- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The top four teams from the regular season have deservedly booked their spots in the preliminary finals, with Cronulla taking on North Queensland and Melbourne playing host Canberra.
Season tips total – 136/198, finals Week 2 tips – 2/2
The Sharks will be feeling fresh after having last week off. The break has allowed Paul Gallen to recover and help lead his team to their first grand final appearance since 1998 in the one-off Super League competition.
Their last ‘official’ foray into the decider was in 1978 when Cronulla squared off against Manly twice in the space of three days due to a grand final rematch.
For the Sharks the biggest obstacle in this match is not the brilliance of Johnathan Thurston nor the destructive running of Jason Taumalolo, it’s the pressure of expectation.
Fans have waited 50 years for a premiership and that creates a massive weight on the shoulders of one of the best Cronulla teams in recent memory. Overcoming the nerves associated with that pressure will be paramount to their success.
Taking the Cowboys on in the forwards might seem like a suicide move especially given the potency of Cronulla’s backline – but that is the Sharks best chance of progressing to the grand final. They must dominate the Cowboys pack in order to negate the effects of Thurston and Jake Granville.
The Broncos dominated the first half in last week’s clash with the Cowboys and it was due to hard running from Sam Thaiday and his fellow forwards. North Queensland gradually worked their way back into the contest as Taumalolo and Matt Scott fought back against an aggressive Broncos pack, from there Thurston ran amuck.
The equation is far simpler for the Townsville club. They are the reigning premiers and have a squad full of proven big-match performers. The game plan is as simple as bash and barge to ensure quick play the balls so that Granville can cause havoc up the middle and Thurston can release his outside men.
The Sydney boy says Cronulla but the football man says Cowboys.
Tip: Cowboys 1-12
The two form teams of the competition meet at AAMI Park for an absolute blockbuster.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this match is the contrasting styles of the two teams.
While Melbourne is mechanical in both structure and precision, Canberra plays the most entertaining brand of creative football since the 2005 Wests Tigers squad. Offloads, chip kicks and moments of both team and individual brilliance are commonplace with the Raiders.
On the back of Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, the Storm will try to win by controlling the tempo of the match. It’s a proven method. Minimal errors, tight defence, and a clever kicking game have become the key facets of Storm performances, and it frustrates the hell out of opposition teams.
Of all the teams still in the hunt, the Raiders are probably the most likely to knock off the Storm. That comes down to one word: unpredictability.
Melbourne has its entire foundation of success built on structure. Introduce an opponent that relies 20 per cent on enormous forwards and 80 per cent on damaging ad-lib football and it means huge problems.
If the Raiders can match the Storm in the completion rate, then they will win this match. It will be up to Melbourne to force the errors, but no one is better at both absorbing pressure and piling it on their opposition than Craig Bellamy’s squad.
Tip: Storm 1-12
What do you think Roarers? Who will feature in the 2016 grand final?
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.