Round 18
Wests Tigers 18 l. Melbourne Storm 30

2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Inglis hat-trick underlines dominant display
Mon July 14, 2008
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Storm superstar Greg Inglis gave veteran Matt Geyer the perfect gift for his 250th game in a Storm jersey with a hat-trick of tries and an incredible try-assist to lead Melbourne to a 30-18 win over Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium.

In front of 16,653 fanatical Tigers fans, there may have been a sprinkling of Storm fans amongst them, Melbourne knew they were going to be in for a tough night.

To make matters harder for Melbourne, Wests captain and favourite son Brett Hodgson was playing his final game at the ground where it all began for him all those years ago before he heads off to England next year to play for Huddersfield in the Super League competition.

The Tigers players and supporters were desperate for a win for the diminutive fullback.

But it was Melbourne that got off to the start they were looking for. A typical Billy Slater line-break (there's a reason he's the best in the business at this) and 70-metre run in the 10th minute got his team into great field position. Inglis subsequently scored his first of the night on the left hand edge from the resultant set of six.

The lead was short lived however with Wests winger Taniela Tuiaki scoring in the left hand corner after a fine cut-out pass from Benji Marshall four minutes later.

But the Storm hit back almost immediately with Inglis crashing his way over the line for the second time in the game, this time halfback Cooper Cronk providing a signature short pass to get him over.

The next 20 minutes was end-to-end action without anyone bothering the scorers, that was until a Dene Halatau line-break from a Marshall inside pass set up Hodgson to score under the posts in his last game at Campbelltown, tying up the scores at 12-apiece.

Just before half-time an all-in push-and-shove erupted in true Tommy Raudonikis fashion (the former Western Suburbs Magpies coach was being honoured on the night) when Marshall gave Cronk a shove that Storm backrower Michael Crocker took exception to.

After half-time it was a different Melbourne Storm that took to the field.

Five minutes in and Slater took a catch any of the AFL's serial high-fliers would have been proud of, climbing over the top of Hodgson to take an unbelievable catch before putting the ball down to send the Storm ahead once again.

In case he hadn't already shown how good he is in the first-half, Inglis produced a moment of brilliance after 58 minutes that will have left no-one in doubt as to his talent. Beating three Tigers defenders with the kind of footwork John Travolta would have been proud of in his heyday, Inglis then passed as he was being tackled to Sika Manu who only had to fall across the line to push the score out to 24-12.

A Geyer long pass out to Inglis 10 minutes later saw the star-of-the-show catch the ball with his back to the try-line, do a pirouette and then beat two defenders in the two metres of space he was given on the outside to cross in the corner.

Beau Ryan scored for the Tigers in the final eight minutes after a cut-out pass from Robbie Farah gave the Tigers some respectability on the scoreline, but they were never going to get the two points from there.

The only injury concern for the Storm was a sickening collision between Ben Te'o and Anthony Quinn that left the Storm winger with a bloodied face and mild concussion. However, there's no doubt he'll be available for the Storm next Monday night when they take on the Dragons at Olympic Park.

STORM 30 (Tries: Inglis 3, Slater, Manu; Goals: C. Smith 5) def. WESTS TIGERS 18 (Tries: Tuiaki, Hodgson, Ryan; Goals: Hodgson 3) at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

Report Sent By: www.melbournestorm.com.au

LIVE SCORES & STATS
NRL: Wests Tigers 18 v Storm 30
NYC: Wests Tigers 34 v Storm 16
Wests Tigers v Storm Discussion Thread


Storm Round 18 v Wests Tigers Game Notes
Fri July 11, 2008
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Melbourne welcomed back eight of their nine State-of-Origin stars (Michael Crocker was rested) with a terrific 30-14 win over the Canberra Raiders at Olympic Park. The win left the Storm just two points off the top of the NRL ladder.

The Wests Tigers enjoyed a bye in Round 17.

