Rd 18 - Melbourne Storm vs Brisbane Broncos (Friday Night @ Olympic Park) Thread

[Super Cronk]

Ben Cross made 133 metres! and made 22 tackles with 2 off-loads.

This bloke is a dead set champ! he got smashed atleast twice by webcke and thaiday but he ran harder and harder the next runs...awesome buy!

All the other props made some pretty useless metres....but he stood up and did the hard yards.

[bula]

How good ?? 
Ben Cross, Kaufusi, Friend were outstanding
Webster, i can't believe he's been let go off, he's one of our most effective tacklers.
DJ in a new headgear 
Everyone played well

[Insomniac]

Yeah our attack was pretty dismal yet again, and our defense was pretty awesome yet again - if it weren't for players slipping over in the wet conditions, the Broncos probably wouldn't have scored.  But keeping them to 4 points was a brilliant effort considering how much ball they had and how much tackling we had to do.

The refereeing wasn't that great, but it was consistently mediocre for both sides.

My player of the match was Hoffman - he was everywhere!  And what a great effort by Johnson - 46 or so tackles even though he left the field with an eye injury, and after backing up from Origin 3! 
And Ben Cross deserves a mention too - he seemed to be the only forward that was making a consistent dent in the Broncos defense.

But once again, a great overall team effort in defense has set up a good win over an in-form Broncos.  I've been worried about our attack for weeks, but our defense has held strong.  If that continues, maybe a mediocre attack will be sufficient.

Oh, and good on Billy for making a great return to the top grade, particularly in defense, but most prominently for setting up that great try for Turner! 

[Dani_]

Awesome, just awesome.

[Op2musPrime]

why is that so shocking surandy?

Just that they rarely open those gates unless there's a game on at the MCG, Dani can attest to that.

As for the crowd, I'll go for 15,542.

Fairly accurate guess there, give or take a 100 people.
Very good crowd despite the drizzle.  Here's hoping a similar crowd against Noddy's Sharx

[Surandy]

Absolutely fantastic defensive efforts by all the guys.

Jake had a great game and we will miss him.

NB: For anyone watching the Devils game on Sunday watch out for Jeff Lima as he is listed to play.

Edit: An interesting note on the crowd, that officially was our biggest crowd at OP since Round 7, 2000 against the Eels. My first ever home game. We did have a bigger crowd at the MCG against the Sharks in Round 21 that same year.

[PD]

Wayne's World 

from the Courier Mail

[TC]

Awesome defence. How good was Billy's tackle on Darius Boyd? And the shoulder to put Tate into touch? Reminiscent of Robbie Ross at his absolute best. All the lads were great. The ball handling left a little bit to be desired, but OP in the cold and wet is a dreadful place to try and hang onto the footy. Hoffy was outstanding. He's just getting better and better and should be in sky blue next Origin time. SK is doing a wonderful job with him.

I thought Tate was funny, Mr "Elbow to the face" complaining about a supposed grapple - how convenient it was late in the tackle count with the Broncs going nowhere. Fortunately Hampster didn't fall for it - a shining moment in an otherwise dismal performance, apparently he's forgotten what the word "offside" means. They really were doing it all night.

[TC]

It was obvious it was a double movement. He lifted his arm up and that's a double movement. The referee would have seen it. I saw it and I was sitting 40m behind the incident.

Benny obviously doesn't know the rules. It's not a double movement if the arm is lifted (or any kind of second attempt made) while there is still momentum in the tackle. Hoffy was still sliding forward, therefore no infringement.

Funny that, since Wayne was one of the voices that petitioned for that change to rule interpretation.

[Super Cronk]

dont mind bennet he is senile.

[lotti]

welcome back to first grade Billy, he and Craig used the suspension time well.

[grey sub]

Awesome defence. How good was Billy's tackle on Darius Boyd? And the shoulder to put Tate into touch? Reminiscent of Robbie Ross at his absolute best. All the lads were great. The ball handling left a little bit to be desired, but OP in the cold and wet is a dreadful place to try and hang onto the footy. Hoffy was outstanding. He's just getting better and better and should be in sky blue next Origin time. SK is doing a wonderful job with him.

I thought Tate was funny, Mr "Elbow to the face" complaining about a supposed grapple - how convenient it was late in the tackle count with the Broncs going nowhere. Fortunately Hampster didn't fall for it - a shining moment in an otherwise dismal performance, apparently he's forgotten what the word "offside" means. They really were doing it all night.

Tate wasn't off side it's just that he shorter legs than the Hampster and his ten pace were only about 7 or 8 of the Hampsters, well that's the only excuse I can think for him being 2 steps infront of the Hampster all night.  While we are at it for those of you who have sports ears or were lucky enough to watch the game, how many warnings does Petrol at seventy cents a litre (Civonaceva)get for not putting his foot on the ball, if he doesn't do it then it is an in correct play the ball and a penalty, we have had them awarded against for not playing the ball properly.  What is everyones though about the penalty awarded against Billy for tackling Boyd in the air, i swear his foot was on the ground and that Billy hesitated before tackling him....  As for Bennett who care what he thinks or says we wonthe game and their attack was flat all night......

[Blitzkrieg]

Wow, what a fantastic game!  And a great win for the mighty Storm. I didn't care that it was pissing down rain most of the night, I HAD A BALL!!!

Just goes to show, when you play the Broncs, you have to turn up ready to play, & give it 101%.  Which is what the Storm did.  Brisbane deserve credit - they threw everything at us, they never gave up, but we stood strong.  Well done fellas, a great performance, especially in defense (although I guess the wet weather made defending a little easier).

Cam, Johnson & King must be completely stuffed after backing up for Origin (ditto for the 6 Broncos who did likewise)...what a HUGE effort, congrats guys 

What about the crowd too - 15 1/2 thou, that's great!  Made plenty of noise too. Well done everyone!   

And a big THANK YOU to the Storm admin & the NRL for their efforts this week, it's been great!

"Yeah breaker one nine this here's the Rubber Duck you got a copy on me Pig Pen C'mon...uh yeah Ten-Four Pig Pen fer sure fer sure. By golly it's clean clear to Flag Town, C'mon...Yeah its a big Ten -Four there Pig Pen. Yeah we definitely got the front door, good buddy, Mercy Sakes Alive looks like we've got us a convoy..." 

[Bourbon Rat]

Take a bow Rat Pack 

"At the start of the year we let Kearns and Chan go, and we lost Peter Robinson so we lost a lot of experience out of our pack," said Bellamy.

"So our leadership was going to come from Kidwell, and Crocker, and certainly Dennis Scott and Glen Turner, and they haven't even played."

"And tonight we didn't have Donnelly and Crossman who have been really good for us this year, so what some of these young blokes have been doing for us has been tremendous."

"We basically have a pack out at the moment and I can't wrap them enough for what they're doing."

The only sour part of the night for the Storm were the injuries to Antonio Kaufusi and Scott Hill.

"We were lucky that Kaufusi could get back out there," said Bellamy.

"He got a bit of a tweak in his medial ligament, but it can't be too serious because he could go back on.

"But losing Hill for the game certainly didn't help us with his rib cartilage injury. It took him a while to get up and he didn't seem to be too well when he came to the sideline. I imagine it will be a couple of weeks injury."

[Thunderstruck]

Saw the game this morning having been told of the result last night. Awesome game, much better contest than last game vs the Dogs, two teams with very similar styles grinding it out for a really tough 80 minute contest. The better team definitely won the game!

Bellamy: I was once the learner but now I am the master. Muahahahahah!!