Round 23: Storm @ Cronulla

[Kettles]

Duffie continues to pay dividends on his supposed poor return on investment. So pleased for him. Great defence tonight

[Scooter]

Very happy with the game. Hope Finucane's injury isn't too bad. Spewing it happened so late in the contest. Assume Finucane will miss at least next week so assume one change Finucane out and NAS in.

Who would have thought we would get a line dropout from a Finucane grubber.

Good to see Will Chambers back to his best. Matt Duffie continues to get better with every game. Munster continues to go gangbusters. Mann's defence was good and he made some good runs.

[sallymay]

Apparently Dales Wrist is dislocated and had to go to hospital to put it back in...at least we get NAS back Jordie and possibly Weston

[Gaiscioch]

I found it hilarious that Ennis tried to shove Cronk and run off and Smith was right there to catch him red handed lol. Brilliant seeing that, classic!

And yeah, Dale is going to be a shocker to lose him, he may of had an average game, but he does add some force in his tackles and his work-rate is always high.

[bula]

Now if the Bulldogs can knock off the Bunnies this week we will be playing for a top 4 spot!

[NevilleB]

Nas and McLean in for finucane and kaufusi next week. Leave Weston as far away as possible

[tugga]

NAS back next week and if we beta the Knights, that's a finals spot sewn up.

[Scooter]

Finucane injured his wrist in last tackle before Robson's mistake that led to Munster's try. Valentine Holmes picked up a loose ball after (forward) offload from Gallen. Finucane was one of the players who tackled Holmes. Not sure if he injured it when he tackledHolmes or when Tim Glasby who was also part of tackle landed on Holmes and Finucane. Good luck with prognosis and recovery Dale.

[yourhero]

If Craig even thinks of putting Weston anywhere near FG, he needs his head read.

Agree with above, assuming Dale is out, Hinchy to starting lock (I'd prefer Kenny B, but I will be realistic) and NAS back. If Macca is back, Welch or Kaufusi drop out.

Side note: 295 metres gained for Munster from 25 runs. I love how busy this kid is and he isn't fazed in doing the hard yards out of our end.

[steaming stormer]

Apparently Dales Wrist is dislocated and had to go to hospital to put it back in...at least we get NAS back Jordie and possibly Weston

Agree on NAS and Jordan might be good back on the bench, although I'm loving Welch.

If Weston gets back in the side that will just about do me

[LESStar58]

People might say "its only Cronulla" but they have been in form in the last few weeks and to hold them to 2 points in 80 minutes is a gargantuan effort in my opinion. Only saw the highlights but the boys looked switched on tonight.

Newcastle might be a danger game next Monday but last night was something to build on!

[Danger D]

Excellent defensive work by Mann. He rushed up and wrapped up the ball carrier really well. Copy-and-paste from last week: Cam Munster was brilliant! I love how tough he is for such a small bloke. I would have no issue playing him in centres next year when Billy gets back. My top highlight (apart from double-Duffie-try-time) was Munster's little jig as he was being chased by Bird on his way to the try line. It looked like he was just toying with him!

[yourhero]

So below are some outtakes from Gallen/Flanagan in the post match press conference. Doing their bitter, very best to ensure that we are penalised out of 2015 (with an assist from the Daily Telegraph). These drug cheats can f*ck right off with their massive hypocrisy.

---

http://mobile.news.com.au/sport/nrl/mon ... 7487358324

CRONULLA blew any chance of making the NRL top four on Monday night after a Melbourne wrestling masterclass.

Paul Gallen said the Storm — who have largely been forgotten about when it comes to premiership talk — would be tough to toss if allowed to wrestle the way they did on Monday night.

Melbourne were the first team to really embrace and master the art of wrestling. Smith is regarded as one of the best.

“We can take leaf out of their book and wrestle the way they do,’’ Gallen said.

“If they wrestle like that the rest of the year, they’ll be hard to beat.

“We couldn’t get any momentum, and if you’re allowed to do that, they’ll be well and truly up there when it comes to the end of the year. They were very good at it tonight.”

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan said: “They definitely made it hard for us, the way then defended, or the way they were allowed to defend. It was a tough night that way.

“They wrestled really strongly, they had good contact, and we couldn’t get any momentum. We were playing off the back of slow play-the-balls the whole time.

“I think we all like to stretch the rules as coaches, and if they did stretch the rules to their advantage, good luck to them, and we need to learn from it.”

---

One giant WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

[sallymay]

Didn't mean bring Weston back I just meant if we ever needed him he was available to play...I hope we never need him again lol

[yourhero]

Probably one of the most pleasing things from the Cronulla game is how we managed their offloads. We have long had trouble containing teams that offload at will and it has almost become a blueprint for beating us... We still allowed some to occur, but our line held it's shape reasonably well and minimised the damage.

Offloads
Cronulla - 20
Melbourne - 4

Also, it doesn't look like it has been mentioned, how amazing was Chambers' try saving tackle into touch!??