WHO: Melbourne Storm v Wests Tigers
WHAT: Round 18 of the 2008 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney
WHEN: Monday, July 14th @ 7.00pm
ON TV: Fox Sports 2 LIVE ? 7.00pm
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

FAST FACTS
* Melbourne has won four of their past six clashes with Wests Tigers
* Wests Tigers have lost four of their past five games
* Melbourne average just 13 points away from home
* Wests Tigers have won only two from five at Campbelltown over the past two seasons

DID YOU KNOW?
Matt Geyer will celebrate his 250th Melbourne Storm game on Monday night. Geyer will become the 20th player to play 250 games for the one club. He will become the 59th player to play 250 career games.

KEY MATCH UP
Injuries have also conspired to deplete the Wests Tigers line-up. Halfback Matthew Head is out with shoulder and thumb injuries while is front-rower Todd Payten is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury. Add Ryan O'Hara (broken jaw) and Danny Galea (ankle) who are out for the season and the casualty ward at Wests Tigers makes for depressing viewing.

However, one player they do have fit and firing on the field at the moment is five-eight Benji Marshall. With five line-break assists and six try assists in just nine games, Marshall needs to provide the spark for a side averaging just 1,241 metres of territory a game - the worst in the NRL.

His battle with Greg Inglis will be one of the individual clashes of the season. They are arguably the two most exciting players in the competition when on-song, and Monday night could well be where these two light up the night.

Since Origin II where he single-handedly destroyed New South Wales and lead Queensland to a 30-0 win at Suncorp Stadium, Inglis has been in career best form. Against Canberra last Sunday coach Craig Bellamy said after the game he believed Inglis had taken his game to another level, not skill-wise, but tough-wise. Inglis has always been the most talented player in the NRL, now he was adding mental toughness to his arsenal as well.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 15, Storm: 15, Wests Tigers: 5
At Campbelltown Stadium: Played: 1, Storm: 1, Wests Tigers: 0

FOR AND AGAINST 2008
Points for: Storm: 334, Wests Tigers: 328
Points against: Storm: 209, Wests Tigers: 348
Tries for: Storm: 59, Wests Tigers: 57
Points differential: Storm: +125, Wests Tigers: -20

LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm def. Raiders 30-14 @ Olympic Park, Melbourne
Wests Tigers BYE

LAST EIGHT CLASHES
2007 Tigers def. Storm 30-12 @ Bluetongue Stadium
2007 Storm def. Tigers 18-16 @ Olympic Park
2006 Storm Tigers 46-4 @ Olympic Park
2006 Tigers def. Storm 30-28 @ Leichhardt Oval
2005 Storm def. Tigers 34-22 @ Olympic Park
2005 Storm def. Tigers 30-14 @ Leichhardt Oval
2004 Tigers def. Storm 32-18 @ Leichhardt Oval
2004 Storm def. Tigers 30-24 @ Olympic Park

