Round 2 - Raiders vs Storm

[yourhero]

Friday 22nd March 2019
6:00pm Kick-off
GIO Stadium, Canberra

Let's see how we back up after a solid Round 1 win with lots of effort. In 2018 we had patches of high-effort footy and then seemingly periods of complacency.

[yourhero]

https://www.melbournestorm.com.au/news/ ... o-preview/


Raiders v Storm round two preview
NRL.com
Tue 19 Mar 2019

In the world of small sample sizes, you would be forgiven for thinking the Melbourne Storm and the Canberra Raiders are on a collision course for a September showdown.

While there is a lot of football still to be played, both Storm and Raiders fans will be looking forward to Friday night's clash full of confidence.

Melbourne did what they always seemingly do in round one, win, dispatching of the Brisbane Broncos in their typically efficient manner.

Storm fullback Jahrome Hughes was outstanding and will be a man of focus for the Canberra defence, Kenny and Jesse Bromwich stood up for the Storm pack, while Felise Kaufusi was a handful with 160 metres from 14 runs and 33 tackles.

It sets up a mouth-watering battle in the middle after the Raiders successfully debuted their new-look pack in a 21-0 shut-out of the Titans.

Canberra's defence appeared to be much improved compared to last season, with the smaller pack and Jack Wighton now standing in the line plugging some of the gaps which came back to haunt Ricky Stuart's men last season.

The Raiders face a much sterner test against methodical Melbourne.


The Rundown

Key match-up
The battle of the hookers and the impact they have on their respective teams is a tantalising one. Cameron Smith and Josh Hodgson on their day are arguably the best hookers in the Telstra Premiership and whoever can have the better performance will ensure their team is that much closer to staying undefeated this season.

For the Raiders to win
More of the same from last week - defence and line-speed. In horrible conditions the Raiders did what they had to do to defend their line, something which they seemed incapable of at times last season. The much-anticipated battle between the forwards was enthralling, and the big men in the middle and on the fringes for Canberra will again have a massive job ahead of them especially on a four-day turnaround.

For the Storm to win
Halves Brodie Croft and Cameron Munster need to exert control on the game better than their less experienced opposite numbers in Aidan Sezer and Jack Wighton. Munster was at his dangerous best against the Broncos setting up a try and assisting in two line breaks.

Brett Kimmorley says ...
The Raiders have gone for a more mobile forward pack this year. Josh Papalii was wonderful for them last week. The battle of beating the Storm starts in the forwards and the Raiders need to win that. As for Melbourne, they played a different brand of football last week. Sometimes Cameron Smith was standing at halfback, it was really entertaining to watch. It will be interesting to see if they keep chancing their arm. Storm by 6

Raiders Stat Attack
Englishman John Bateman turned heads with an assertive debut in the Canberra pack. While Bateman led his side in tackles (36) and metres run (154), he also finished with 17 hit-ups and five tackle breaks in a wholehearted 80-minute effort.

Storm Stat Attack
In what came as a shock to absolutely no-one, Cameron Smith made a team-high 49 tackles in the win over Brisbane. The other 'Cam' - Cameron Munster - was also prominent with three tackle breaks, two line break assists, a try assist and 19 tackles. Munster's only blemish was five missed tackles.

And another thing ...
Storm captain Cameron Smith and Raiders centre Jarrod Croker rank one and three among rugby league's highest point-scorers still active. Smith (2392 points) is second all time and should overtake Hazem El Masri by the Origin period, while Croker (1784) is 12th and should surpass Mick Cronin in seventh spot by the end of the season. James Maloney (1789) has his nose just in front of Croker.

[yourhero]

Squad named as below. Joe Stimson still out with back soreness.

1. JAHROME HUGHES
2. SULIASI VUNIVALU
3. WILLIAM CHAMBERS
4. CURTIS SCOTT
5. JOSH ADDO-CARR
6. CAMERON MUNSTER
7. BRODIE CROFT
8. JESSE BROMWICH
9. CAMERON SMITH (c)
10. NELSON ASOFA-SOLOMONA
11. FELISE KAUFUSI
12. KENNY BROMWICH
13. DALE FINUCANE

14. BRANDON SMITH
15. CHRISTIAN WELCH
16. TUI KAMIKAMIKA
17. PAT KAUFUSI

18. MARION SEVE
19. ALBERT VETE
20. RYAN PAPENHUYZEN
21. BILLY WALTERS

[yourhero]

Raiders squad named

1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
2. Nick Cotric
3. Jarrod Croker (C)
4. Joey Leilua
5. Jordan Rapana
6. Jack Wighton
7. Aidan Sezer
8. Josh Papalii
9. Josh Hodgson (C)
10. Dunamis Lui
11. Joe Tapine
12. Elliott Whitehead
13. John Bateman

14. Siliva Havili
15. Ryan Sutton
16. Sia Soliola
17. Corey Horsburgh

18. Sam Williams
19. JJ Collins
20. Bailey Simonsson
21. Jack Murchie

[Bullucked]

Wait for the niggle from the two "J's", Joey and Jordan. Let's hope our over exuberant centre's and one winger don't get sucked in. (Will, Curtis and Suli I'm looking at you!)

[Mattpoet]

It would be JAC and Will on their side based on last week...

[yourhero]

It would be JAC and Will on their side based on last week...

Knowing Suli, I’m sure he’ll find a way to still get involved

[sallymay]

Gonna be an interesting game

[Danger D]

That's a lot smaller forward pack than they had last year with no Boyd or Paulo. Hopefully our forwards can keep up with any lateral movement they throw at us through the middle.

[yourhero]

The Storm website put up a number of short media spots with players yesterday. The Will Chambers one was interesting... He seemed somewhat miffed at the change in side of field he was playing on (have been shifted to the left). He also brushed over a question put to him about a chat he had with Craig regarding his performaces last year. Maybe nothing in it, but he didn't seem his jovial self.

I don't mind the idea of switching sides. Defensively it may take a little time but it freshens the backline up and creates new match-ups across the League. Also gives Curtis a crack on his preferred side.

[Mattpoet]

After his performances last year, Chambers is honestly lucky we didn't try to offload him. Needs to put his head fown snd show the coaches he deserves his choice of side.

[nacho]

The Storm website put up a number of short media spots with players yesterday. The Will Chambers one was interesting... He seemed somewhat miffed at the change in side of field he was playing on (have been shifted to the left). He also brushed over a question put to him about a chat he had with Craig regarding his performaces last year. Maybe nothing in it, but he didn't seem his jovial self.

I don't mind the idea of switching sides. Defensively it may take a little time but it freshens the backline up and creates new match-ups across the League. Also gives Curtis a crack on his preferred side.

The Matty Johns podcast talks about Brodie Croft quite a bit in episode 1 . I highly rate this podcast for tactical and higher level discussion.

They put Chamber's side swap down to the combo between Croft and Chambers and that last year that was one of the hurdles the team could not overcome. Chambers and Munster is a better combination at this point in time.

[yourhero]

The Matty Johns podcast talks about Brodie Croft quite a bit in episode 1 . I highly rate this podcast for tactical and higher level discussion.

They put Chamber's side swap down to the combo between Croft and Chambers and that last year that was one of the hurdles the team could not overcome. Chambers and Munster is a better combination at this point in time.

Yeah, just finished the podcast as well. Really enjoyed it.

[Scooter]

Billy Walters and Albert Vete have been cut from tomorrow night's squad.

Based on that I would expect Pat Kaufusi to get the last spot on the bench.

[Lucas]

Is there a question mark over an outside back? Seve and Papenhuyzen on the extended bench.