Melbourne believe a renewed focus on goal-line defence is responsible for putting them atop the NRL ladder ahead of “rough waters” over the State of Origin period.
The Storm put their pre-season training to good use as they held on in the face of a second-half onslaught by defending champions South Sydney for a 16-12 win at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Late in the first half, the home side showed their grit by repelling three goal-line drop outs and four consecutive sets with Souths unable to penetrate.
The Rabbitohs big pack shifted up a gear in the second half and pumped the Storm up the middle but, despite playing with 70 per cent of territory, they couldn’t find the necessary third try.
Storm skipper Cameron Smith, who led by example with a game-high 41 tackles, said they had identified goal-line defence as an area to improve.
“It’s probably been the best part of our game, our goal-line defence,” Smith said.
“That’s what we’ve turned around and we’ve worked extremely hard over the pre-season in that area.
“It brings confidence and energy when you turn a quality side away three or four times from your goal line.”
The Storm are perfectly positioned with a bye next week before losing Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Will Chambers to Queensland’s Origin campaign.
Coach Craig Bellamy said regardless of their ladder position he felt the team was in better shape than last year.
The Storm only has one more win than after round 10 last season but he felt they were playing with much more effort and consistency.
“What buoys us is that most of our guys are playing reasonably well and are putting plenty of effort in and I perhaps couldn’t have said that at the same time last year,” Bellamy said.
“I don’t like saying that but that’s what it looked like.”
But Bellamy said that with his key quartet about to go missing, it wouldn’t be all smooth sailing.
“It’s a nice position to be in but there’s going to be some rough waters ahead through Origin so we’ve just got to get through it.”
Joe
Roar Rookie
I feel the cover for the Storm during this years Origin period is much better than previous years. Hampton or Nona should get the 7 and Blake Green is already playing a dominant role at 6 anyway. Hymel Hunt/Vunivalu/Duffy/Young all options for Chambers and Munster in for Billy. Hinchcliffe will play hooker as he had trained there in the off season when Cam was getting surgery and there are a lot of players lining up to replace him on the bench in Leroyd-Lars/K. Bromwich/Kaufusi. Hopefully hold their own during this period and give the 4 Origin players proper breaks after Origin instead of backing up.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
Ditto Jay, can't wait to see some new faces take the field. Munster obviously, hampton to get a run and I'd like to see Hymel Hunt get a go in the centres while chambers is out. The cowboys are going to struggle during origin I think. No Tamou, No Scott, No Taumololo, No JT.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
I'm pretty excited about the Cowbies during this period as well. They've finally found some depth to cover in the origin drain time. Not just cover for JT either, Tamou & Scott are usually sorely missed at this stage but the younger guys look to be getting enough of a taste to raise their confidence. We've got some tough games against teams with zero impact from absent players coming up and every point is going to make a difference at season end if we want to finish in the top four.
Jay C
Roar Guru
For some reason I am really excited about watching club games during Origin this season. Have we got a fresh batch of superstars in the wings or what? Munster running out for Storm, Johnson moving to fullback for Inglis, Oates starting, Jayden Nikorima might get a crack. There is such a plethora of talent bubbling away at the edges of most NRL teams at the moment. Awesome.