Rd 14 vs Knights

Discussion on anything to do with Melbourne Storm - games, players, rumours - anything!
Mattpoet
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Official Team

1.Slater
2.Waqa
3.Chambers
4.Blair
5.O'Neill
6.Widdop
7.Cronk
8.J.Bromwich
9.Smith (c)
10.Norrie
11.Proctor
12.Hoffman
13.Hinchcliffe
14.Ryles
15.Harris
16.Moors
17.McLean
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blazza18
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Feels good to have the same team for 3 weeks in a row. Feel sorry for the rest of the guys that miss out.

Interesting game this one. Knights haven't looked great but I expect that they'll be up for this one.
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yourhero
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Yeah, surprised about Vave most of all. But hard to make changes after such a dominant performance.

If our forwards play as well as they did last week and we can complete to a similar percentage, regardless of the score, I will be happy.

Maurice Blair has been outstanding at centre. Justin O'Neill is a world class winger but he is not a centre. Blair kills two birds with one stone. Gives us a solid defensive option at centre (something O'Neill and Sa'u cannot offer) and frees O'Neill up to play wing. I feel for Mahe Fonua who has busted his ass but he is just not capable in the air and opposition teams know it. We will miss his efforts out of DH, something O'Neill is nowhere near proficient at.
Mattpoet
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Blair has been back to his 2011 best the last 3 weeks and been rewarded with tries. I like him defensively and I think that he is a real 'wingers centre' in that he knows how to put his outside man into space with a pass or offload, he just isn't a half.
SergeantStorm
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Blair is a quality player, good in attack and very solid in defence. Junior Sau got 4 tries over the weekend for Easts, if that was any other NRL team, Sau would be starting in first grade. I'm happy with that side to be honest, feel for Griffin and Fonua but they are the future and it looks very rosy in all fairness.

Lets keep on keeping on and get another win over the Knights this weekend
1999
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Only a month ago i was shot to bits for suggesting we re-sign Blair coz he is a quality NRL player who atleast is a good depth utility, egg meet face guys.
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Storm will continue their dominance over the knights.(8 from last 10)You could see that my CHAMPION TEAM enjoyed their footy last week and they looked fresh(except for our Origin Champs who looked tired in the last 20).
Ice
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1999 wrote:Only a month ago i was shot to bits for suggesting we re-sign Blair coz he is a quality NRL player who atleast is a good depth utility, egg meet face guys.
While I wasn't one of those who shot you down or that as Ive ways been a fan of Blair (except at 5/8) I'm pretty sure you've also made a wrong call at one stage or another like the rest of us have.
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You know a side is struggling when they sign a 35 year old. By that I mean Craig Gower, the old Penrith half-back. Signed for the rest of the season and according to some reports, could even play this weekend against us. Got to wonder what Bennett is thinking as Gower hasn't played league for 5 years as he's been playing Rugby Union in London. Newcastle have been average this season, one week they are hot, the next five weeks they are awful.
Scooter
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Gower spent four years playing union, the last year and a half he has been playing Super League with the London Broncos.
SergeantStorm
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Went back and watched Fox Sports News again and the guy said he'd been AWAY from the NRL for 5 years, my mistake in hearing something different. Thanks for clearing that up Scooter.
1999
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Ofcourse i have ice, i was a big hoffman hater when he left and didnt want him to come back lol, now look how good he is going! It just irritated me because bobby has always been quality everytime he has got a chance at NRL level no matter what club he is at and its a real shame he has spent so much time in NSW Cup, he has always been better than that.
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hey Ice ..I can`t remember making any bad calls. :lol: :lol:
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yourhero
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Ice wrote:
1999 wrote:Only a month ago i was shot to bits for suggesting we re-sign Blair coz he is a quality NRL player who atleast is a good depth utility, egg meet face guys.
While I wasn't one of those who shot you down or that as Ive ways been a fan of Blair (except at 5/8) I'm pretty sure you've also made a wrong call at one stage or another like the rest of us have.
Ditto. I've always liked Blair, particularly if used in the centres. There were some people calling for him to be moved on but I guess that was partly do do with how he was being used, jack of all trades - master of none. He's been playing backrow for a while now, centre and halves before that...

The job he did on Matai in his return game to centre was outstanding. And defensively every week since then he has been strong and deserves to hold that jumper until his form shows otherwise. It is a real show of his character to fight his way back into the first grade squad and then give everything he has got to force Craig's hand to leave him there.

For both his and the Storm's sake, I hope he keeps it up. Nice work Bobby.
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Inglis#3
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I've always been a massive supporter of Bobby. He possess a very solid all-round game. His defense is certainly his biggest asset but in saying that, his attacking game is progressing. He's fairly proficient from dummy half too so the loss of Mahe Fonua's ability around the ruck isn't as great as some may think.
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