Round 15 vs Warriors

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Papenhuyzen23
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Melbourne Storm vs NZ Warriors

Saturday 15th June 2024
@ 17:30pm AEST
Go Media Stadium, Auckland, NZ

Referee: Gerard Sutton
Sideline Officials: Phil Henderson & Paki Parkinson
Video Referee: Liam Kennedy

Official Line Ups


Melbourne Storm

1. Sualauvi Faalogo
2. Grant Anderson
3. Dean Ieremia
4. Nick Meaney
5. Xavier Coates
6. Tyran Wishart
7. Jahrome Hughes
8. Tui Kamikamica
9. Harry Grant (c)
10. Josh King
11. Shawn Blore
12. Eliesa Katoa
13. Trent Loiero

14. Bronson Garlick
15. Christian Welch
16. Nelson Asofa-Solomona
17. Joe Chan

18. Young Tonumaipea
19. Jack Howarth
20. Lazarus Vaalepu
21. Chris Lewis
22. Kane Bradley


New Zealand Warriors

1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
3. Rocco Berry
4. Adam Pompey
5. Marcelo Montoya
6. Te Maire Martin
7. Shaun Johnson
8. Addin Fonua-Blake
9. Wayde Egan
10. Jackson Ford
11. Marata Niukore
12. Mitchell Barnett
13. Tohu Harris

14. Chanel Harris-Tavita
15. Dylan Walker
16. Jazz Tevaga
17. Kurt Capewell

18. Tom Ale
20. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
21. Taine Tuaupiki
22. Freddy Lussick
23. Jacob Laban

TAB odds

Storm - $1.90
Warriors - $1.90


Match Preview

The last time they met back in Round 2 the Warriors and Storm played out one of the most thrilling games of the season to date.

An unbelievable finish by Xavier Coates with seconds on the clock completed an incredible Storm comeback win in which they scored 12 points in the final two minutes to extend their winning run over the Warriors to 15.

This Saturday Melbourne head across the Tasman for the return leg, looking to protect their spot atop the NRL Telstra Premiership ladder against a Kiwi side who are unbeaten in their past three games and looking to move back into the top eight.

The Storm were effective, if far from perfect, in a 36-28 victory over the Knights in Round 14, while the Warriors trounced the Cowboys 42-12 last up.

Craig Bellamy's men have won in five of their past six visits to Go Media Stadium and that one loss wasn't even against the Warriors, instead coming against the Wests Tigers in a game taken there as part of an Auckland double-header in 2018.

Team News

Warriors: Shaun Johnson returns for his first game since Round 10 when he suffered a pectoral injury and will partner Te Maire Martin in the halves. Chanel Harris-Tavita keeps a spot in the 17 on the bench at the expense of Freddy Lussick. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (hamstring) is in the extended squad but is likely to be held back until Round 16.

Storm: Dean Ieremia comes in for his first game of the season at centre, with Reimis Smith out after suffering concussion at the back end of last week's win over the Knights. Eliesa Katoa is free to return to play in Auckland for the first time since he left the Warriors in 2022, after receiving a monetary fine for a dangerous contact charge picked up last week.

Stat Attack

- The Warriors last defeated the Storm in 2015 at Mt Smart Stadium.

- The Storm have won their past 15 games against the Warriors.

- Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has scored six tries in his last five games against the Storm.

-Storm winger Xavier Coates has scored nine tries in his last five games against the Warriors.

- Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake has scored four tries in his past five games.
Last edited by Papenhuyzen23 on Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Papenhuyzen23
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Those clowns over on the Warriors forum are absolutely roasting our team and disrespecting us like they are playing a reserve grade side, considering the streak we have against them (15 in a row for you lurkers) and considering we are 1st on the ladder and they are 10th you think they would stay in their lane.

One thing I do agree with is we are in a huge let down spot, Warriors have been hot lately and have a strong side on paper, and with the home crowd and the injuries we have we are up against a tough opponent no doubt as the odds suggest, for me this is a perfect game for us to draw a line in the sand, we have been limp for a while even whilst winning, Bellamy wasn’t happy last round and would be flogging them like they lost I believe, here’s hoping for a bounce back to form, should be a cracking game.

Very interested to see Ieremia at centre, hopefully we have found a solution there, any one see the Norths games the last few weeks was he any good playing there?
Shuttlesworth99
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You could say it is a danger game, but that would be disrespectful to the Warriors - on their day they are a serious side.
We will need to be at our best to snatch this one, especially defensively - the Warriors can score from any position on the park.
I personally don’t see Ieremia starting at centre, nor do I think he plays.
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blazza18
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On form and paper this game has a chance to be really one sided I think.

The Warriors have had a few let down games at home despite them being a pretty good team under Webster. While we seem to be doing just enough to snatch wins from the jaws of victory.
Bullucked
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Is Dean a centre now, I thought in previous appearances he was a winger? Whatever, he must be ok in the role.

Why do we pick so many reserves that are never going to get a run. Are you not allowed to pick from outside the name line up?

To get in to the Warriors squad it's helpful to have a hyphenated name!
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Mattpoet
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I reckon, considering he scored a double and had nearly 200 run metres at centre last week in reserve grade, Bradley is a strong chance of playing centre
The Black Dot
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Mattpoet wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2024 5:37 pm I reckon, considering he scored a double and had nearly 200 run metres at centre last week in reserve grade, Bradley is a strong chance of playing centre
I haven't seen any of Dean's games where he's played centre so how would you rate the quality oif his defence?
Mattpoet
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I was talking about Kane Bradley. I haven't seen Ieremia play centre.
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yourhero
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Not confident about this one. Always happy to be proven wrong, but something tells me the warning signs we have seen over - well the entire season really - will culminate here.
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sallymay
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Expect the worst and never be surprised ..
Bullucked
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I feel we continue with a game plan with players we don't any longer have. We actually have a very good team, we just need to alter the way we play and play smarter, play to our strengths. For starters, dummy runs by forwards should look like they're actually a chance of getting the ball. A few more early kicks in behind the play would also be good instead of waiting for the predictability of the fifth tackle.
AND NO F#@*ING SHORT DROP OUTS
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Mattpoet
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Bullucked wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2024 4:39 pm NO F#@*ING SHORT DROP OUTS
Can we empasise this more?
Scooter
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Most teams are doing short drop outs the majority of the time now. So there must be a reason for it. But I hate it too.
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blazza18
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Our execution needs to be better but outside of that I don’t know why anyone would want it to stop? The numbers would suggest the kicking team has a more than fair chance of getting the ball back and that it is far more valuable than anything catastrophic happening.
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Papenhuyzen23
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Short drop out rule being altered and the 7 tackle set restart are 2 of the worst things to ever happen to our great game, both need the flick.
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