Round 20 - Melbourne Storm v Parramatta Eels

[Inglis#3]

The line-up I would personally chose to take on Parramatta this weekend. It's time for Bellyache to start blooding in some of the young guys, in particular, Mahe Fonua, look how well Israel Falou performed in his opening games with us, I see no reason why Fonua can't produce something similar.

1. Slater
2. Fonua
3. Nielsen
4. Auva'a
5. O'Neill
6. Widdop
7. Cronk
8. Bromwich
9. Smith
10. Ryles
11. Manu
12. Hoffman
13. Proctor

14. Hinchcliffe
15. Fa'aso
16. Harris
17. Norrie/Lowe

[glennb]

According to twitter Hayne will not be back this week and Luke Kelly is out for six weeks with a broken eye socket.

[sallymay]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....well its properly good for us but i really wanted to see him play live

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Go Storm]

O'Neil
Waqa
Quinn
Neilson
Fonua
Widdop
Cronk
Bromwich
Smith
Ryles
Proctor
Hoffman
Lowrie

Hinchcliffe
Norrie
Manu
Fa'oso

Or Blair at Centre and Quinn wing instead of Fonua. But I would like to see Storm blood a few of our rising stars now incase we need them closer to October.

Widdop needs to go back to 5/8. O'Neil would do a great job at the back I reckon. And if by half time there was a problem Smith can play 6, Hinchy 9, Quinn 2nd row and O'Neil centre.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[1999]

1. Slater
2. Waqa
3. Neilsen
4. O'Neill
5. Quinn
6. Widdop
7. Cronk
8. Bromwich
9. Smith (c)
10. Ryles
11. Manu
12. Hoffman
13. Lowrie

14. Hinchcliffe
15. Proctor
16. Norrie
17. Lowe

18. Kostjasyn
19. Blair
20. Fa'aoso


This will be Bellamy's team sheet i think.

[Freshy]

Honestly taking into account the various opinions people had in regards to the weekends game, you would think everyone watched a different game!

Now in regards to team selection this week, it makes me laugh to see everyone wanting a host of the Toyota cup boys to get a run this week.

You have got to be joking if you want a bunch of them to get a game this late in the year at the same time. No matter who we play, it's basically resigning ourselves to another loss and a big one at that. Putting Fonua, Auvaa, Hampton, tohu and co on the field will have Parra licking their lips.

You guys do realize that NRL is another whole level above the NYC and its only setting us up for failure.
They will only be a liability, especially in the back end of the season when teams are hitting their straps and peaking.

Teams blood a crop of their youngsters when their season is over, not when their equal 1st on the ladder and working towards a Premiership.

Some people on here need to get real. Keep the team as it is, so what if we have dropped a couple of games, it's just a form slump and something all teams experience throughout the year. We're on the right track and the fact that some people have thrown in the towel already really sad.

I've seen more people post on here in the past 48
hours then I saw during the entire 12 week unbeaten run we had.

Get behind the boys instead of acting like armchair selectors and critics.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[sallymay]

Freshy Thank you

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Scooter]

The team I would like to see:
1. Slater
2. Waqa
3. Neilsen
4. O'Neill
5. Quinn
6. Widdop
7. Cronk
8. Bromwich
9. Smith (c)
10. Ryles
11. Manu
12. Hoffman
13. Lowrie

14. Hinchcliffe
15. Proctor
16. Fa'aoso
17. Norrie / Lowe

If Slater is not fit I would prefer we perhaps play O'Neill at fullback and give Shea Moylan a go in the back line. Moylan has been carving up the Qld Cup for 3 or 4 years, which is a step up again from Toyota Cup. Also would consider playing Moylan if Danger is not fit. I think Bellamy has erred with Widdop at fullback because whilst Widdop has played well at fullback his output is not as good as Billy's and at five eighth we have got not much out of Blair or Rory. If Gareth is best option for full back I would have preferred for Cam to spend a bit of time at five eighth like he did v Manly. Even if Cam doesn't like it sorry Cam it is best for the team until Billy gets back.

