Daily Telegraph Poster Series

[Buzz]

Don't know if anyone got their hands on the Storm Poster that came out in the Daily Telegraph from the 9th of March. Two full pages of articles about Storm, and then a double-page spread photo with Stephen Kearney, Billy Slater, Matt Orford, Matt Geyer and Robbie Kearns (wearing some dodgy hair band of some sort). The picture is titled "The ACES".

The main article is transcribed below:

There's something brewing down south
By Barry Toohey

If there was a team in the 2003 premiership guilty of over-achieving, it was probably Melbourne.

A play-off loss to the Bulldogs ended their run two wins shy of a grand-final appearance but that defeat took little of the gloss from their performance over the course of the season.

For starters, three of their key players - Scott Hill, Robbie Ross and Rodney Howe - had next to no impact because of serious long term injuries.

And it was common knowledge inside the Storm camp that captain Stephen Kearney battled through the second half of the competition severely hampered.

Yet, rookie coach Craig Bellamy and his side still managed to beat home premiership heavyweights such as Newcastle, Brisbane, Parramatta and St George Illawarra. With Hill, Ross and Howe returning, Melbourne is shaping as a side who deserve to be highly respected if not feared by the other contenders this season.

Hill, on the comeback trail from sever shoulder injuries, has no doubt coach Bellamy is the central figure in the Storm's resurgance.

"He has just brought some structure back into the place that was desparately needed and has been great for us," HIll said. "It's not any one thing - just the whole package"

"He has given us a really good defensive pattern and is great at picking weaknesses out of rival sides that we can concentrate on. But I think his real strength is he keeps things simple and is big on giving each individual responsibility for his own game." Bellamy also believes in giving his squad a tough off-season training schedule.

"I've never trained harder than I have over the past two off-seasons," Hill said. "Craig is big on laying a physical platform for the year during the off-season so we won't be wanting in that department because everyone has really put in."

On the recruitment front, the Storm were pretty quiet with former Parramatta prop Alex Chan and centre Ben McDougall from Manly their only significant purchases.

But aside from crowd favourite Fijian Marcus Bai, who has departed for Leeds, their losses were kept to a minimum.

Bellamy knows he will have some tough decisions to make when all his players are available.

Matt Geyer did a great job at five-eigth in Hill's absence last season. And Ross's return at fullback will also presumably result in a change of position for young sensation Billy Slater in his second year.

The following questions were asked of Craig Bellamy:

Q. Given your injury setbacks in 2003, did the team's performance surprise you?

A. I don't know about surprise. You just look for consistency and I think that is what we got last season.

Q. With the likes of Scott Hill, Robbie Ross and Rodney Howe back, isn't improvement virtually guarenteed?

A. No, not at all. The players still have to perform. All the players have to perform. As a coach, you want your players playing to their capabilities each week which is what we did most of the time during the second half of last season.

Q. The club was pretty quiet on the recruitment front. Are you happy with your depth?

A. Every coach would say he would always like to have a bit more coverage but the way the salary cap is, that is limited for everyone. It depends on how many injuries you get.

Q. Billy Slater had a great debut. Are you concerned about the second year syndrome with him?

A. As long as he doesn't get complacent, there is no reason why Billy can't be as good or even improvement on last season.

[Super Cronk]

yeh buzz i have got that.

look at the age of matt geyer mate.and the kicking % of cam smith.you will have a laugh.

geyer is 21 years old..and cam smith is 8/8 at 89%

[Buzz]

I missed the Geyer 21 - but got the 89% giggle. The other boo boo is that Marcus Bai apparently came from Fiji!

[NZ Storm]

The fact that this guy doesn't even know Marcus is from PNG blows any shred of credibility out the window. Barry Toohey, yer an idjit! Maybe MX should hire this guy he'd fit in perfectly with those hacks.