Round 4
Newcastle Knights 12 l. Melbourne Storm 22

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Tough Knight at the office
Sat April 7, 2007
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Storm's recent dominance over the Newcastle Knights continued at Energy Australia Stadium in Round 4 action, winning a mistake-heavy encounter 22-12 in front of 20,051 screaming fans.

In a first-half riddled with penalties and dropped ball, the Storm were lucky to go in at the break with the scores level at 12-12.

Israel Folau got the ball rolling for the Storm in the 5th minute after a great pass by Cooper Cronk found Anthony Quinn on the run, who in turn found the teenager with nothing more to do than cross the stripe.

From this great start, the first-half turned sour for the Storm.

Multiple repeat sets of six for the Knights, after some sloppy ball handling from Melbourne, saw Steve Simpson tie up the scores.

With the Storm seeing very little ball, Daniel Abraham put the home side in front. Some non-existent defence gave the young five-eighth a red carpet ride to the try-line.

The Storm were thrown a lifeline in the 34th minute when Kurt Gidley gave Melbourne possession 10 metres from the try-line. From the resultant set of six, a passage of play involving Cronk and Billy Slater gave King the four-pointer.

The second-half started much better for Melbourne.

A Cronk bomb on the 5th tackle in their first set took a very fortunate bounce, landing in the arms of Quinn who barged over the line from a few metres out. Cam Smith slotted his 3rd goal of the night to put Melbourne a converted try in front.

A sudden five-minute downpour that sent the crowd running for cover, made the environment extremely slippery.

The rest of the half was a succession of dropped balls with both teams finding it hard to adapt to the conditions.

Melbourne and Newcastle both had their opportunities to secure the two premiership points, but it wasn't until the dying moments that Folau got his seventh try of the season in only his fourth NRL game to sew up the contest.

Although he conceded it wasn't the best Melbourne Storm performance, coach Craig Bellamy was delighted with his teams defensive efforts once again.

"We made it really hard for ourselves," said Bellamy.

"We started off really well and then got a bit complacent, but one thing we have been good at this year is if we've got ourselves into a bit of trouble we've been able to defend that.

"It was tough going for us. While we weren't playing that well, one thing about this footy team, even when they played poorly, they are really gutsy and their defence kept us in the game again tonight."

It was an ugly win, but sometimes ugly wins bring out the true character of a team.

STORM 22 (Tries: Folau 2, King, Quinn; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. KNIGHTS 12 (Tries: Simpson, Abraham; Goals: Gidley 2)

Report sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au


Storm Game Notes - Round 4 v Knights
Fri April 6, 2007
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

A strong first-half performance laid the foundation for the Melbourne Storm's 30-12 win over the New Zealand Warriors last Sunday at Olympic Park.

The win continued their unbeaten start to the 2007 season.

Matt King was voted players-player-of-the-week after a typically polished performance by the tall centre, capping off his efforts with his first try of the year.

The Knights on the other hand suffered a bad 48-18 loss to the Raiders in Canberra on Monday night.

It was Newcastle's first loss this season.

WHO: Melbourne Storm v Newcastle Knights
WHAT: Round 4 of the 2007 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Energy Australia Stadium, Newcastle
WHEN: Saturday, April 7th @ 5:30pm
ON TV: Fox Sports 3 LIVE
CHECK IT OUT: Melbourne Storm's website with all the latest stats, profiles, updates, schedule and training times, alerts, news etc - www.melbournestorm.com.au

INS AND OUTS
Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has named an 18-man squad for this Saturday evening's Round 4 clash against the Newcastle Knights. The game will be played at Energy Australia Stadium in Newcastle from 5:30pm.

Bellamy has made one change to the starting line-up that took the field against the New Zealand Warriors on Sunday.

Michael Crocker has been named in the backrow, taking the place of Jeremy Smith who has a fractured fibula in his left leg. The injury is set to keep Smith on the sidelines for 4-6 weeks.

After displaying outstanding form for Brisbane Norths in the Queensland Cup, including a four-try haul in the season opener, backrower Sam Tagataese gets his chance to impress at NRL level.

Steve Turner, after returning from injury with an impressive two-try performance of his own in the Queensland Cup on the weekend, takes his place in the squad as 18th man.

FAST FACTS
* The Storm have beaten the Knights in four of their past five encounters
* Melbourne has won on eight of its past nine road trips
* Melbourne has won 16 of its past 17 home-and-away season games

DID YOU KNOW?
* Cam Smith is a genuine rev-head, and still owns his very first car, a 1971 V8 HG Kingswood

KEY MATCH-UP
Danny Buderus' clash with Cam Smith at hooker could well be the individual clash of the season so far.

Buderus had been the incumbent number 9 for the Kangaroos for several years; however, with the birth of his child imminent, he withdrew himself from the 2006 Tri-Nations tournament.

