StormFans.club

Team

Storm
1 Billy Slater
2 Young Tonumaipea
3 Will Chambers
4 Kurt Mann
5 Marika Koroibete
6 Blake Green
7 Cooper Cronk
8 Jesse Bromwich
9 Cameron Smith (c)
10 Jordan McLean
11 Kevin Proctor
12 Tohu Harris
13 Dale Finucane

Interchange
14 Ryan Hinchcliffe
15 Tim Glasby
16 Dayne Weston
17 Felise Kaufusi

Coach: Craig Bellamy

Quite happy with that. Only change for me would be NAS over Weston.

Surprise about Mann but happy with it. Wouldn't have chosen Weston I thought NAS and K.Brom played better than him in the trials.

Interesting. Pretty happy with that as well.

Personally I'd have Mahe over Mann. The bigger frame and Mahe's ability to dent the line/get a quick ptb away is underrated. Mann has apparently put a few kgs on so hopefully he isn't dominated as easily in tackles this year. Having said all of that, hopefully Mann kills it.

Kaufusi is a surprise but a pleasant one. I hope he takes the opportunity with both hands and forces Bellamy's hand in naming him consistently off the bench.

Also great to see Hinchy back to providing impact off the bench, where he is most effective. I doubted this would happen but very, very glad to see it.

No TLL??? Apparently was the stand out for the Falcons in the trial. Perhaps another week for recovery.

Pumped for Monday night!

Im interested to see if Mahe is just been given a little more time after his off season op or if Mann just outperformed in pre-season to earn his spot! Glad Young T got the nod on the wing he was great all pre-season, bit surprised with the bench its essentially 3 props and a utility, unless Felise is going to play on the edges, surprised NAS & TLL were overlooked for round 1 but Bellyache knows best, its a weak Dragons teams I expect a comfortable victory!!

1999 wrote:Im interested to see if Mahe is just been given a little more time after his off season op or if Mann just outperformed in pre-season to earn his spot! Glad Young T got the nod on the wing he was great all pre-season, bit surprised with the bench its essentially 3 props and a utility, unless Felise is going to play on the edges, surprised NAS & TLL were overlooked for round 1 but Bellyache knows best, its a weak Dragons teams I expect a comfortable victory!!

Might be a bit of both. Mann has clearly done something right because he's been in centres in all the preseason games so far. He's such a talent, I hope he can hold down that spot all season.

Glasby will be the one who plays on the edge when he comes on I reckon.

Glasby will play edge, I'm sure you're right Blazza.

I would still have gone Mahe but, having said that, I rate Mann too. Would've been hapy with Mann on the wing and Mahe in the centres with Young out to be honest.

Not surprised about Mahe in the slightest...played about 20 minutes in the trials all up and wasn't that great Kurt is heaps better

Mahe had minor knee surgery over Christmas and is still doing rehab, like Tom L-R. That is the reason both do not play very long in the trail game.

sallymay wrote:Not surprised about Mahe in the slightest...played about 20 minutes in the trials all up and wasn't that great Kurt is heaps better

plus I suspect that Bellamy thinks Mann has more upside to his game as he develops further.

Mattpoet wrote:Glasby will play edge, I'm sure you're right Blazza.

I would still have gone Mahe but, having said that, I rate Mann too. Would've been hapy with Mann on the wing and Mahe in the centres with Young out to be honest.

Granted we've only seen the nines and the Raiders trial game. Young has easily been the best back and arguably player for us this preseason. He looks much leaner and faster. I think he deserves to be named.

Young definitely deserves a spot. He had some defensive lapses last year (what outside back doesn't in their first year?) but what he did have was plenty of heart and a great work ethic. Coming out of our end, he would put his hand up for a dummy half run almost every set.

Looking forward to seeing Young back in the team.

I am pretty happy with that side named.

Couple of selections showing we're not just picking who we always pick... and I'm more than happy to see Green get a run at 6 to start the year.

Was hopeful of NAS getting a run, so interesting to see that Kafusi got the nod ahead of him. Big opportunity for him.

Hopefully Weston has improved his discipline, because he certainly has the size to bend the line

the obvious good point is that there are enough options for the disputed positions that we can't agree on a team.

Happy to see Felise get named for his debut.