I have to say this.

[Ryan]

Melbourne are very, very beatable.

Watching them against a Canberra side that had Smith off for most of the game, they barely scraped home with the win.

What Canberra did that really hurt them, was ultra fast play the balls. Not even making heaps of metres, just everything they did, at pace. They had Withers / Woolford getting into dummy 1/2 one after the other, quick runs from dummy 1/2, and maximising play the ball speed.

Melbourne didn't know what to do with it.

Melbourne were caught out often by X factor. What I mean by that is that little kicks behind the line on tackle three etc...

Their two biggest weapons are Inglis (anywhere), and Slater in broken field play. To counter this, I noticed Croker put a massive hit on Inglis, and he went missing for a while, and ran the ball up tentatively after that. He's on Matai's side of the field. That's a worry. Matai will need to be very, very careful. That said, if he puts one or two nasty shots on the bloke....he might go missing again. In regards to Slater, we really need to hold our structure in defence. That will counter him. Having Monaghan in the team assists with this.

For that reason, my bench would be Williamson (if BK back), Rose, Bryant & Leuluai. Monaghan to play 80 minutes ALA Newcastle Knights. We held Gidley / Carney / Quinn / Thaiday etc down very well and kept them quiet in my opinion.

So - in summary, ultra fast play the balls. Structure in defence. I think we can be the 2nd team to roll them at Olympic Park this year.

Manly by 6

 

[Matabele]

I wonder if Mat King will have an appointment with the judiciary?

 

[Disco]

even if he does, they just bring in Webster, so it doesnt weaken them

 

[sue ridgepipe]

fair points ryan but the simple fact is that of the 28 alternatives of team/venue that are available our task would be almost everyones 28th best option.
seems amazing that we are 6 points and light years better than last year,never get flogged and we may still only run 6th.
if the warriors were not docked 4 points the cut off the 8 may have been 30 points.a few years ago it was 25.another reason to hate the bunnies.

 

[Guest]

The warriors also showed the previous week that Malbourne's forwards are their weakness. If we can get on top there it will nullify their backs to a large degree.

Also they have nothing to play for and we have everything. We simply have to win because I don't fancy our chances of beating the knights twice on one year at their home. Hopefully Melbourne will not be switched on next week and will have their mionds on the semi's.

I know that the Manly players were confident of beating melbourne more so than the dogs.

 

[sue ridgepipe]

the other thing you mention is speedy runs from dummy half.if that is what you want you cant get rid of dunley.he was one of our best on friday for just that reason.monaghan has some good traits(long kicking,defence) but speed from dummy half is certianly not one of them.

where the raiders and the warriors troubled them was not the ruck area (they have the quickest line in the league and easily the best ruck slowing technique)-but by playing out on the edges with a quick spread of the ball via pass or kick early in the tackle count as they play up and in.with orford,bell,hicks,robertson and stewart we have the ammo to do it.we caught the dogs napping a few times like that.

Teams always weem to fall for the 3 card trick with the Storm because their forwards arent big.play melbourne in the middle and you will end up absolutely toast like everyone else who has tried it this year.

 

[toovs]

they call it the graveyard and we will bury them there :dance: :dance: :yeah:

 

[Nutzcraw]

Gonna be tough again that's for sure.... i think we can get the cookies if we keep inglis quiet.. i see him as the only bloke that can really rip us apart at will.... if every player wins their battle against their opposite number it'll go a long way to getting the 2 points

 

[Ryan]

the other thing you mention is speedy runs from dummy half.if that is what you want you cant get rid of dunley.he was one of our best on friday for just that reason.monaghan has some good traits(long kicking,defence) but speed from dummy half is certianly not one of them.

where the raiders and the warriors troubled them was not the ruck area (they have the quickest line in the league and easily the best ruck slowing technique)-but by playing out on the edges with a quick spread of the ball via pass or kick early in the tackle count as they play up and in.with orford,bell,hicks,robertson and stewart we have the ammo to do it.we caught the dogs napping a few times like that.

Teams always weem to fall for the 3 card trick with the Storm because their forwards arent big.play melbourne in the middle and you will end up absolutely toast like everyone else who has tried it this year.

Hmmm...fair points sue...

I also think a few bonuses for us are as follows:-

Orford can pass the ball very wide, very fast.
Orford will be out to show Cronk that he is the TRUE Aust 1/2 back.
Bell knows the ground / atmosphere very well.
BK may be back.
This is the most important game in years. I'll mention why in another thread.