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Four things we learnt from the weekend trials

18th February, 2018
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Matthew 'Duft Punk' Dufty. (Image/Darren Pateman)
Roar Guru
18th February, 2018
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The NRL is warming up with its preseason trials, including the Storm’s World Club Challenge match against the Leeds Rhinos. Here are four things we learnt ahead of the season proper.

1. Storm on track for consecutive premierships
The World Club Challenge games have proved most instructive, with the NRL teams going up against determined Super League teams that were treating these matches seriously.

It is clear that the Storm also treated their World Club Challenge final very seriously, with a result that makes consecutive premierships a real possibility, particularly if you listen to the postmatch press conference given by coach Craig Bellamy.

There is no doubt that the Storm will be the team to beat again this year.

(Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

2. Dragons have a fullback
The Dragons and Rabittohs struggled in their two World Club Challenge matches, but both teams treated the match as a trial against Super League teams that were there to win.

The form of Matt Dufty seems to have settled the Dragons fullback position for the moment, and there were some limited but promising signs from the Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop combination.

3. Tigers give Cowboys a mauling
The Tigers have demonstrated in the first trial that they will not be easy beats this year. The Tigers have bought well in the off-season and have good young players coming through.

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Taane Milne is looking like a very good buy for the Tigers, and there is a plethora of young talent coming through in the forwards.

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4. Halves combinations settling in
New halves combinations at the Dragons, Broncos, Sharks, Bulldogs and Panthers have all shown some promise, but Cooper Cronk made no appearance for the Roosters. With the Raiders’ choice for hooker is still up in the air, they may raid their halves combination for the solution.

Other trials
There is no doubt that some trials were more trying than others. The Warriors won against a reserve-grade Storm team, but not by much – just six points separated the two by the end of the game. That would have been very troubling for the coach.

The Canterbury Bulldogs defeated the Canberra Raiders 16-12, but neither team came away from the encounter with much to shout about.

The Panthers have much to prove after last year, and they came some way towards doing that in their game against the Roosters, who they beat 30-18.

It may not have been a draw, but sure felt like one. Cronulla Sharks defeated the Manly Sea Eagles 30-14. Manly clearly have work to do this year.

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