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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2844592, member: 1899"] When you play Melbourne, it's imperative you get off to a good start. Melbourne are the kings of protecting a lead and even though the Sharks were well on top for the majority, all it took was one opportunity for Melbourne to seal their victory. Considering they did it without their superstar halfback, that was a huge win for Melbourne and a warning shot to anyone in the competition that 2017 is their year. I really like the way Cronulla go about their defence. Every set they always look to put a shot on and get on top of their opponents physically, turning the game into an arm wrestle. It's a style that works for them, especially when they have wonderful ball-players like Graham, Lewis, Bird, Gallen, Fifita etc. in their side. Even Heighno was getting in on the action, which caught just about everyone by surprise. The biggest disappointment for them is their #7. As critical as some people are about their halves, when a player of the calibre of Chad freakin' Townsend is a premiership winning half...you begin asking serious questions. He has his moments Chad but tonight he did a poor job of taking ownership of his fringe and the Sharks didn't get much of an opportunity to exploit that Blair/Addo-Carr fringe which for mine is Melbourne's weakest area defensively. Melbourne weren't at their best in the second half, but their finish to the game was fantastic. Cronulla challenged them on both sides of the football and they were up to it. Slater had his share of ups and downs during the game, but when it was there for the taking, he summed the situation up perfectly. The absence of Cronk nullified the Storm's entire right hand-side for the majority of the second half, but when the game was there to be won, Slater called for it, charged over the advantage line and linked up with Kaufusi who didn't do his unlikely Origin bid any harms with a double. Like a lot of Storm players, Kaufusi is a quiet achiever, but if you pay close attention to his game he shows plenty of energy in everything he does and he would not look out of place in Origin. I would certainly have him above a few others I've seen touted about. Good game of footy, it's just a shame the NRL isn't more like the NBA in this instance because I could watch a Best of 7 between these two sides. I'd certainly prefer that over watching the Bulldogs, Tigers, Knights, Warriors or any other side that is simply looking forward to their end of season break than winning a competition. On a final note, I just wanted to rap Storm's #14 Slade Griffin. He's had horrible luck with injury but tonight he made a real difference with his defence around the ruck. A lot of double ups and he grassed some real hard runners of the football. Compared to Jesse Bromwich who has been the Storm's best player these past two seasons, I thought he made Jesse look disintered... Or maybe that's just Jesse? He seemed off tonight. [/QUOTE]

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