GF Teams

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DVS Matt

Bencher
Sunday October 05, ANZ Stadium. Match start: 05:00pm
Referee: Tony Archer

1. Brett Stewart, 2. Michael Robertson, 3. Steven Bell, 4. Steve Matai, 5. David Williams, 6. Jamie Lyon, 7. Matt Orford, 8. Brent Kite, 9. Matt Ballin, 10. Josh Perry, 11. Anthony Watmough, 12. Glenn Hall, 13. Glenn Stewart.

14. Heath L'Estrange, 15. Mark Bryant, 16. Jason King, 17. Steve Menzies, 18. Adam Cuthbertson, 19. Luke Williamson. (2 to be omitted).

1. Billy Slater, 2. Steve Turner, 3. Matt Geyer, 4. Israel Folau, 5. Anthony Quinn, 6. Greg Inglis, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Jeff Lima, 9. Russell Aitken, 10. Brett White, 11. Michael Crocker, 12. Jeremy Smith, 13. Dallas Johnson.

14. Scott Anderson, 15. Adam Blair, 16. Sika Manu, 17. Antonio Kaufusi, 18. Aiden Tolman, 19. Brett Anderson. (2 to be omitted).

___________

No surprises
 
I think it's good that they named Willo, even though the chances of him playing and ruining an awesome formula are almost zip.  Willo's been with the club for years and this is i guess a small thank you to him, some recognition.  You wouldn't pick him at all given Hall and Bryant now playing well, plus his 6 weeks out.
 
Compare to our side last year

1. B. Stewart - will hopefully last full game this year. getting better every year
2. M. Roberston - no difference from '07, form good.
3. S. Bell - probably in better form in '08 after full recovery from cheek injury
4. S. Matai - in career best form and was BOG in last years GF so better off
5. C. Hicks - no loss with inclusion of D. Williams, maybe even better off
6. J. Lyon - much more comfortable in 5/8 role this year.
7. M. Orford - playing with more confidence at the moment, has more options around him
8. J. King - If Perry is fit we are markedly better off
9. M. Monaghan - by his own admission we are better off without him
10. B. Kite - form no worse then last year, may have a point to prove before RLWC
11. A. Watmough - has been a bit patchy in the back half of the season, but good last start
12. G. Stewart - moves to lock, Glen Hall going huge at the moment, hope the occassion doesn't get to him
13. L. Williamson - G Stewart is an integral part of our attack and offers exponentially more than the Cougar

14. M. Bryant - in better form at the moment then last year
15. S. Menzies - keeps on keeping on, his presence alone will keep the focus
16. J. Afamasaga - Jack who ? Be interesting to see how much game time LeStrange gets
17. A. Cuthberston - King is getting better after each run back from injury.

I think we are in a much better place then this time last year. Key players are all in really good form, and the team is playing with a lot more confidence. Don't underestimate the desire of the side to send Beaver out with a premiership ring, "Do it for Beaver" will be the catchcry of the day.

Compare Melbourne to last year and they have lost C. Smith, R. Hoffman, M. King, B. Cross, and C. Newton. They do get Kaufusi back in the plus column, but you'd have to say they are weaker than '07. We stop Cronk and we win comfortably I think.
 
I wouldn't be thinking this will be comfortable; storm looked like **** against sharks but that was mostly being flat after that war with the broncos, plus sharks being so dismal they dragged the whole game down with them.

I think we win if we are at our very best and can make the weaknesses in the storm become manifest; up the middle, on their leftside attack, and the general shrinking of options minus cameron smith. but don't forget they still have 'superstar' gamebreakers all over their backline. 
 
It is up to our forwards to nullify their go forward and throttle them down their end of the field (like they did to us last year).  This year at Brookvale they won off 3 acts of individual brilliance and Orford taking poor options that lost our momentum.

If our forwards repeat the effort of that day and Orford comes up with some repeat sets, we win.

Archer can still have a huge bearing on this game however - he has a tendency to give the Storm a penalty on 3rd and 4th tackles when they look to be in trouble.
 
We lost the match at Brookvale because of the poor kicking game of Orford. If Lyon had played that night we would have won.

The Archer factor is the one that is of biggest concern to me. Apparently we have won only 52% of games when he has refereed the match. Considering that over the past 3 years or so our winning percentage of all games would be 70% to 80% that must be a worry.
 
I do not buy into the ref %.  The games Archer reffed us in were probably the matches of the round against the top sides.  The Storm have a 70% winning record with him, that is due to the fact they have been so dominant.
 
The Sharks were woeful but the Storm defense showed that very deep phase play was easily read. I think our best chances are (doh) firstly nullifying any Storm go forward. Target White as he really is crap and Aitken. Don't give Croker a sniff and gang-tackle him until his back breaks.  Secondly, turn the ball back inside and use Hall, Glenn, Choc and Beaver off the fringes with Ballin firing away as well. King - don't get sent off. I am getting less confident as the week goes on but still see an 8 to 12 pt margin.
 
Hicks didn't play in last years GF did he? I thought he was out injured and instead Bani played
 
willstyles link said:
Hicksy played, he was a last minute inclusion etc. He even got a try!

My memory aint what it used to be
 
willstyles link said:
It's ok mate, we've all done our best to forget that night.

Redemption!

I think we should have "Redemption Song" as our theme song for this game
 

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