Southern Cross Stadium is set for another sell-out when the Cronulla Sharks and Melbourne Storm face off for the second time this season. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 7:50pm (AEST).
It doesn’t get much better than this: a grand final rematch played between first and second on the ladder, with a sledging battle set to reignite.
The Sharks enjoyed a well-deserved rest last week while their State of Origin quartet played starring roles in Game 1. Prior to that, Cronulla beat the Bulldogs in a packed-out home stadium. It wasn’t their most clinical performance, but the fact that they won without their key players is a testament to their premiership credentials.
Meanwhile, in their last outing, the Storm stormed home in the second stanza to thrash the Knights 40-12. Billy Slater was on song, while the forwards also had a field day, with the starting back row featuring for the full 80 and clocking up close to 500 metres.
The Sharks welcome back their Origin heroes in the form of Maloney, Fifita, Graham and Bird with Lee, Capewell, Latimore and Fa’amanu Brown expected to drop out. James Segeyaro is also a chance of playing after being named on an extended bench.
Cameron Smith was given a rest last week following Origin. He slots back into the nine jersey while his earmarked successor Brandon Smith drops out of the squad.
Funnily enough, Southern Cross Stadium hasn’t been the fortress that Sharks’ fans would have liked it to be. So far in 2017, they’ve won three from six on home soil against North Queensland, Newcastle and the Bulldogs. No doubt they’ll be looking to improve this with a big performance over Melbourne.
With their big guns back on board there’s no reason why they can’t and plenty of reasons they can, especially with big Andrew Fifita back in the frame. X-factor personified, Fifita is someone who not only stands up in big games but towers over everyone else when his presence is needed.
Last year’s grand final and last week’s Origin was a prime example of this when he put on one of the best performances by a prop forward in recent memory running for over 180 metres, setting up a try for Maloney and scoring one himself. Melbourne will need to have plenty of numbers in the tackle if they are to halt his progress.
It’s been over a decade since Cronulla had the luxury of picking Paul Gallen during Origin time and his presence has definitely been felt. Against the Bulldogs, he not only clocked up 22 runs, 240 metres and 27 tackles but managed to break the line in the process. After signing on for one more season, Gal will once again be looking to repay the faith shown in him by the club, and carry his side to victory.
Billy Slater might just be as modest as they come. While he refused to be bitter and openly accepted Kevin Walters’ decision to leave him out of Origin 1, he certainly let his footy do all the talking. With Game 2 selection just around the corner, he’ll be looking to bust down the doors of the selectors with a starring role against the premiers.
Be aware of Billy but keep an eye on the wingers for the Storm as well. So far this season Suliasi Vunivalu and Josh Addo-Carr have crossed the line 20 times between them to sit second and fourth as the game’s top try scorers. If the Sharks’ outside men aren’t switched on, they’ll be punished.
One of those players that has already been punished this season is James Maloney.
He tops the game’s missed tackles count with 68 and concedes on average two penalties per game. Cooper Cronk and co. will be hoping to send these numbers through the roof by launching the likes of Asofa-Solomona and Bromwich down his edge as much as possible.
Melbourne hold a healthy overall winning percentage over the Sharks, but it’s Cronulla who will be brimming with confidence having won three out of the past four matches.
The Sharks also hold last start bragging rights after defeating Melbourne 11-2 in their own backyard back in Round 6. While it wasn’t the exciting rematch that fans were expecting, it did involve a memorable verbal stoush between Paul Gallen and Will Chambers.
Prediction
With such an abundance of genuine talent and big game players, you’d have to be mad to miss such a clash. In recent years, Cronulla have certainly take the mantle as the Storm’s number one rival, whether Manly fans like it or not.
With showers forecast for Thursday, we might be set for a good old-fashioned grind with two sides that do it best. In a battle of attrition where defence rules supreme, I’m tipping the Sharks to come away with the win.
Cronulla by two.