Up to the plate stepped Cam Smith.

Smith, who had only a couple of months earlier won the 2006 Dally M Medal, had a sensational Tri-Nations series and has almost made it impossible for the selectors to drop him in favour of Buderus.

Smith's early season form has been the equal of 2006, and another impressive performance against the Knights will go along way to sewing up the hooker's job for the Test against New Zealand on April 20th.

Another player to keep an eye on this Saturday will be former Knights winger and current Storm centre Anthony Quinn. Quinn has been in great form, especially defensively, where he has been working tirelessly to support 17-year-old Israel Folau on the right side while the young winger finds his feet at NRL level. There's no doubt he will be looking to put in a big performance against his former teammates.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 17, Storm: 7, Knights: 10
At Energy Australia Stadium: Played: 9, Storm: 2, Knights: 7

FOR AND AGAINST 2007
Points for: Storm: 80, Knights: 59
Points against: Storm: 44, Knights: 84
Tries for: Storm: 15, Knights: 11
Points differential: Storm: +34, Knights: -25

LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm: def. Warriors 30-12 @ Olympic Park, Melbourne
Knights: def. by Raiders 48-18 @ Canberra Stadium, Canberra

LAST EIGHT CLASHES
2006 Storm def. Knights 24-16 @ Energy Australia Stadium
2006 Storm def. Knights 52-6 @ Olympic Park
2005 Knights def. Storm 37-18 @ Energy Australia Stadium
2005 Storm def. Knights 48-10 @ Olympic Park
2004 Storm def. Knights 28-18 @ Energy Australia Stadium
2004 Knights def. Storm 36-26 @ Olympic Park
2003 Storm def. Knights 46-6 @ Olympic Park
2003 Knights def. Storm 44-28 @ Energy Australia Stadium

THE STORM STORY SO FAR
ROUND 1: Storm 18 (Tries: J. Smith, Hoffman, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. Wests Tigers 16 (Tries: Moodie, Harrison, Whatuira; Goals: Marshall 2) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 2: Storm 32 (Tries: White 2, Folau 2, Slater, Geyer; Goals: C. Smith 4) def. Raiders 16 (Tries: Carney, Graham, Best; Goals: Dobson 2) @ Canberra Stadium
ROUND 3: Storm 30 (Tries: Slater 2, Folau 2, Hoffman, King; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. Warriors 12 (Tries: Vatuvei, Rapira; Goals: Martin 2) @ Olympic Park

2007 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Folau 5, Slater 3, White 2, Hoffman 2, J. Smith, Geyer, King

2007 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 10

2007 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
N/A

2007 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 24, Folau 20, Slater 12, White 8, Hoffman 8, J. Smith 4, Geyer 4, King 4

MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Danny Vaughan: Season (ACL)
Adam Blair: Indefinite (Ankle)
Jeremy Smith: 4 weeks (Fibula)
Pale Ale: 2 weeks (Ankle)
Matthew Bartlett: 1 week (Ankle)

THE STORM AHEAD
Round 5: Saturday, April 14th v Dragons @ OKI Jubilee Stadium, 5:30pm
Round 6: Saturday, April 21st v Panthers @ Olympic Park, 7:30pm
Round 7: Friday, April 27th v Broncos @ Suncorp Stadium, 7:30pm
Round 8: Saturday, May 5th v Wests Tigers @ Blue Tongue Stadium, 7:30pm
Round 9: Monday, May 14th v Bulldogs @ Olympic Park, 7:00pm
Round 10: Saturday, May 19th v Roosters @ Olympic Park, 7:30pm
Round 11: Saturday, May 26th v Sea Eagles @ Brookvale Oval, 5:30pm

2007 TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
1. Sea Eagles 6
2. Cowboys 6
3. Rabbitohs 6
4. Storm 6
5. Panthers 4
6. Warriors 4
7. Knights 4
8. Sharks 2
9. Dragons 2
10. Raiders 2
11. Bulldogs 2
12. Titans 2
13. Eels 2
14. Tigers 0
15. Broncos 0
16. Roosters 0

SQUAD FOR SATURDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Billy Slater
2. Matt Geyer
3. Matt King
4. Anthony Quinn
5. Israel Folau
6. Greg Inglis
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Antonio Kaufusi
9. Cameron Smith
10. Brett White
11. Michael Crocker
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson

Interchange:
14. Sam Tagataese
15. Jeff Lima
16. Ben Cross
17. James Aubusson
18. Steve Turner
(one to be omitted)

Coach:
Craig Bellamy

News sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Thu April 5, 2007
• Milestones for Johns and Woolnough
  
Tue April 3, 2007
• Buderus back for challenge against Smith
  
Tue April 3, 2007
• Crocker named in Storm starting side
  

Advanced Search