Round 8 - Storm vs Roosters

Discussion on anything to do with Melbourne Storm - games, players, rumours - anything!
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yourhero
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Thursday 2nd July
7:50pm
Suncorp Stadium

4th vs 3rd. The Roosters have been overwhelmingly strong since the resumption of play and rightfully claimed Premiership favouritism.

Yes, they lose Radley and Verrills for this game but we lose Munster and maybe Welch/K Brom/Tino who are all under a HIA cloud. The Roosters also get Tedesco back...

Will be a good game to see where we are at, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think the result means too much. We beat the Roosters in the corresponding fixture last year, only to be comprehensively beaten come finals time.
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yourhero
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Storm v Roosters: Jacks, Butcher ready to step up
Troy Whittaker
NRL.com Reporter
Mon 29 Jun 2020

The Roosters were good enough to overcome the loss of Victor Radley and Sam Verrills to finish off the Dragons but the premiers are in for a much sterner test against the Storm.

Radley's aggressive defence and ability to bust the line will be sorely missed but if any side is good enough to overcome adversity it's the Roosters and they won't be making any excuses for the rest of the season.

The Storm have their own dramas with key playmaker Cameron Munster suffering a knee injury in the big win over the Warriors which will force a backline reshuffle.

The two pre-emiment sides of the past decade are still guaranteed to turn on a cracking spectacle for those fans lucky enough to be inside Suncorp Stadium.

The Rundown

Team news
Storm: Cameron Munster's absence with a knee injury is likely to result in Ryley Jacks or Cooper Johns being called up to partner Jahrome Hughes in the halves. Tui Kamikamica has recovered from a back injury and could come into the selection frame. Josh Addo-Carr, Christian Welch and Kenny Bromwich will be monitored after head knocks.
Roosters: Victor Radley and Sam Verrills are out after rupturing their ACLs. Isaac Liu is also expected to be sidelined with a broken rib. Nat Butcher looms as the man to replace Radley at lock while Jake Friend will power through 80 minutes in Verrills' absence. Josh Morris (calf) and James Tedesco (head knock) will return.

Key match-up
Jahrome Hughes v Kyle Flanagan. The halfbacks have more responsibility on their shoulders due to key injuries. For Melbourne, Hughes will need to take creative control in Munster’s absence. Flanagan has enjoyed a great start to his Roosters career but without ball-playing lock Radley acting as the team’s “link”, the No.7 is about to assume a bigger attacking role.

Stat attack
Roosters halfback Kyle Flanagan leads the NRL for both points scored (80) and goals kicked (34) over the first seven rounds. Cameron Smith, the greatest point scorer in the game’s history, has 52 points this year.
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yourhero
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Storm team named;

1. Ryan Papenhuyzen
2. Suliasi Vunivalu
3. Justin Olam
4. Paul Momirovski
5. Josh Addo-Carr
6. Ryley Jacks
7. Jahrome Hughes
8. Jesse Bromwich
9. Cameron Smith
10. Christian Welch
11. Felise Kaufusi
12. Kenneath Bromwich
13. Dale Finucane

14. Brandon Smith
15. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
16. Tom Eisenhuth
17. Nelson Asofa-Solomona

18. Cooper Johns
19. Marion Seve
20. Albert Vete
21. Chris Lewis
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yourhero
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Cap dodgers line-up;

1. James Tedesco
2. Daniel Tupou
3. Josh Morris
4. Joseph Manu
5. Brett Morris
6. Luke Keary
7. Kyle Flanagan
8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
9. Jake Friend
10. Siosiua Taukeiaho
11. Boyd Cordner
12. Angus Crichton
13. Nat Butcher

14. Poasa Faamausili
15. Sitili Tupouniua
16. Mitchell Aubusson
17. Lindsay Collins

18. Daniel Fifita
19. Ryan Hall
20. Freddy Lussick
21. Lachlan Lam
glennb
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Cap dodgers line-up; Great name. According to Phil Rothfield and the Daily Telegraph the Roosters are $400,00 under the salary cap this year. So they are going to buy another player for the season because the have lost a couple of players to serious injury for the season. They must have really good bookkeepers at that club.
Mattpoet
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So good at balancing the books that they balance two sets at once.
Scooter
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Referee is Ashley Klein 🤦‍♂️
TC
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Not keen on the Jacks/Hughes halves combo. I don't see where the leadership comes from.
We must all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately
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blazza18
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I reckon that won’t be how we run out. Pretty much raises the white flag before the ball is kicked if we do.
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TC wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:54 pm Not keen on the Jacks/Hughes halves combo. I don't see where the leadership comes from.
Not a chance of this happening..
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Scooter
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Cooper Johns and Chris Lewis drop out of the Storm squad.

I wouldn't mind seeing Albert Vete get a run.
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yourhero
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Scooter wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 8:03 pmI wouldn't mind seeing Albert Vete get a run.
Me too, been wanting that for a while. Won’t be this week though.

Should be an interesting game. Definitely a change on the cards.
riders of the storm
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I can't remember the last time the Storm were such outsiders in betting odds.

Anyway, a win tonight would be phenomenal but I'll settle for running these guys close and showing a bit of consistency in attack and defence.

The Storm pack should be able to match the Roosters I feel and I'm interested in seeing how both their props back up after playing huge minutes last week.

The real key for this will be patience in attacking inside the 20. If the Storm can gain some parity here - even just earning a few drop-outs, shots at goal etc then they should be in good stead.
riders of the storm
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So, word is Smith will play in the halves tonight. No idea who partners him but best guess is it'll be Hughes.
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Can't see us cracking the Roosters' line more than once or twice (if that!) - their defense is top notch, and our attack inside the 20 is slow, disjointed and predictable (and not helped by a lack of penalties in that zone that we should be getting for ruck infringements or the opposition being offside).

I'll obviously be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong, but I'm not anticipating a fun night for us, even at Suncorp.
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