I bleed Maroon
International Rep
- Apr 17, 2013
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**** the Warriors. Shithouse.
PRE-GAME Round 25 - Storm vs Broncos
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Horseheadsup
NRL Player
- Mar 21, 2016
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I'm convinced we will cause an upset in Melbourne.
Right now we have the mindset, and just too many reasons.
The media makes far too much of the Storm and we'll get there.
Right now we have the mindset, and just too many reasons.
The media makes far too much of the Storm and we'll get there.
- Jan 25, 2014
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Oates needs to work on his ability under the high ball only this week. Nothing else, just working on catching the fucking ball under pressure because Cronk will test it.
Stix
NRL Player
- Mar 28, 2014
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'Bomb the shit out of Oates' will be the go to play for sure.
Stix
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- Mar 28, 2014
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Storm have been pretty bloody good this season... Hope you're right though
jarro65
State of Origin Rep
- Jun 26, 2008
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I tend to agree, although i think that if we put in a good solid performance against them, it will give our confidence a good boost going jnto the finals.
austin71
NRL Player
- Apr 21, 2013
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This! I don't think we can beat the Storm in Melbourne but a good showing could kick start our finals campaign..If we cop a flogging i don't think we could come back from that.
- Oct 17, 2013
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Why are people saying the Storm have been playing well? Apart from this week they've been pushed by a few really crappy teams and making some very uncharacteristic mistakes. They're more vulnerable than they ever have been and as long as we turn up and don't hand the game to them we have a very good chance of beating them.
- Mar 4, 2008
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This ...
and even this week, it's not like they flogged a contender. they flogged a team from outside the 8, that has been playing poorly for most of the season. and they still conceded 18 points!
rnabokov
State of Origin Captain
- Mar 5, 2008
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All the clinical discipline in the universe won't help the Storm if you don't let them control the ruck - if you're in their face all the time in defence, and if you don't leave your man unmarked, a Cronk speciality: sucking in 2 defenders.
Mind you, his pin point kicks to his very competent wingers can be a bit of a worry ...
Mind you, his pin point kicks to his very competent wingers can be a bit of a worry ...
Horseheadsup
NRL Player
- Mar 21, 2016
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Our brick walls building...again.
- Jan 25, 2014
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DARIUS Boyd says he will have special tactical talks with his wingers to make sure the Storm do not kick the Broncos to death again on Friday night.
After the Broncos lost an injured Corey Oates during the Storm’s record 48-6 win on July 1, Melbourne’s Cooper Cronk launched two bombs for tries by Suliasi Vunivalu to take advantage of a size mismatch on his wing.
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett is confident that a head knock Oates suffered last Thursday will not prevent his left winger turning out for the important clash with the Storm at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Boyd said he hoped Oates, who he described as a “one of a kind winger’’, would line up but if not regardless there were specialist wingers to start the match should a replacement be needed.
Rookie sensation Vunivalu, who scored four more tries in Melbourne’s 38-18 win over Manly on Saturday night, jumped above stopgap winger Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford for those two tries from bombs seven weeks ago.
The kicking variations of Cronk and Cameron Smith, with some assistance from five-eighth Blake Green, will make the Broncos consider their options.
“Cameron Smith is so dominant out of dummy-half, so you can’t just concentrate on Cooper Cronk,’’ Boyd said.
“We have to do some video and come up with a bit of a game plan, myself and the wingers, on where we stand and position ourselves.
“Depending on where they are on the field, you have to follow one and have the other side winger come as a second fullback nearly.
“It definitely makes it tougher when you have a left-footer (Smith) and a right-footer (Cronk).
But we’ll be up for the challenge.
“We have guys who can cover if Oatesy was not to play. Jonas Pearson played really well and we have Lachlan Maranta too.’’
Injured Storm fullback Billy Slater praised during the Origin series Boyd’s ability to anticipate where he needs to be late in tackle counts, as well as his on-field communication with teammates.
Smith helped set the tone at Brookvale on Saturday with a 40/20 kick in the first set of the game, which the Storm won to consolidate their minor premiership claims.
Melbourne have beaten Brisbane 17 times in the past 20 encounters, but the Broncos defence against Canterbury last Thursday was reminiscent of the excellence in a 14-12 win over the Storm at AAMI Park in round 15 last year.
“Melbourne are probably the most clinical and professional team in the comp and they ran away from us (in the 48-6 loss). I don’t think we played as badly as the scoreboard suggested,’’ Boyd said.
“The results were hard to swallow through that time when we had some losses because we were training so well through the week before those games. It was promising to see the team stick together when times were tough and try our best.
“We need to be good in all phases of the game to win in Melbourne.’’
Two wins for the sixth-placed Broncos (30 points) over Melbourne and Sydney Roosters on Thursday week in the last round would help their top-four chances, especially if they were able to take advantage of a better for-and-against record than the Bulldogs (32 points).
