Rd 20 - Storm vs Sharks (Friday Night Football - Ch. 9) Thread

[Christabella]

Of course I've noticed them but compared to last year when you were on all the time the appearances this year are generally few and far between.

Anyway I'm liking this score with a margin of 16.
At least I think that's what I wrote in Mike's tipping comp, I completely stuffed up most of those predictions tonight.

[Thunderstruck]

C'mon, full time already!! I'm late for an appointment!!

*sacrificing appointment for live Storm updates and forum posting*

[Thunderstruck]

WOOHOO!! FULL TIME!!

I can go now! Bye everyone! back tomorrow

3 Friday night games at OP in a row and we won'em all!

[lotti]

final score is 28-12, Storm.  OP has claimed another victim plus the Storm get to have a fish fry featuring Flake which is very nice and is made from Shark.

[Op2musPrime]

TOP OF THE LEAGUE WE'RE HAVING A LAUGH

[OzHEDude]

moment of the night.....Smith telling Slater to go outside.

great game.....I'm excited.

[Surandy]

moment of the night.....Smith telling Slater to go outside.

great game.....I'm excited.

My moment of the night......Boofa taking the conversion. 

[Stormwarning[c]]

A couple of interesting things from last night,

1) Ticketek not getting the turnstiles working and had to 'open the gates' and even then a lot of people had missed the first try, would have been interesting to see the real figure. (they didn't want the gates opened at all at 5.30pm and was the OP supervisor that said bad luck (at 5.45pm) open the gates and figure it out later.
2) King having a virus and during warm up Inglis told to go suit up.

[Thunderstruck]

For last night's game, Roy masters wrote one of the most stinging match reports I've ever read. I thoroughly enjoyed it

Icy reception for Kimmorley as Sharks fail to warm up

Roy Masters
July 22, 2006

THE Storm went into last night's match knowing they would win; the Sharks just hoped they would.

The Sharks fed off the fact they were a bogey team for Melbourne, having beaten them the past two occasions at Olympic Park. But good teams remember what they are; not what they might have been.

And the 2006 Storm, victors 28-12, are ruthlessly efficient, varying the defensive gameplan to suit the opposition while having confidence to attack - what they do best.

Last night's victory means they continue to be undefeated at home this year, having won 14 matches at Olympic Park, with nine successive wins in the premiership.

Among all the statistics produced last night, only one means anything, according to chief executive Brian Waldron, who has pored over the record books. Manly won every home game in 1996 and proceeded to win the premiership.

The Storm made an early decision to aim for an undefeated season at home when the Commonwealth Games meant they were game-tuned by the time they finally played a home game.

Last night featured the clash of rival halves with contrasting styles. Modern halves rarely clash, certainly not in the way Wests' Tom Raudonikis chased Manly's Johnny Gibbs all over the park.

The Storm's Cooper Cronk and Sharks' Brett Kimmorley compare only in their chunky size. Cronk, daring and decisive, takes the ball close to the line and plays short, throwing clever passes to close supports. Kimmorley unloads well short of the line, usually looping long balls to his centres.

Think of two young boys flying kites on opposite sides of a canal. Cronk holds his on a tight string, executing risky, exciting close manoeuvres and is willing to go into the water up to his chin. Kimmorley gives it a long leash and doesn't like getting his toes wet.

He made one early run and was heavily tackled, staring angrily at the touch judge and drawing a boo from the crowd who have not forgiven him for his departure from the Storm.

It was apparent after only seven minutes the type of halfback you prefer. Cronk delivered a short pass to second-rower Ryan Hoffman who split the defence with his satiny, seductive stride and Cronk backed up to score.

However, Kimmorley's kicking game is superior and it has held up through his career and he knows every metre of Olympic Park with its narrower width and shorter in-goals. The Storm sought to combat his kicks, and the unrelenting pressure they exerted from the inside paid dividends.

The Storm allowed Kimmorley's first in-goal kick to dribble over the dead-ball line, an indication of the haste he kicked under Storm pressure.

