No Sledging towards Folau
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CHITTYCHARGO
- Squall
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:09 pm
Storm stars Cooper Cronk and Ryan Hoffman say sledging Brisbane's teenage "smiling assassin" Israel Folau in Friday's night's NRL grudge clash would be a total waste of time.
Brisbane officials have imposed a media ban on the 19-year-old giant to allow him to fully focus on the clash with the club that provided him with a premiership win and the launching pad to Origin and Test honours at such a young age.
Both camps have attempted to play down the history and bad blood between them which was sparked by Brisbane's 2006 grand final upset and Melbourne's last gasp win last year which denied Wayne Bennett a farewell grand final appearance.
The Storm also believe Brisbane drove the grapple tackle campaign against them.
Melbourne flew into Brisbane on Wednesday with all the talk centred on how they would handle Folau, who scored Brisbane's first try of the 2009 season on debut against the Cowboys on Friday night.
Asked if Folau may be sledged, Cronk replied: "we don't have any decent sledgers in our team".
"He'd only turn around and smile at you anyway."
Hoffman laughed off suggestions Folau could be on the end of some sledging tactics from the Storm.
"I wouldn't know if it would have any affect, I'm not a sledger," offered the line-breaking back-rower.
"Israel's only a kid but he's been around the traps and played internationals and plenty of Origins, so I don't think a bit of sledging is going to hurt him too much."
Rugby-bound Will Chambers is likely to get the difficult defensive assignment on Folau.
But he has enough confidence and talent after playing strongly against him in a trial game on the Sunshine Coast earlier this month not to be intimidated or overawed by his rival.
"That should be a hell of a contest, they're two very good footballers," said Hoffman.
Melbourne, meanwhile, had more immediate concerns than Folau with an injury cloud hovering over glamour five-eighth Greg Inglis, battling knee and shoulder injuries.
The match-winning playmaker will have to train on Thursday to hold his spot.
Coach Craig Bellamy added back-up No.6 James Maloney to his travelling squad on Wednesday although should Inglis be a late withdrawal, skipper Cameron Smith could find himself playing some five-eighth against Darren Lockyer.
Storm fullback Billy Slater said there were no demons left over from his last Suncorp Stadium appearance when a speculative pass in the second half gifted Kiwi Benji Marshall a critical try in New Zealand's World Cup final upset.
Slater felt unfairly maligned for his wild pass with Australia desperately needing points and admitted the criticism had left him a little "bitter and twisted" and uncertain about coming back.
But he said on Wednesday he felt refreshed and excited about playing on his favourite ground in front of Queensland fans who love his high octane attack.
"There's no better place to play in the world than Suncorp Stadium with the crowd right on top of you," Slater said.
Brisbane officials have imposed a media ban on the 19-year-old giant to allow him to fully focus on the clash with the club that provided him with a premiership win and the launching pad to Origin and Test honours at such a young age.
Both camps have attempted to play down the history and bad blood between them which was sparked by Brisbane's 2006 grand final upset and Melbourne's last gasp win last year which denied Wayne Bennett a farewell grand final appearance.
The Storm also believe Brisbane drove the grapple tackle campaign against them.
Melbourne flew into Brisbane on Wednesday with all the talk centred on how they would handle Folau, who scored Brisbane's first try of the 2009 season on debut against the Cowboys on Friday night.
Asked if Folau may be sledged, Cronk replied: "we don't have any decent sledgers in our team".
"He'd only turn around and smile at you anyway."
Hoffman laughed off suggestions Folau could be on the end of some sledging tactics from the Storm.
"I wouldn't know if it would have any affect, I'm not a sledger," offered the line-breaking back-rower.
"Israel's only a kid but he's been around the traps and played internationals and plenty of Origins, so I don't think a bit of sledging is going to hurt him too much."
Rugby-bound Will Chambers is likely to get the difficult defensive assignment on Folau.
But he has enough confidence and talent after playing strongly against him in a trial game on the Sunshine Coast earlier this month not to be intimidated or overawed by his rival.
"That should be a hell of a contest, they're two very good footballers," said Hoffman.
Melbourne, meanwhile, had more immediate concerns than Folau with an injury cloud hovering over glamour five-eighth Greg Inglis, battling knee and shoulder injuries.
The match-winning playmaker will have to train on Thursday to hold his spot.
Coach Craig Bellamy added back-up No.6 James Maloney to his travelling squad on Wednesday although should Inglis be a late withdrawal, skipper Cameron Smith could find himself playing some five-eighth against Darren Lockyer.
Storm fullback Billy Slater said there were no demons left over from his last Suncorp Stadium appearance when a speculative pass in the second half gifted Kiwi Benji Marshall a critical try in New Zealand's World Cup final upset.
Slater felt unfairly maligned for his wild pass with Australia desperately needing points and admitted the criticism had left him a little "bitter and twisted" and uncertain about coming back.
But he said on Wednesday he felt refreshed and excited about playing on his favourite ground in front of Queensland fans who love his high octane attack.
"There's no better place to play in the world than Suncorp Stadium with the crowd right on top of you," Slater said.
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Super Cronk
- Site Manager
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- Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:15 am
- Location: NSW
Dunno if sledging really gets under anyones skin these days...maybe the players on debut...but im sure they have heard it all before.
Izzy wont be fazed...he will be ready to go...we gotta be ready to stop him.
Izzy wont be fazed...he will be ready to go...we gotta be ready to stop him.
[img]http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/7238/stormef5.gif[/img]
[b]PROUD MELBOURNE STORM SUPPORTER[/b]
[b]PROUD MELBOURNE STORM SUPPORTER[/b]
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stormsally
- Hail Storm
- Posts: 432
- Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2003 1:05 am
if you want to see the affect of a first class sledger on a sports person, watch the "greatest athlete" episodes on the web. Andrew Simons gets inside the head of a few of the atheletes (especially the AFL player). You can also see what a superstar Billy is.
We live to play, we play to win, We try and try, we won’t say die, we won’t give in