No Smith, no problem
The Melbourne Storm looked better than ever on Thursday night as they took on one of the major contenders coming into the season, the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The Storm absolutely came out of the blocks firing as they scored all four of their tries in the opening 30 minutes, with the four-pointers going to Cameron Munster, Justin Olam, and a double from Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Melbourne was then able to hold off the Rabbits in the second half, posting an eight-point win to kick off the season. Papenhuyzen looked electric as his decision-making skills were exceptional.
My predicted 2021 Dally M Medallist, Cameron Munster, put on a show with his ball playing skills as he was finding holes in Souths’ defence and set his teammates up to run like steam trains straight through the defence.
Everyone just played their roles in their round 1 clash and by securing their first win of the new year, it has pushed their argument to be the favourites for the title this season.
The Broncos will not be getting the spoon
I can nearly confirm that my Broncos will not be ending the season as back-to-back wooden spooners. The Broncos did pick up a loss in their season opener on Friday night, however, there were many positives for me to take out of their hard-fought loss.
Brisbane was up 16-0 at half time and I thought I was dreaming, as we were playing some great football and had certainly improved from last year. Like any fan would’ve, I had thoughts of another second-half choke coming in the back of my head and that is exactly what happened.
Kevin Walters had plenty of positives to take from Round 1, despite the loss (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
We went scoreless in the second half and conceded 24 points. Our poor second halves were the story of last year’s season, however, this second half seemed a lot better than others, as we were able to stay in the contest almost all the way through until a Junior Paulo try with two minutes remaining.
I can nearly confirm that with that performance, Brisbane will not be picking up the 2021 wooden spoon and will possibly finisher higher than 14th.
Manly are unlikely to win a game without Tom Trbojevic
The Manly Sea Eagles posted anything but a good performance on Saturday afternoon against the Sydney Roosters as they conceded a heavy 42-point defeat. The Sea Eagles seemed lost all game, as they were only able to score one try in the whole match.
There will be Manly fans coming to me with excuses saying that they need Turbo to win games, however, can I just point out that you have the Queensland Maroons captain, and a starting NSW lock, but you’re getting blown out.
Without Tommy Turbo, you still have to put up some fight in games. It is highly likely for the Sea Eagles to not win a game before the return of Tom, as he is likely to return in Round 4 and their only winnable game before then is against the Dragons.
But if they play like they did against the Chooks, they won’t even beat Anthony Griffin’s men. If Manly does start the season 0-4, it will put a lot of pressure on Trbojevic to steer the ship around and will put a big hole in their finals chances.
matth
Roar Guru
Why don't you try ranking each clubs first choice spine. That will be a challenge :stoked:
matth
Roar Guru
Parra were poor in the first half no doubt, but I'll take what I can get :happy: . As for the salary cap, I'm a bit mystified as well. they have lost Boyd, Mccullough, Joe O, Bird and Fifita. Surely that is a massive chunk of salary cap. Milford is obviously on a good wicket and I'd say Haas is being looked after, but surely there is cash to splash next year.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Mate, I expected better of them as you say and correctly say "its not the worst team" Is it like TT is the spiritual leader and they cannot play without him? They were lethargic & disjointed and their defence terrible and yes Hasler is playing at least 2 players in the wrong slots. Nonetheless, the Roosters were without their spiritual leader in Boyd Cordner and lost Jake Friend as well and they still went about their business and did it well. This week Tedesco will be their captain against the Tigers and Friend has been replaced with Freddy Lussick and Crichton has to be replaced, but they will go about the job in a highly professional manner
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm sure it's not a fitness thing, but a mental problem. My Dragons have had similar issues, where you lose so many games, you get to about the 70 minute mark and mentally switch off, knowing you're going to get beaten. Really tough to overcome.
Paul
Roar Guru
I think you've nailed it. I'd be chuffed if we finished just outside the finals.
Christo
Roar Guru
I had the dragons as wooden spooner, however they are very capable of bieng around the 10th or 9th seed. But I certainly cant see them making the finals
Christo
Roar Guru
Thanks for the comment Paul, yeah i think that Walters really needs to fix up the Broncos second halves as they have been horrendous in the last year or so
Christo
Roar Guru
True, but we were playing the cowboys in round 1 last year
Eelsalmighty
Roar Rookie
How about Trent Barrett (who'll probably be done at the Doggies by then)?
Eelsalmighty
Roar Rookie
Matth, I agree with a lot of your comments above, but in fairness Parra wasn't playing anything like a "third placed team" for most of that game, and the first half....? Enough said. On the flip side the Broncos played much better than wooden spooners. And whilst I'm not disagreeing about the Broncos depth, your comments made me think, where has their salary cap actually been spent? Unless they were saving it for Cam and are now holding a war chest.
Eelsalmighty
Roar Rookie
"I really cannot understand why everyone thinks Tom T will make so much difference." I'm definitely NOT defending Manly here, but, you could argue Turbo's return would not only provide Manly with an actual FB (and a good one), but may also force them to play Walker in the only position he's good at (and he is a good centre, as much as I dont like the man). Add an actual hooker, and it's not the worst team.
Christo
Roar Guru
My first article of my new series called 'Broncos Central' will be coming out Wednesday Morning.
Christo
Roar Guru
fair enough, hopefully the best team in QLD can prove to you this week that we wont get the spoon when we beat Gold Coast.
Christo
Roar Guru
Great idea, i will consider it
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
That might be too tough a subject at the moment though.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
Who is actually likely to replace Des as coach at Brookie. He comes off contract at the end of the season. I understand Brookvale is saying one year deal is on the table.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Christo- I’m not sold on the Broncos just yet.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
And let’s take a reasonable stab at it and say that Turbo might only play half a dozen games anyway. Terrible shame.
Christo
Roar Guru
Anyone got any good article ideas for me?
Christo
Roar Guru
Amazing comment Matt, agree with what you said about the storm, if they lose a star they just build a hella lot more through their astonishing system