors. Kept Penrith in the game much longer than they deserved to be.

[Danger D]

You could forgive the errors in those conditions especially since the boys were looking to move the ball around and vary their attacking options.

NAS will command a lot of attention on the NRL market with showings like that. Would be great if we could keep him, but I don't know how we'd manage to keep all of our overperforming forward pack. And I can't think of any that I would be happy to see leave.

[Inglis#3]

Some of you may be getting angsty awaiting a Cronk announcement but for me it's the wait on NAS...
You'd think the prospect of playing in the league WC next year would at least keep him around for another year but who knows.

[Ice]

Agree you can't place too much emphasis on errors given it was raining all day and pretty much drizzling the entire game. The ball would be like a bar of soap so all things considered it was understandable and a very good win.

Seeing as reports are saying it's pretty much a given that Coops is re-signing i dont think it's any coincidence now his playing future is settled his game has lifted considerably after a pretty average start to the season. As a team though, geez we're playing some good football and don't have any great weaknesses anywhere. 18 points is the most points we've conceded or 0nly 10.75 per game which is ridiculous really given we're half way through the season.

If we keep that sort of defence up and play even close to our best we're extremely hard to beat and with some luck there's no reason why we can't make it to the big dance. Long way to go i know but we're certainly on the right track.

[Gaiscioch]

Some of you may be getting angsty awaiting a Cronk announcement but for me it's the wait on NAS...
You'd think the prospect of playing in the league WC next year would at least keep him around for another year but who knows.

I agree with you Inglis#3 but I would of thought NAS would of made the team for last year's tour to England.
I can't see Kearny picking him or else he would of done it already (to blood in new blood).
But NAS is quoted as wanting to play for the Kiwi's but Kearny is an odd coach, just have to look at what he's done with Benji. But who knows aye

[Storm Spirit]

Has anyone else noticed...the subtle change in the dialogue of Smitty and Coops when it comes to Club v Origin this year. I have never ever really heard the boys be quite so specific about how much playing for the Storm/Melbourne/Purple/Club/Members/home crowd meant to them around Origin. I think a lot us have been slightly narked with the boys in other years as they seemed totally besotted with Origin and left us wondering where Club footy and the Premiership sat with them.

Well I reckon Member feedback might have filtered down to them both...so although this year they are saying Origin is special and important to them..they have BOTH made a BIG effort to keep Members happy and supportive of them by saying that winning the Premiership with Storm is equally or even more important. Just the way I have heard it over the last 7 days...I'm interested in other people's thoughts...

[Inglis#3]

As they approach the end of their careers it also doesn't do any harm doing a little subtle selling of the club to potential recruits. Think the CEO should get in the ears of some of these boys and get them to start promoting. Not that they should need to - their success should be enough in and of itself but league players aren't renown for being too observant!

[sallymay]

They have definitely been told what to say

[Danger D]

They may have been told what to say but I don't doubt that they genuinely believe playing for the club is an honour and something to be proud of in itself. I can't count the number of times after games that I've seen one of the big 3 being the last player to do a full lap around the ground to thank all the fans. They never rushed it either, always stopped for photos or to sign autographs, even when it's raining or club officials were yelling at them to get back into the sheds. I've got nothing but respect for the way they carry themselves consistently throughout the year and I really think they mean it when they say that it's a priority for them to back up after Origin for their club. Don't forget that apart from being 3 of the best players of their generation, they're also 3 of the most genuine, well-spoken ambassadors of the game and I for one am really proud to have them in purple.

[RobbieRoss]

The effort of both of them - especially Coop - to back up from Origin and play so well on Saturday was extremely heartening . As per a posting last week, I feared that Coop would not back up. He made me eat my words. Brilliant effort - a triumph for his professionalism and a very positive statement about what he thinks about our Club.

[Storm Spirit]

They have definitely been told what to say

I reckon they ALWAYS believed what they are saying now (even if they have been told to say it more loudly)...but they just didn't quite realise how important it was to VERBALLY let the Members know that they loved the Club just as much as the rank and file....

Goes without saying they would...as would all the players I bet.... do anything for the Club.

As a Member...it's nice to finally hear it all the time in the media though...