“It is (important to make the top four), but momentum is our main focus at the moment,’’ hooker Andrew McCullough said.
“We need to play properly, regardless of results.’’
No Cookies | The Courier Mail
After the Broncos lost an injured Corey Oates during the Storm’s record 48-6 win on July 1, Melbourne’s Cooper Cronk launched two bombs for tries by Suliasi Vunivalu to take advantage of a size mismatch on his wing.
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett is confident that a head knock Oates suffered last Thursday will not prevent his left winger turning out for the important clash with the Storm at AAMI Park on Friday night.
Boyd said he hoped Oates, who he described as a “one of a kind winger’’, would line up but if not regardless there were specialist wingers to start the match should a replacement be needed.
Rookie sensation Vunivalu, who scored four more tries in Melbourne’s 38-18 win over Manly on Saturday night, jumped above stopgap winger Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford for those two tries from bombs seven weeks ago.
The kicking variations of Cronk and Cameron Smith, with some assistance from five-eighth Blake Green, will make the Broncos consider their options.
“Cameron Smith is so dominant out of dummy-half, so you can’t just concentrate on Cooper Cronk,’’ Boyd said.
“We have to do some video and come up with a bit of a game plan, myself and the wingers, on where we stand and position ourselves.
“Depending on where they are on the field, you have to follow one and have the other side winger come as a second fullback nearly.
“It definitely makes it tougher when you have a left-footer (Smith) and a right-footer (Cronk).
But we’ll be up for the challenge.
“We have guys who can cover if Oatesy was not to play. Jonas Pearson played really well and we have Lachlan Maranta too.’’
Injured Storm fullback Billy Slater praised during the Origin series Boyd’s ability to anticipate where he needs to be late in tackle counts, as well as his on-field communication with teammates.
Smith helped set the tone at Brookvale on Saturday with a 40/20 kick in the first set of the game, which the Storm won to consolidate their minor premiership claims.
Melbourne have beaten Brisbane 17 times in the past 20 encounters, but the Broncos defence against Canterbury last Thursday was reminiscent of the excellence in a 14-12 win over the Storm at AAMI Park in round 15 last year.
“Melbourne are probably the most clinical and professional team in the comp and they ran away from us (in the 48-6 loss). I don’t think we played as badly as the scoreboard suggested,’’ Boyd said.
“The results were hard to swallow through that time when we had some losses because we were training so well through the week before those games. It was promising to see the team stick together when times were tough and try our best.
“We need to be good in all phases of the game to win in Melbourne.’’
Two wins for the sixth-placed Broncos (30 points) over Melbourne and Sydney Roosters on Thursday week in the last round would help their top-four chances, especially if they were able to take advantage of a better for-and-against record than the Bulldogs (32 points).
“It is (important to make the top four), but momentum is our main focus at the moment,’’ hooker Andrew McCullough said.
“We need to play properly, regardless of results.’’
No Cookies | The Courier Mail
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- Jan 25, 2014
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To me, we need to throw the ball around. If we try the one up for 4 tackles and high bomb then Storm will cover it easily all night.
In the games I've seen of Melbourne, they have struggled to deal with sides that throw the ball around.
There was a tactic Parra used against us in 2014 that I thought was the main reason they won.
They threw the ball around, but at first they would go short.. It compressed our defence, then with the quick play the ball they would go wide and caught us out quite a few times. We struggled to deal with it, and I think it could work with Melbourne. Their biggest weakness is their edge. It always has been, but they are so good at suffocating teams that not many can exploit it.
Suck the defenders in, get a quick play the ball, go wide.
And for the love of fucking good, watch out for the short ball to Proctor! It's Cronk's pet play for ***** sake and we got fooled by it big time last time..
In the games I've seen of Melbourne, they have struggled to deal with sides that throw the ball around.
There was a tactic Parra used against us in 2014 that I thought was the main reason they won.
They threw the ball around, but at first they would go short.. It compressed our defence, then with the quick play the ball they would go wide and caught us out quite a few times. We struggled to deal with it, and I think it could work with Melbourne. Their biggest weakness is their edge. It always has been, but they are so good at suffocating teams that not many can exploit it.
Suck the defenders in, get a quick play the ball, go wide.
And for the love of fucking good, watch out for the short ball to Proctor! It's Cronk's pet play for ***** sake and we got fooled by it big time last time..
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Would really love to see Offa, Ese or Su'a named on the bench in place of Arrow for this game. I love Arrow to bits and I'm not dropping him I'm just a fan of how Bennett has been rotating these young blokes this year and think its time to get a bigger body on the bench.
Has anyone been following Offa and Ese in Qld cup and can fill me in with how they have been going? Im curious...
Has anyone been following Offa and Ese in Qld cup and can fill me in with how they have been going? Im curious...
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