THE STORM STORY SO FAR
WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE: STORM 4 (Try: Hoffman) def. by RHINOS 11 (Try: Donald; Goals: Sinfield 3; Field Goal: Sinfield) at Elland Road, Leeds
ROUND 1: STORM 32 (Tries: Slater 3, Johnson, Tagataese; Goals: C. Smith 5, Turner) def. WARRIORS 18 (Tries: Vatuvei 2, Ropati; Goals: Witt 3) at Telstra Dome, Melbourne
ROUND 2: STORM 16 (Tries: Aitken, White, Falou; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. by SHARKS 17 (Tries: Kearney, Gallen, Simmons; Goals: Covell 2; Field Goals: Kimmorley) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 3: Storm (Try: Slater; Goal: C. Smith) def. by ROOSTERS (Try: Kenny-Dowell; Goals: FitzGibbon 3) at Sydney Football Stadium
ROUND 4: STORM 28 (Tries: Quinn 3, Folau, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 4) def. BRONCOS 8 (Tries: Robinson, Stagg) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 5: STORM 26 (Tries: Slater 2, Inglis, Quinn, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 3) def. SEA EAGLES 4 (Try: Barney) at Olympic Park
ROUND 6: STORM 23 (Tries: Chambers, Turner, Slater, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 3; Field Goal: Cronk) def. RAIDERS 16 (Tries: Best, Plum, Purtell; Goals: Carney 2) at Canberra Stadium
ROUND 7: STORM 12 (Tries: Inglis, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. COWBOYS 10 (Tries: Williams 2; Goals: Thurston) at Dairy Farmer's Stadium
ROUND 8: BYE
ROUND 9: STORM 18 (Tries: Folau 2, Quinn; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. KNIGHTS 4 (Try: Mullen) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 10: STORM 12 (Tries: Chambers, Manu; Goals: Smith, Turner) def. by DRAGONS 36 (Tries: Nightingale 2, B. Morris, J Morris, Lett, Soward; Goals: Soward 6) at ANZ Stadium
ROUND 11: STORM 15 (Tries: Chambers, J. Smith; Goals: C. Smith 2, Field Goals: Cronk) def. RABBITOHS 12 (Tries: Vagana 2; Goals: Luke) at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
ROUND 12: STORM 46 (Tries: Geyer 2, C. Smith, Folau, Turner, J. Smith, Crocker, Cronk; Goals: C. Smith 7) def. BULLDOGS 0 at Olympic Park
ROUND 13: STORM 0 def. by TITANS 18 (Tries: Delaney, Meyers, Jeffrey; Goals: Rogers 3) at Skilled Park
ROUND 14: BYE
ROUND 15: STORM 48 (Tries: Inglis 3, Turner 2, J Smith, Slater, Geyer, Folau; Goals: C Smith 6) def. COWBOYS 20 (Tries: Henry, Williams, Webb, Cashmere; Goals: Thurston 2) at Olympic Park
ROUND 16: STORM 22 (Tries: Manu 2, Tomane, Cronk; Goals: Turner 2, Cronk) def. by EELS 24 (Tries: Tautai, Williams, Reddy, Inu; Goals: Burt 4) at Parramatta Stadium
ROUND 17: STORM 30 (Tries: Inglis 2, Slater, Manu, Quinn, Turner; Goals: Smith 3) def. RAIDERS 14 (Tries: Monaghan, Carney, Chalk; Goals: Carney) at Olympic Park

2008 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Slater 9, Folau 8, Inglis 7, Quinn 6, Turner 5, Manu 4, Chambers 3, J. Smith 3, Geyer 3, Hoffman 2, Cronk 2, Johnson, Tagataese, Aitken, White, C. Smith, Crocker, Tomane

2008 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 42, Turner 4, J. Smith, Cronk

2008 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Cronk 2

2008 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C Smith 88, Slater 36, Folau 32, Inglis 28, Quinn 24, Turner 20, Manu 16, J. Smith 14, Chambers 12, Geyer 12, Cronk 12, Hoffman 8, Johnson 4, Tagataese 4, Aitken 4, White 4, Crocker 4, Tomane 4

MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Sam Tagataese (shoulder): 1 week
Aidan Guerra (ankle): 2 weeks
Danny Vaughan (knee): season
Ben MacDougall (knee): season
Dane Nielsen (shoulder): season
Will Chambers (knee): season

THE STORM AHEAD
Round 19: Saturday, July 19th v Dragons @ Olympic Park, 5.30pm
Round 20: Sunday, July 27th v Warriors @ Mt Smart Stadium, 2.00pm (AEST)
Round 21: Friday, August 1st v Titans @ Olympic Park, 7.45pm
Round 22: Friday, August 8th v Sea Eagles @ Brookvale Oval, 7.45pm
Round 23: Friday, August 15th v Roosters @ Olympic Park, 7.35pm

TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
1 Sea Eagles 26
2 Roosters 26
3 Sharks 26
4 Storm 24
5 Dragons 22
6 Broncos 21
7 Titans 20
8 Eels 18
9 Panthers 19
10 Tigers 18
11 Knights 16
12 Raiders 16
13 Warriors 16
14 Rabbitohs 14
15 Bulldogs 12
16 Cowboys 10

SQUAD FOR MONDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
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. Cam Smith
10. Brett White
11. Michael Crocker
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson

Interchange:
14. Jeremy Smith, 15. Adam Blair, 16. Sika Manu, 17. Antonio Kaufusi.

Coach: Craig Bellamy

News Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Tue July 8, 2008
• Crocker returns for Storm
  

Advanced Search