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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 3696035, member: 1899"] Next we have: [B]Melbourne Storm 2025[/B] 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen 2. Will Warbrick 3. Jack Howarth 4. Nick Meaney 5. Xavier Coates 6. Cameron Munster 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. Stefano Utoikamanu 9. Harry Grant (c) 10. Josh King 11. Shawn Blore 12. Eliesa Katoa 13. Trent Loiero 14. Tyran Wishart 15. Christian Welch/Tui Kamikamica/Joe Chan/Lazarus Vaalepu/Ativalu Lisati 16. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 17. Alec MacDonald/etc. The team virtually picks itself, the only question mark I have is over their bench and I could see that being rotated through out the year before they settle on their best 17. The scary thing about Melbourne is that they weren't at their best last year. Papenhuyzen still appeared underdone, Munster virtually missed half the season and NAS also came in under done. So plenty of room for improvement and that's before they add Utoikamanu into the mix. If Utoikamanu is one of those signings where if he signed with another club, I'd have reservations about how valuable he'd actually be. On paper he ticks a lot of boxes, but he rarely played to his ability at the Tigers. However, since he's signed with Melbourne I've already got him down as a marquee front row and he'll essentially be a fitter version of Kamikamica with the ability to score tries ala Tino Fa'asuamaleaui. However that's just the expectation, he still has to deliver on that promise. If he does, it should only make Harry Grant more potent which is scary to think about. Outside of their defensive systems, what makes Melbourne so dangerous is the key players and what they bring. Grant is a class in his own in the ruck and even when he's having a bad year, he's still the best hooker in the game as shown in 2023. Hughes on the other hand is just a step or two ahead of everyone and plays with so much confidence that it makes up for his limited development as a half. He's just so effective down that right hand-side and since he has options, the defence has a difficult time trying to pick who to number up on - Hughes, Katoa or Warbrick. So often they can't get it right and Melbourne make them pay. With Munster returning, I'm curious to see how they'll develop their halves pairing. Munster struggled in 2024 and it seemed in the finals Bellamy just told him to run the ball as much as possible. It was probably the best gameplan they could have come up with Munster at the time, but when To'o went down, they couldn't exploit it. One try the entire GF, and it was a Harry Grant play. Then you have Loiero who had a good '24 but if he can find another gear it'll only make their fast-paced expansive style more dangerous. He's only 24, so theoretically he should be able to add more muscle to his frame which will allow the Storm to dominate the ruck more and ergo make life easier. I've got them in my Top 2 and they're my picks for the premiership. They just tick all the boxes, it's a stronger roster than last year and the scary thing is if they fail, they'll have 26 to go at it again. [/QUOTE]

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