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Storm embarrassed by defence: Smith

22nd April, 2014
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Melbourne Storm’s defence is becoming embarrassing, according to their skipper Cameron Smith.

Once a strength, the Storm have the second worst defensive record in the NRL; only above their opponents in Friday’s Anzac Day match, the second last-placed Warriors.

“That’s the area of our game where we’re letting ourselves down,” Smith said.

“We’re scoring plenty of points – we’re the third best attacking team as far as points scored – but we’re conceding too many.

“That’s due to being mentally tough and at the moment we’re not.”

Smith said his side’s run of success over recent years had been built on defence and if they wanted to play finals, it was an area they needed to improve.

They have so far leaked 175 points in seven games.

“In the last seven seasons, we’ve been in the top three teams defensively and the quality sides are good because they defend well and they’re the teams that are in the last few games of every season.

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“At the moment, you could say we’re quite embarrassed by our defensive efforts.

“We need to have a look at the way we’re defending and show a bit more commitment and belief.”

Winning only one of their last four matches, which was their controversial post-fulltime victory over St George Illawarra, Smith conceded their poor run could come back to bite them.

They still have the gruelling Origin period ahead when Smith and fellow stars Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk will be missing.

“It might but it might not,” he said.

“We’ve had seasons only a couple of years ago where we started really well and were flying out and then we dropped five in a row. Everyone was writing us off and we won the premiership.

“The table’s still quite congested … it’s not panic stations at the moment for us.”

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With more than 23,000 tickets already sold for Friday’s AAMI Park match, Smith said the emotion-charged occasion could be what the team needed to jump-start their season.

“It’s going to be a huge match,” he said.

“Particularly for our younger guys who haven’t played in front of a big crowd before.”

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