Rick
Guest
After watching game last night (no team allegiance) I was enjoying the speed of the game, storm identifying the inside shoulder weakness of Maloney with a double isolation play his inside and outside shoulders and Sharks identifying Smith as a catcher and looking for the quick p-t-b and lateral shift. Then suddenly the frustration of the sharks surfaced (from being behind on the scoreboard) and the verbal abuse of the officials begins - not just a whinge at the p-t-b but a verbal tirade usually following the pocket referee. At about the 30th minute of the first half the referees began to lose the plot. The speed of the p-t-b between what was required of storm and what was expected of sharks became measurably inconsistent - storm were expected to bounce off the tackled player whereas sharks continued to place their hand on the ball upon the tackled player rising, 'crowding' with their shins and hips, face pushes, and lying in the ruck. I was under the assumption that these delaying tactics were outlawed to prevent slowing of the p-t-b. Add to this the usage of offensive (means when carrying the football) elbows from the usual suspects and the referees instigated the frustration being felt in the second half by both teams. Now, I'm not going to do a "Phil Gould" and give a problem and never a solution. I believe that if the referees take a firm hand to the tactics consistently and early , (consistently being the operative word) including verbal abuse, we would witness the real game of Rugby League eventually poking its head through. The reason that games between Queensland teams (Broncos, Cowboys, & Titans) are a better sceptical is due to the reduced amount of niggle and interference in the ruck area and more actual footy being played. As would be gathered from this article I hate inconsistency by referees as it just adds to the frustration felt by coaches, players, and fans. This includes the 'laziness' of referees to rule correctly (Section 5 - Mode of play rules) on knock-on's. The NRL referees consider if it goes to ground it's a knock-on because it's easier to this than make a judgement (which is what they're paid to do).
Margaret
Guest
Don't tell me the Sharks came home with a wet sail with penalties - to think this contrived drama isn't eligible for the Logies
Margaret
Guest
Crucified maybe??
JVGO
Guest
At the game I noticed that the Storm actually lift the tackled player back up when they are about 6 inches off the ground and about to hit the turf so they can wrestle them some more. Great moments in NRL coaching part 2 aka Craig Bellamy NRL coaching genius.
your kidding
Guest
This game was far from the hyped up sellout. Less than 8000 turned up to see a grand final replay in league territory. Wheres the excuses this time? But it was a tough game with unfortunately the storm winning. Slater should make it back in the origin side.
Long Black
Roar Rookie
Paul: never hit the keyboard while you're still wound up over your team's capitulation. The Sharks got away with way more niggle, just as much wrestle and a hell of a lot more whinging. The better team won, and the better team routinely gets better support at home games than the defending premiers.
Renegade
Roar Guru
I'll back Flanno to learn from tonight for the next one... credit where it's due though, Bellamy knows we've destroyed Cronk the last few times and he prevented that from happening this time. They contained our entire forward pack very well, even Fifita and Gal's impact was limited.... that's unheard of. Sure the weather wouldn't have helped last night and I'd be happy to play them again but we will need to be at our very best.
Brendon
Guest
I actually saw that one too, but I guess he did separate his arms from his body, so it constitutes a tackle attempt.... not entirely sure. I'd assumed the ref blew the whistle for the penalty, not for the forward pass.
Oto shark
Guest
Disappointed with result,but it was a good game. Cameron smith was great.For the last few years they've played each other the games have been really good to watch.A finals showdown this year will be great.sharks v storm,broncos vs cowboys lately have been great games.
Bill Blazejowski
Roar Rookie
Rob, how in the hell a Storm player wasn't binned last night is beyond me. All given away for play the ball infringements and to upset the Sharks momentum. At least four penalties given away in front of their own sticks. You wonder why fans get frustrated.
Bill Blazejowski
Roar Rookie
Paul, the NRL's main interest in recent years is to keep games close for the television audience. The Storm could have easily have had a player binned for repeated goal line infringements last night but weren't so much as even warned. I believe Roy Masters has done a report/article on this before and typically got no response from the NRL.
JVGO
Guest
Yeah Bellamy is some sort of coaching genius. 90% of his tries against Cronulla come from a short ball close to the line to one of his giant forwards on one of our little blokes. Tonight instead of targetting Chad as he usually does he instead targetted Brailey twice. What a genius! The problem with this genius tactic is that unless he is gifted field position by super ref Cam Smith the Storm are never close enough to the line to pull it off, as was shown throughout the ensuing 68 mins where they never looked very dangerous at all. Happily take them on in the GF. They looked mostly pretty ordinary tonight and were outplayed while blowing a match winning lead. Bellamy also showed his hand by targetting Brailey. kid will learn from it big time. The coaching genius will have to come up with another genius play for the GF. He didn't really have any up his sleeve last year I noticed.
souvalis
Guest
You're coming across as a real sook,Rob..can you not just enjoy the game...neither team was unduly hard done by the referees and as is the usual,the better team on the night won.
