Round 1 vs Rabbits

Discussion on anything to do with Melbourne Storm - games, players, rumours - anything!
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Insomniac
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TC wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:06 pm
Insomniac wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:00 pm Once again we're failing to slide in defence effectively to our right - I can't really blame the new guys at centre & wing completely for how vulnerable we looked on that side.
I'm going to be harsher than you then. No co-ordination whatsoever between Jennings and R. Smith. Didn't seem to know who should be inside and who should be out. The slide wasn't great, but Jennings and Smith did a great job of turning 2 on 2 into 3 on 2 - in the Bunnies favour. Needs sorting and quick.

Other than that, really good performance.
Yeah, I do agree with you - I guess I'm just giving them both a bit of leeway considering it was their first proper hit-out together and they weren't getting much help from the rest of the defensive line sliding out to their wing. Either way, I completely agree that our defence on that side needs to be sorted quickly.

On a separate note, did I miss any news regarding Lumelume? Was there a reason he wasn't even named in our extended squad, or are Jennings and Reimis just ahead of him on the roster?
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Finally got to take our daughter to her first game last night. Little girl had an absolute ball. Gee I've missed going to games, so great to be back.
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blazza18
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There was a few times as we were coming out of our own half under pressure where we really missed one of Cam's sweeping kicks out of dummy half to get us out of pressure but I can totally live with not having that safety valve when we're going to have Harry and Brandon destroy teams with their running games out of dummy half.
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Brandon was fantastic
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We can’t win the Premiership with that right edge defence
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I think the return of Branko Lee in two weeks is huge for the Storm.

Branko's tackling on the right is a big difference maker as it was in the first half of the Grand final

Branko is an Origin level player and he will solidify the right side in defence in a very important way that people probably don't appreciate.

Remis Smith will also improve heaps just from getting to know the system. remember it was Remis and George Jennings first game for the club.

But yes, Latrell Mitchell and Alex Johnson will score a lot of tries this year against everyone.
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blazza18
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You have never watched Brenko Lee before
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blazza18 wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:55 pm You have never watched Brenko Lee before
I'd go as far as to say he's never watched a Melbourne Storm game before.
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Lots of people slag off Branko Lee but he went from nothing to State of Origin hero under us

wait till he is back in the game; you guys will notice immediately.

Rugby League with the new rules is about outscoring your opposition anyway so have faith in our attack like last night.

And by the way Souths didn't score a try in the last 20 minutes so we must have done something right.
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Premiers wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:28 pm We can’t win the Premiership with that right edge defence
Yep, thanks Cameron.
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Watching the replay again, it's the same problem as last year - made a little worse by the fact that Jennings and R. Smith are newbies.
Our right side defence doesn't slide well,. Hughes and Kaufusi are taking too long to move across and leaving the outside two to regularly cover 3 on 2 situations where they get rather lost. Not excusing the winger and centre - they weren't good in defence - but there seems to be a deeper systemic problem that side.
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I agree, its on Hughes and Kaufusi as well. They have to move across quicker. We have had the same problem right side since Croft and Chambers were there and Suli used to shoot out of the line to try and stop it. Thats how he made the Grand final interception.

Whoever is there, they have to move in unison. And maybe Paps has to cheat a bit to the right side as well to make it seem that we have more numbers there.
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Six Rings has no idea about Brenko Lee. He is a terrible tackler
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Ps what is Bellamy doing about the right hand side? It’s like he doesn’t care anymore about trying to fix that problem
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Bellamy mentioned it last night so although we won against the premiership favourites and pretty comfortably. He still knows we have room for improvement and I expect to see him help the boys as the season progresses.
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