StormFans.club

5 days to game day.

What are we thinking?

I’m curious to see how Bellamy goes with the 11/12/13 honestly..

Katoa, Chan, Trent, Howarth, Lewis, King, MacDonald ??

Tom is injured so is Sims so is kamikamica..

I would of thought Howarth would be in the squad at least the 17, considering the injuries we have in the forwards & centre and the money he is on, if he can’t make it with the injuries we have will he even make the 17 at all this year again? A 500k per year player?

Curious to know you guy’s thoughts!

I’m hearing sims is now not injured and could just play RD 1 …beats me

Will watch carefully at training tomorrow

1 - Meaney
2 - Warbrick
3 - Young T
4 - Smith
5 - Coates
6 - Munster
7 - Hughes
8 - Welch
9 - Grant
10 - NAS
11 - Katoa
12 - Loeiro
13 - King

14 - Wishart
15 - MacDonald
16 - Pene
17 - Lewis/Sims/Chan/Grant

Just that last bench spot up for grabs IMO, which will be Sims' if he's fit.

Be it injury or Bellamy still doesn't think he's ready, Howarth not being automatically pencilled in for round 1 is pretty disappointing. We could really use a player with his upside in the centres, backrow or even off the bench.

The forwards and particularly the bench is the obvious weak spot of the team atm. Will be a lot of swapping and changing over the season to try to find the right combination. In my perfect world we find someone good enough in the midded to push NAS back there and for Pezet to take Wishart's spot.

I doubt Sims plays without the match fitness.

Best guess is the team looks somewhat like this:

Nick Meaney, Will Warbrick, Reimis Smith, Young Tonumaipea, Xavier Coates, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Harry Grant, Christian Welch (c), Elisea Katoa, Trent Loiero, Josh King.

Bench: Tyran Wishart, Joe Chan, Aaron Pene, Alec MacDonald.

Could easily see Chris Lewis picked as well.

There was also an article published recently suggesting the Eels could have 10 of their Grand Final squad sidelined for the opening round. Their back row depth is really being tested but they should have both their starting props.

went to the open training this morning. Sims is not playing round one. He did not do any match drills and trained away from main group with Olam and one other player.

Nick Meaney, Will Warbrick, Reimis Smith, Young Tonumaipea, Xavier Coates, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Harry Grant, Christian Welch (c), Elisea Katoa, Trent Loiero, Josh King.

Bench: Tyran Wishart, Joe Chan, Aaron Pene, Alec MacDonald.

This is pretty close to the squad that did on he match drills expect Wishart. He was never in the main squad. We will know Tuesday.

glennb wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:44 pm went to the open training this morning. Sims is not playing round one. He did not do any match drills and trained away from main group with Olam and one other player.

Nick Meaney, Will Warbrick, Reimis Smith, Young Tonumaipea, Xavier Coates, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Harry Grant, Christian Welch (c), Elisea Katoa, Trent Loiero, Josh King.

Bench: Tyran Wishart, Joe Chan, Aaron Pene, Alec MacDonald.

This is pretty close to the squad that did on he match drills expect Wishart. He was never in the main squad. We will know Tuesday.

This is pretty much what I saw too …or Lewis in for Aaron

Some early mail from the SMH

The Storm have nine of their top-30 squad sidelined with injury, repeating last year’s horror injury toll, and needed three NRL exemptions to fill the squad for the Bankwest Stadium clash.

Centre Young Tonumaipea, rookie utility forward Bronson Garlick and second rower Chris Lewis have all been elevated into the main group.

Will Warbrick NRL debut, Eliesa Katoa Storm debut and Xavier Coates 50th NRL game. Congratulations and good luck.

Official Team List
1 Nick Meaney
2 Will Warbrick
3 Reimis Smith
4 Young Tonumaipea
5 Xavier Coates
6 Cameron Munster
7 Jahrome Hughes
8 Nelson Asofa-Solomona
9 Harry Grant
10 Christian Welch
11 Trent Loiero
12 Eliesa Katoa
13 Josh King

14 Tyran Wishart
15 Alec MacDonald
16 Chris Lewis
17 Jordan Grant

18 Grant Anderson
19 Bronson Garlick
20 Sualauvi Fa'alogo
21 Joe Chan
22 Jonah Pezet

Ashley Klein referee... awesome.

If I could have it my way, but obviously the coach has his reasons.

Pene in for grant.

Howarth in for Lewis.

Pene offers more punch & impact than grant.

Howarth offers more punch, aggression, enthusiasm & versatility the Lewis.

The bench is ooof. Hopefully a few dudes can step up and prove they're good enough but a lot is riding on Welch and NAS playing big-ish minutes and holding up.

Mstorm1999 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:43 pm If I could have it my way, but obviously the coach has his reasons.

Pene in for grant.

Howarth in for Lewis.

Pene offers more punch & impact than grant.

Howarth offers more punch, aggression, enthusiasm & versatility the Lewis.

Pene has a rib injury.

Can't remember such a significant number of injuries this early in a season

Fa'alogo, Chan and Pezet drop out.