Melbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys: NRL live scores, blog

 
Alan Nicolea Roar Guru
 

By , 14 Jul 2012 Alan Nicolea is a Roar Guru & Live Blogger

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    LIVE SCORES

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    Melbourne Vs. Nth Queensland

    2012 NRL Premiership Season, 15 July, 2012
    AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC
    Nth Queensland 20 defeated Melbourne 16
    Melbourne Nth Queensland
    16 FINAL SCORE 20
    3 TRIES 3
    2/3 CONVERSION KICKS 3/3
    0/0 PENALTY GOALS 1/1
    0/0 FIELD GOAL 0/1
     
    Top scorers:
    • Melbourne - Anthony Quinn 4pts (1T 0G)
    • Nth Queensland - Jonathan Thurston 8pts (0T 4G)
    Important moments:
    • Nth Queensland took the lead at the 24 min. mark 2nd half
    • Jonathan Thurston (NQld) scored at the 78 min. mark 2nd half
     
    Referee: T Archer
    Touch judges: J Younis & Gavin West
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    The Melbourne Storm will be desperate to bounce back from their heavy loss to Canberra when they host top four hopefuls the North Queensland Cowboys. Join us for live scores and commentary from 5:30pm AEST.

    Melbourne received a huge wake up call last week after succumbing to the Raiders at their AAMI Park fortress and will look to get their premiership campaign back on track against the Cowboys tonight.

    Despite missing Billy Slater and Cameron Smith to injury, Storm coach Craig Bellamy would have been very disappointed with the loss to Canberra and will ensure that his troops come out firing against North Queensland.

    In good news for Melbourne, Smith returns to action after missing last week’s loss to Canberra, and will be embraced with open arms by partner in crime Cooper Cronk.

    Cronk played well against Canberra but just didn’t have the support necessary to crack open an enthusiastic Raiders defence.

    With Smith back in the side however, Cronk will be a lot more dangerous in attack as a result, and the Cowboys will need to be at their defensive best if they are to contain a Storm attack keen on erasing last week’s shocking loss.

    Prediction

    The Cowboys will not be thrilled at the prospect of playing a Storm side coming off a heavy loss.

    Melbourne rarely loses three matches in a row and will be hell-bent on returning to their winning ways at home.

    With this in mind, expect the Storm to play with the intensity and class that has seen them dominate the NRL premiership this season.

    Melbourne should be favoured to complete the majority of their sets, keep their error rate to a minimum and ultimately punish the Cowboys whenever they get good field position.

    For the Cowboys to stand a chance tonight, they too must also master the basics and respect possession at all costs.

    If Johnathon Thurston and Matt Bowen can play the percentages well tonight, North Queensland is capable of beating a Storm side struggling with confidence after two straight defeats.

    Failure to execute the basics however will see the Cowboys succumb to defeat against a Melbourne unit that still possesses great firepower despite the absence of Slater.

    The Storm have already showcased that they can win without Slater as evidenced by their great victory against Manly at Brookvale Oval three weeks ago.

    If Melbourne produces a similar effort tonight, it should be enough to secure the win against a dangerous Cowboys outfit.

    Storm by 10

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