- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Former tennis great Billie Jean King once said, “Champions keep playing until they get it right”.
The Melbourne Storm continue to get it right as they have started the season with three wins. But who can stop them?
Whether they can repeat their nine-game winning streak of 2012 is an unknown, but their attitude in defence and attack so far showcases a steel and poise other sides would hope to bottle, drink and label “Storm-juice”.
Cooper Cronk and Gareth Widdop are now arguably the form halves pairing in the competition – I say this as English Test player Widdop hasn’t always received accolades the likes of Billy Slater or Cameron Smith have.
Widdop has shown maturity, consistency and an ability to read football matches over the past couple of seasons now.
Who can stop the men in purple from dominating like last year?
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are at the top of the challengers list after a poor end to season 2012 and a strong start to this season. Their players are playing freely together; Adam Reynolds and John Sutton are creating good opportunities for speed-men like Greg Inglis and Nathan Merritt.
The teams clash in three rounds time at ANZ Stadium, so mark this down as a “must-watch” encounter.
The Sydney Roosters have started extremely well too (apart from an early loss to the Rabbitohs). James Maloney and Mitchell Pierce complement each other well and have fine kicking games; their forwards are in barnstorming form.
Jared Warea-Hargreaves, Sam Moa and the returning Sonny-Bill Williams are really making an impact after a slow start to the season. Watch out for their round 11 clash at Allianz Stadium.
What about a dark horse? How about the Cronulla Sharks – as long as they can continue to field a team.
Will emotion carry them to the end of the season? No. But a returning Shane Flanagan and a dominant, content Todd Carney help, plus a team focus to do well whatever the outside forces allow. It was the Cronulla side who arrested the Storm’s winning streak in round 10 last year.
Once again it is the Storm versus the rest – but they don’t seem to mind. Let’s see who can challenge their dominance this early in the season.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.