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It’s a grand final rematch to kick-off Round 3, as the Melbourne Storm play host to a North Queensland Cowboys side who will need to overcome a terrible historical record. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 8:05pm (AEDT).
The Cowboys haven’t had much fun against Melbourne over the years, winning just ten of 36 games. The record is even worse in the Victorian capital, winning just two of six at AAMI Park and none of the seven played at Olympic Park.
While they have made major improvements as a club over the last handful of years, it’s still an atrocious record.
They couldn’t pick a worse time to meet the Storm either. Craig Bellamy’s side are normally dangerous, consistent and professional and while meeting them in peak form isn’t much fun, Melbourne haven’t lost two straight since 2015 when they lost four on the trot.
Since then, they have won 54 of their last 64 games.
The Storm’s attack looked clunky last week in their loss to the Tigers. The big question heading into 2018 was always going to be how they responded to life without Cooper Cronk.
It started well enough with a big win over the Bulldogs in Perth, but with Billy Slater back on the field last week, his performance, as well as that of Cameron Munster and Brodie Croft in the halves, was sub-standard.
To only score eight points while getting 18 penalties was just not good enough. Missing Felise Kaufusi didn’t help, but it was no excuse and the Storm will be hoping to gel much better in their second straight game at home.
The Cowboys have kicked off their season with a win and a loss, beating the Sharks in Townsville and then losing to the Broncos in Brisbane.
The first game was low-quality, but the Cowboys were certainly the better of the two sides. They started strongly in Brisbane as well, but couldn’t get the job done, falling behind and then being denied by the goalpost on the buzzer.
As frustrating as it was, Paul Green’s side need urgent improvement, and that could come in the shape of Michael Morgan this week.
Thus far, the pressure has been on Johnathan Thurston to do it all, but with the Aussie half back in the fold, the Cowboys get a little bit closer to being full strength and will put pressure on the Storm that way.
Their pack hasn’t been quite firing on all cylinders yet though and the impact Lachlan Coote has on the side is bigger than you’d think. With the regular fullback still out, beating the Storm in Melbourne is going to be a struggle.
Prediction
The Storm are always hard to tip against at Storm – even tougher when you factor in the stats. Neither team were outstanding last week, but the hosts should get the job done here.
Storm by 6.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the grand final rematch from 8:05pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.