Melbourne Storm entertainingly boring

Discussion on anything to do with Melbourne Storm - games, players, rumours - anything!
Post Reply
User avatar
storming
Monsoon
Monsoon
Posts: 1154
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:58 pm
Location: Gold Coast

How have the Melbourne Storm managed to start the season so well? Please, don't ask them.

The Storm seemed almost as mystified as the rest of us after they headed to Dairy Farmers Stadium preparing for their toughest challenge of the year and came away 42-18 winners over North Queensland, preserving and enhancing an unbeaten record for 2012.

When asked to sum up the reasons why no rival seems to get near them, coach Craig Bellamy and captain Cameron Smith repeatedly, apologetically used the word 'boring' to preface their answers.

"I don't expect too much," Bellamy said.

"I know it sounds boring again but we just try and train as best we can and then we'll perform the best we can. I didn't think, 'Oh, we need to make sure we've got that play by round six, we need to have that down pat'. I don't think like that. I don't think anybody else at the club thinks like that.

"It's a matter of working really hard, making sure the things we think are important for this week or this season ... that we practise those and hopefully we can get them right as soon as possible.

"You don't think about the scoreline before a game but if someone had said (then) that that would be the scoreline at the end, I would have been hugely surprised. We'd all have been surprised."

Either there is no great secret to the Storm's success or they are all actors worthy of places at NIDA.

According to them they trained hard in the pre-season, as usual, practice their drills during the week, as usual, and work hard on game day, as usual.

Perhaps there is something about the way the game is being played this year that suits them? They're not sure. Perhaps they have the right players maturing at the right time? They're not sure.

Maybe the big three of Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk are better this year?

Nup. "They do the same thing – they're freaks," said two-try back-rower Kevin Proctor. "They always turn up to play. If we do our job, it makes it easier for them."

Like Bellyache said, don't expect any great revelations when investigating the NRL's only undefeated team. Here's Ryan Hinchcliffe: "I just think everyone's doing their job as best they can. Everyone's playing their role, playing their part in attack. Everyone's playing to our structures, our timing's good, everyone's running hard.

"On top of that, Cooper's playing really well, Cameron's playing really well, just everyone's playing really well ... when everyone's doing that, it's an easy game."

Things just come together in sport sometimes. Bellamy, according to Smith, is "doing a lot of homework on the opposition, and the boys are playing out the gameplan really well.

"We're not straying too far from what we practise all week and that's why we're getting wins. If everyone does their job, we've got a pretty good chance of winning the football game."

Ah, Ryan Hinchcliffe already said that, Cameron. Can someone say something interesting please?

"I know it sounds boring but it's true," says Bellamy. "We don't concern ourselves, we don't think about winning or losing. We just think about performance each week.

"At the end of the day, it's not about winning or losing. It's about how we can prepare this week so we can play well on the weekend. If that's good enough to win, that's great. If not, we'll have to look at the week after.

"We seem to be getting a lot of our attack right at the moment. We've got a lot of people in motion off different plays, we've got a few options, their timing's been good and they're running into the right space or the right area. It's going well at the moment but we know opposition sides will be watching that and coming up with things to try and blunt the effectiveness of those plays.

"So we need to keep evolving – and we will."

And no doubt the Storm's evolution over the rest of the season will be as enthralling to watch as it is tedious to hear them talk about.

http://www.nrl.com/melbourne-storm-ente ... fault.aspx
User avatar
sallymay
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical Cyclone
Posts: 6424
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:09 pm

lol too be honest sometime it get boring hearing the boys say the same thing once or twice id love to hear them say yeah we know we are better then them we are good we will beat them by alot....i know they never will but it would be nice instead of the standerd line of we need to work on we can do better ect

[ Post made via Mobile Device ] Image
User avatar
Christabella
Site Manager
Site Manager
Posts: 3440
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:46 pm
Location: ANZ Stadium

Not boring just well drilled, on and off the field.
While everyone knows their role on the field they also know all the standard media cliches and expected replies.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
mattstormy
Thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
Posts: 612
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:43 am
Location: Next to the corner post

I think the reason the Storm this year are playing like they did in '07 is because they want to make up for an extremely disappointing end to last year's campaign. That run of 12 straight wins followed by 3 losses in the final 4 games (including the prelim loss to the Warriors) was a bad way to finish the Storm's redemption year from the club's 2010 disaster.

'06 hurt as well because at the start of that year (after being second week chokers in the finals between 2003-05 and losing Matt Orford), everyone wrote the Storm off. But they won a then record 11 straight wins with a group (even though this was the start of the salary cap rort) that were really a bunch of no-names and has-beens. It also hurt because they couldn't send off club stalwarts Scott Hill and David Kidwell off on a winning note.

I don't think losing in '08 really hurt much, because I think they knew in '08 everyone was out to get them. Here's a list of what happened in 2008 and the reason why there was no way in the world the Storm were going to win that year (even though they made the GF):

Brett White's 4 game suspension and a shock loss to the Sharks in round 2.

9 players in Game 1 and 3 and 10 players in Game 2 (I think that was a record for a single club) being chosen for SOO - meaning 3 expected losses.

The Dragon's brawl at Olympic Park - which led to Billy getting suspended and losing the chance at Dally M Medal.

Putting the prospect of winning 3 consecutive minor premierships over performing well in the finals - which led to the Storm being the first team to win the minor premiership and lose to eighth placed team (Warriors) in first week of finals and just falling over the line against the Broncos in the second week.

To top it all off, Cam Smith's infamous suspension from the last two weeks of the finals.

There was no way in the world the Storm were going to win against Manly in the 2008 GF. Even though the Storm followed up the next year with winning the '09 GF, 2008 was the year that I think the players can joke about about after losing that GF by a record margin.
stormy
Monsoon
Monsoon
Posts: 1974
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:44 pm
Location: sadelaide
Contact:

STORM and



boring never in the same sentence
Rose Madder
Thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
Posts: 602
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:27 pm
Location: Melbourne

I have not been bored once this season...loving every minute of it!!
User avatar
LESStar58
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical Cyclone
Posts: 2138
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 6:50 pm
Location: balls deep in your love...
Contact:

I have never quite understood this talk about Storm playing "boring" footy. Its not basketball and we ain't the Harlem Globetrotters.

Rugby league is not designed to be a complex game with lots of razzle dazzle. The teams that adhere to fundamentals of the game will have the most success. If they have to "grind" out wins to accomplish their goals then its perfectly okay with me!

[ Post made via BlackBerry ] Image
User avatar
sallymay
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical Cyclone
Posts: 6424
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:09 pm

i dont think it means they play boring its the way the talk about after winning....they dont say anything different
stormy
Monsoon
Monsoon
Posts: 1974
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:44 pm
Location: sadelaide
Contact:

If we had bragged about how good our wins are then we would be called arrogant but because we are saying there is still alot of improvement in the team to come then we are labelled



boring.Can`t win.
Cherry_Poppins
Thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
Posts: 509
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:26 pm

Bleh,shit article by an amatueristic journo

Stain merge are boring,from what i seen last week storm arent
what id consider boring
stormy
Monsoon
Monsoon
Posts: 1974
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:44 pm
Location: sadelaide
Contact:

worms,titans,knights,tigers=BORING


STORM=EXCITEMENT,QUALITY,MAGIC,ENTERTAINING
Post Reply