Round 4 - Storm Vs Bulldogs

[blazza18]

Ben Hampton has been awful again, surely walker or Roberts come in next week.

You know nothing about rugby league

If you think swapping Hampton for Ben freaking Roberts fixes this mess we saw tonight then clearly you know nothing about rugby league.

[brisbanestorm]

I think that 2nd half pretty clearly highlights why we needed to keep Smith for as long as we can. Didn't expect a win but they really didn't look like they cared. There was some piss poor refereeing, but that is no excuse for conceding 40 points

[Insomniac]

I turned it off after 50 minutes - we were playing like the back end of last year with no interest or intensity whatsoever. It's going to be a looooong season if Bellamy & co. can't instill some passion throughout the team this year. Defense is attitude, and if you don't really care that much you're going to be exposed in defense.

[stormy]

Embarassed to be a storm fan tonight, they have layed down, pathetic.

I am never embaressed to be a Storm member.disappointed tonight yes.

[blazza18]

Anyone have reason why everytime Smith misses a game we seem to get big points put on us ? He's one player in an eleven man defensive line. We look lost without him.

[Turtle188]

Oh well, at least the Pies won.

[tugga]

Not downplaying the Dogs effort, because they were terrific after being 10-nil down.
But losing Smith in the warm up, a long trip to Perth (yep, DOgs had it as well) and the whole horrible McKinnon thing...I will forgive them for this effort.
It's how we bounce back against the Titans.
I think we are only a bottom half of the 8 team this year anyway, but this weekend will tell us pretty much everything.
Keep the faith.

[mattstormy]

I know the Storm were probably not up to it tonight after coming off Monday night, but what they dished up in the last 60 minutes was a complete dogs breakfast and were completely eaten up (pun intended). I was expecting a loss tonight, but to lose by 28 points in a second half capitulation is unacceptable. I was totally bored in the second half and was surprised at how slow the clock felt like it was going just because there was no energy or any enthusiasm whatsoever. Changes definitely need to be made for next week; here are a few things I picked up from the game:

Put Chambers back to right centre, he doesn’t look comfortable on the left.

Billy's been really quiet this season and even more so tonight (apart from a very soft try he scored early in the game), and I get the feeling that his current contract (end of 2015) might be his last just with what his body has gone through over the years.

Hoffman and Norrie are about up to their use by date. Seriously, loyalty aside it’s almost time to move on from them.

Harris (surprise packet as a goal kicker and great with the ball in hand), J. Bromwich (my tip for Storm’s Player of the Year this year) and Hampton (this kid’s gonna be a superstar) were the only ones that stood out.

Cronk looks absolutely clueless as captain and his kicking game was terrible tonight.

[Insomniac]

...Harris (surprise packet as a goal kicker and great with the ball in hand), J. Bromwich (my tip for Storm’s Player of the Year this year) and Hampton (this kid’s gonna be a superstar) were the only ones that stood out.

Cronk looks absolutely clueless as captain and his kicking game was terrible tonight.

Seriously??? We must be watching different games in regards to Hampton - for me, he's been either non-existent or mediocre at best for the majority, with maybe 2 or 3 high moments so far this year. Currently I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt due to his inexperience, but I have very little confidence in our halves if Smith is not in the team.

I do agree that Cronk surprisingly seems to lack the same qualities of captain that Smith possesses.

[mattstormy]

...Harris (surprise packet as a goal kicker and great with the ball in hand), J. Bromwich (my tip for Storm’s Player of the Year this year) and Hampton (this kid’s gonna be a superstar) were the only ones that stood out.

Cronk looks absolutely clueless as captain and his kicking game was terrible tonight.

Seriously??? We must be watching different games in regards to Hampton - for me, he's been either non-existent or mediocre at best for the majority, with maybe 2 or 3 high moments so far this year. Currently I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt due to his inexperience, but I have very little confidence in our halves if Smith is not in the team.

I do agree that Cronk surprisingly seems to lack the same qualities of captain that Smith possesses.

I probably misquoted about Hampton a bit, sure he didn't have his finest game tonight due to lack of possession, but he was one of the only players for the Storm who looked like he had any enthusiasm out there. He is definitely a long term prospect at five-eighth for the Storm and he is likely to turn into a genuine superstar who eventually takes over from Cronk.

[1999]

Hampton was the worst player on the pitch by some way.. Out of position almost every defensive set, shovels the ball in attack, falls off tackles gets rag dolled taking the line on and his discipline was atrocious tonight, i counted 3 lazy penalties against him, i know he is young but he is not ready, Roberts reputation aside was solid in his hit outs for us and like i've continully said will be a much better foil for the style of player Cronk is.

[absentee]

I find it funny that after all the hysteria and venom directed our way after the tackle on McKinnon last week, Bryan Norrie comes very close to being dumped on his head in a tackle that looked worse and it barely gets a mention.

[Scooter]

I find it funny that after all the hysteria and venom directed our way after the tackle on McKinnon last week, Bryan Norrie comes very close to being dumped on his head in a tackle that looked worse and it barely gets a mention.

Absentee not sure if you are talking about the commentary during the game or after the game. Warren and Brandy spoke about it for almost two minutes after the tackle. I thought that was ample commentary. Can't believe it wasn't a penalty.

Something I thought was interesting was Sisa got penalised for a high shot on Perrett. Then minutes later Reynolds put on a "good shot" on Young which I thought was high. But Young didn't lie down. Sisa was put on report too. Unbelievable.

[blazza18]

Hampton was the worst player on the pitch by some way.. Out of position almost every defensive set, shovels the ball in attack, falls off tackles gets rag dolled taking the line on and his discipline was atrocious tonight, i counted 3 lazy penalties against him, i know he is young but he is not ready, Roberts reputation aside was solid in his hit outs for us and like i've continully said will be a much better foil for the style of player Cronk is.

The whole 17 was pretty bad. To single Hampton out proves you just have an agenda. The kid has heart and puts in 100% every minute of the game, It does him no good just to drop him after a bad performance. Should we drop 16 other blokes too because of a bad game ? Hampton is a key part of our team moving forward, you gotta take the good with the bad.

Also he was only credited to 1 penalty so interesting how you counted 3 lazy penalties from him.

[Mattpoet]

There are 3 incidents I hope get looked at from last night:

Klemmer attempting to headbutt Hoffman.

Reynolds strking Kenny Bromwich (who I think went all right compared to the rest of the team)

Bryan Norrie getting dumped in that tackle that was loads more violent than the McLean/McKinnon one,

If none of these get scrutinised then it just proves to me that there is an anti-Storm agenda at the NRL because they were all far more serious than the Waqa tackle.