Curiously, he did not test fullback Billy Slater with a high ball in the first half, considering Slater's effort the previous week in Newcastle when he looked as if he was chasing a five dollar bill dropped from a helicopter.

The Storm's plan was to stop Cronulla's offloads, particularly by their three key back-rowers Paul Bird and Lance Thompson, with their right-hand releases, and Paul Gallen with his left-hand offloads.

Cronulla are most dangerous when their second-phase play is allowed to develop momentum and becomes the springboard of their tries. But the Storm drained all the attack from Cronulla, stifling continuity.

Maybe the Sharks were thinking about the ice baths they would have at game's end. Cronulla coach Stuart Raper booked the Sharks into St Kilda Baths for a 10pm appointment.

The thought of entering a frozen cubicle or wading in icy water when the temperature outside was already near freezing point is surely more confronting than tackling the Storms's Antonio Kaufusi front on.

The Sharks finally crossed the line midway through the second half, taking the score to 22-6, but Melbourne were always resourceful and resilient.

A pass from Melbourne's Scott Hill to Hoffman for his team's second try left Cronulla looking as if they were standing on the platform of one of their shire railway stations as their expected rattler raced by.

Slater scored a try, running with the ease of an Inca warrior, casually outpacing the desperate cover defence. Replacement forward Michael Crocker, with his first touch of the ball after nine weeks on the sideline, was upended in the precise manner for which he was suspended.

The Storm have achieved all their goals to date with the greatest attacking weapon in rugby league, Greg Inglis, on the sideline.

A late illness scare with centre Matt King had the Storm instruct Inglis to come to the match with his gear.

However, King's viral condition eased enough for him to play and Melbourne locked their rare work of art away for another night.

SMH

[luvin.the.storm]

love some of those comparisons

[Ron Supwood]

Another top shelf performance. Nathan Buckleys article in the Sunday Herald Sun on the importance of individuals fitting into a team structure fits fridays nights performance.

Quote "Synergy is the concept by which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It means a group of people brought together in the right mix - and with a common understanding of the task at hand - can acheive results beyond expectations. Unquote

IMO it sums our whole season up.

[yakstorm]

Interesting development on the crowd on Friday night.  The NRL has just shot this out to all Media groups:

An interesting development.  I just recieved this in my email:

Please note the Melbourne Storm have reported that a malfunctioning turnstile meant that the crowd figure issued on Friday night was not correct.  The figure will be revised upwards and media will be advised of the correction as soon as possible (probably tomorrow).

Polly McCardell
Media Manager
National Rugby League

[Surandy]

Interesting Yakstorm. Matches up with what a lot of supporters were saying on the night and since then. Everyone I know believes there was easily over 13k there.

[Blitzkrieg]

A bit late I know - but it was a very good performance by the guys, they turned up ready to play, it was evident from kickoff.

I don't think the Sharks' performance was too bad, but I believe we put a lot of pressure on Kimmorley & his kicking game wasn't as effective as it can be.  Our defense was once again very solid.

A few stats from nrl.com:

Penalties: Sharks 7-6
Scrums: 7-all
Hit-ups/metres: Storm 163/1476, Sharks 191/1522
Line breaks: Storm 6-3
Mistackles: Storm 28 Sharks 31
Offloads: Sharks 20-10
Errors: Storm 9 Sharks 11

Slater: 2 tries, 12 hit-ups, 167 m, 1 line break
Geyer: 12 h/u, 1 goal
Webster: 11 h/u, 136 m, 1 l/brk, 28 tackles, 0 handling errors
Turner: 11 h/u, 136 m, 1 l/brk, 0 h/errors (exactly the same as Jake except for the tackles - are they sure that's right????)
White: 13 h/u, 102 m, 1 offload
Tackles: Johnson 39, C Smith 31, Kidwell 29, Hoffman 27, J Smith 26 (and of course Webster as mentioned above )

[Thunderstruck]

They didn't seem to play that badly on Friday night and some have said that most other teams would've easily been walloped by 50 points.