V.O.R.
Guest
I think both teams gave away penalties at times when the other team would surge. It has become a blight on the game. The difference tonight was Billy Slater. Plain and simple. He is a freak.
Rob
Guest
Is Wade Graham's shot of the year a Shoulder charge or does it come under the Ennis exemption rules ? Check out Gallen at marker and Maloney wrapping the next bloke under the chin all in the one play. The Sharks champions being looked after? Maybe it's the a tin hat effect.
Rob
Guest
Is Wade Grahams shot of the year a shoulder charge? I certainly think a player hitting a bloke with both feet of the ground at high speed and no arms wrapping around the attacker is questionable. Appears the shoulder also makes contact with Bromich's head. Maybe I'm wearing a tin hat.
Paul
Guest
The storm will always be up there every season, the NRL will make sure of that. If they were consistently in the bottom eight them the team would cease to exist due to lack of support. Maybe there needs to be a rule that at least 50% of a teams players need to be born in the state the club is based. How many do the Storm have now 1 or 2? It's also about time for the refs to penalise golden boy for his constant complaining, back chat & whingeing, he's worse than a pom
Matthew Lucas
Roar Guru
The Melbourne Storm saved it late to beat the Cronulla Sharks 18-13 in a Grand Final rematch that had everybody on the edge of their seat. In a match dominated by gritty defence, greasy conditions and niggling exchanges it was Melbourne who came out on top when Slater drew two defenders in the 75th minute to send Felise Kaufusi over for his second try of the night. It wasn’t over there though, as Cronulla threw everything into the final play just for Maloney’s kick to go dead to and for Melbourne to chalk up their 11tth win of the season. Cameron Smith earnt himself Man of the Match honours after helping set up the win through a number of clutch plays. The first being a 40/20 kick in just the third minute of the match. From the ensuring set he was able to put Kaufusi one-on-one with Jayden Brailey to open up the scoring and hand the second rower his first try of the season. It was a case of déjà vu for the Sharks when Smith pulled off a near identical play for Glasby to topple over from close range in what was his opening four pointer of the season. Cronulla responded in the 28th minute when Luke Lewis picked up a loose pass to crash over the line. He was in the thick of things shortly afterwards when he made scything run down the right wing only to be taken into touch by a copy book tackle by Slater despite video replays suggesting otherwise. While Billy Slater was doing his best in the opening forty to press his claims for an Origin jersey, Valentine Holmes appeared to do more. Time and time again the Cronulla fullback chimed in when needed, offloaded, and demonstrated superb handling skills by picking up balls around his bootlaces. Holmes’ biggest highlight of the night came halfway through the second stanza when he came up with a try saver on a flying Addo-Carr. By that stage, scores were locked up at 12 a piece courtesy of a Feki try in the corner and a penalty goal by Maloney. In the middle of the two, it looked as though Addo-Carr had extended Melbourne’s lead by beating two defenders in a race to the in goal. Replays showed he had knocked it on whilst his reaction sold nothing more than an Oscar nomination. With the game firmly in the balance it looked as though Cronulla were going to come away with it, particularly with the home crowd and momentum firmly in their favour. Sharks fans went up as one when Maloney piloted a field goal over with 7 minutes remaining on the clock. It was never going to be enough though as Slater’s class shown through to sum up the situation and send Felise Kaufusi over for the match winner. The fact that Melbourne beat the Premiers on their home turf is one thing, but to do so in the absence of their star playmaker, Cooper Cronk was another. Well played Melbourne Storm.
Scott Pryde
Expert
It'll be October when they meet Rene - Sunday, October 1 at ANZ Stadium.
Rob
Guest
You see what you want to see Rene. You certainly watch wearing your Sharks jumper I suspect? I can be bias in some 50/50 calls for my team. Checchin was defiantly picking and choosing what he was watching and letting go IMO. Like I said he has made a habit of giving the Sharks a much need 50/50 penalty at the right time.