This Storm team always lifts against Manly & regardless of last years Battle of Brookie being played down, theres no doubt the fire is still there. Smith & Cronk will no doubt lift & this team is clearly better than 2011 with Widdop, Duffie, Bromwich & others now genuine quality players. Slater is a massive loss but this Storm team still cannot be underestimated as they would still towel most teams in the NRL without him - unfortunately for the Storm the Seaeagles are an exception. Manly by 7-12.
Sluter is worth 10 points to the scum. Scores freakish tries and saves them to by putting the boot and knees in!
Agree he is worth 10 points but Storm have improved by 10 in 2012 imo so the game should be fairly close.
Cronks kicking this year scares me, he is on fire! DCE's kicking game has been off this year so lets hope he can have a blinder on Monday. Storm are a much better team then last year so we has better be on our game. No Slater is a advantage but they will still be hard to beat.
Where slater will be really missed is looming up in the centre of the ruck looking for a little cam smith inside ball. This will take away a huge amount of the hesitation smith commands when backpedaling forwards try to shut him down out of dummy half because widdop just doesn't have the anticipation bill the kid owns. The three storm guns rely more heavily upon the combination and presence of each other than a lot of people realise. Manly should win comfortably.
I suppose we got lucky with the monday night game. Hopefully the 5 day turn around means Snake will be right to go. With his well documented knee issues and how he has to be managed during the week, anything less and I fear he wouldn't be playing. I'm not even 100% sure he'll play tomorrow night to be honest and won't be til I see him run on the field.