[Ice]

Spot on Freshy. Anyone would think we're struggling to make the 8 as opposed to sitting on top of the ladder, of course we're in a bit of a slump right now but it's not like there hasn't been a few legitimate reasons for that. Lets leave the death riding to the Sydney press who are loving our current predicament and shove it right up their arses when we turn it around.

[waveydavey]

Honestly taking into account the various opinions people had in regards to the weekends game, you would think everyone watched a different game!

Now in regards to team selection this week, it makes me laugh to see everyone wanting a host of the Toyota cup boys to get a run this week.

You have got to be joking if you want a bunch of them to get a game this late in the year at the same time. No matter who we play, it's basically resigning ourselves to another loss and a big one at that. Putting Fonua, Auvaa, Hampton, tohu and co on the field will have Parra licking their lips.

You guys do realize that NRL is another whole level above the NYC and its only setting us up for failure.
They will only be a liability, especially in the back end of the season when teams are hitting their straps and peaking.

Teams blood a crop of their youngsters when their season is over, not when their equal 1st on the ladder and working towards a Premiership.

Some people on here need to get real. Keep the team as it is, so what if we have dropped a couple of games, it's just a form slump and something all teams experience throughout the year. We're on the right track and the fact that some people have thrown in the towel already really sad.

I've seen more people post on here in the past 48
hours then I saw during the entire 12 week unbeaten run we had.

Get behind the boys instead of acting like armchair selectors and critics.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Thank you Freshy - finally a voice of reason amongst all the doomsayers. Couldn't of said it better myself (which is why I didn't !!!!).

[blazza18]

I think most of us just want the players to be accounted for not showing up. This time last week I expected big changes. Yet we only got Cam back and when Danger was ruled out Waqa came in. Not much changes there IMO. There is no harm playing younger guys if they are good enough. You can't tell me we would of gone worse this last month if guys like Kenny,Garbutt,Hampton were picked. At least we would of given these young guys a chance. We've have Kosy and Blair as our 5/8s the past 3 weeks. And that's not good enough and I think its where Craig has gone wrong.

Looking at how Kelly as gone at the Eels in what 3-4 games,the kid has shown something. Why wasn't he given a shot over make shift halves ? I respect Craig and the coaching staff but he makes decisions that sometimes are confusing.

Please no hate its just my opinion on the team we all love.

[Woody]

Fair enough Blazza. I think we all love the team we just express it in our own way . Just on Kenny, has he bulked up a lot this year or haven`t I been paying enough attention recently ? I saw him running around during the warm up and he looked to have really filled out lately. He was standing close to Sika at the time and while he wasn`t quite to the same proportions he certainly wasn`t far off.

[sallymay]

kenny is huge jesse is tall but kenny is short and big like sika i love it

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Ice]

Looking at how Kelly as gone at the Eels in what 3-4 games,the kid has shown something. Why wasn't he given a shot over make shift halves ? I respect Craig and the coaching staff but he makes decisions that sometimes are confusing.
.

There's no doubt Kelly would've had first crack at 6 as he did against the Tigers but he was released after that game and then Bill was later injured in game 2. In hindsight it would've been nice to keep Kelly a bit longer, but we weren't to know what was gonna happen to Bill and given Parra were going to offer him regular first team football then IMO we did the right thing and let him go to achieve that. Lets face it, he was never going to be playing regularly with us and while it's nice to have a back up of his calibre it would hardly have been fair to keep him on playing reserves when he was good enough to play first grade elsewhere.

[absentee]

I know there are differing opinions when it comes to younger, untested guys v. older, more experienced guys - but I look at it this way. We've been fortunate in the past to have young guys come to the club and set the world on fire. It's exciting. I don't blame people wanting to see young guys in the hope that it happens again. We just need to make sure these young guys are introduced at the right time - and I'm not sure being down on form and being battered left and right (like right now) is the right time.

I don't think we were that bad against the Cowboys. Coming off of two losses in a row - one of those being the awful Raiders game - makes the situation look worse. The comp is very close this year so I'm not really surprised to see any team beat any other team. Still, there's a lot of work to be done and the injury toll doesn't help - but I think a win over the Eels (by any margin) will go a long way to regain focus going forward.