Finals Week 1
Melbourne Storm 15 l. New Zealand Warriors 18

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

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

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to
Thu September 18, 2008
Remember when you were young and juvenile? At Christmas time and your rich cousins would come and visit with their flash toys. And you would want just one go of the new toy, but just when you got near the toy they would cry like the spoilt brat.

Amazingly adults in the masculine sport of Rugby League can still chuck these tantrums. On Sunday we saw a great game of Rugby League in which for the first time since 2004 a team below position 6 on the ladder were victorious in the first week of the finals.

The Warriors were by far the better team, they played the more attractive footy, they went for the try instead of the field goal, they were more enthusiastic, and fittingly they scored a length of the field try to clinch a nail biter.

So why then did we have the Melbourne Storm Captain come out after the match and sob like a child spitting the dummy?

At the back end of 2006 and the beginnings of 2007 I noticed something amiss with the attitude of Cameron Smith and the Melbourne Storm towards other teams, fans and the game in general. What they have done over the last few years is not good for Rugby League. The wrestling holds and injuries they have induced as well as the boring style of play has led to choruses of complaints about the nature of our game. From ideas of cutting out goal line dropouts, to reducing numbers of players, the League has canvassed them all. The real problem is the wrestle.

For the last two years Melbourne have showed their arrogance on the field by holding down in tackles longest than anyone else. They have constantly debated and questioned the decisions of referees like they were 2nd class citizens. So how dare Cameron Smith act like a child who has lost their lollypop by claiming the Warriors did not win the game on Sunday, but rather the Storm lost it. And crying foul that the Warriors were calling for the referee to penalise the Strom. I would be calling for a penalty too if some bloke had me in a chokehold while u\\\\another tried to twist me upside down. Melbourne only has themselves to blame

The cold hard facts are the Warriors threw the ball around. That is the way to beat the Storm; Parramatta went close to doing it apart from some extremely controversial calls in the preliminary final last year. The Knights played an expansive game in Round 25 and won out against a grinding Storm outfit. On Sunday the Warriors let the ball fly out to the fringes and Ropati, Tate and Vatuvei had a field day.

Referee Jason Robinson must be commended on his performance. He was always going to be under the pump if the Storm got beat. The penalty count was 12-9, and I counted another 6 times when Melbourne were extremely fortunate not to be penalised for again slowing down the play the balls and corkscrewing people. Robinson stood up to the Storm and let them know that their tactics would not be tolerated.

Melbourne need to reinvent themselves in the off season. They have three of the best attacking weapons in our game but yet they only seem to use them close to the goal line by barging over, a second man play or a bomb. They attitude once they got ahead on Sunday showed their boring style of play. For two sets of six in a row midway through the second half, Melbourne took 7 dummy half runs from a possible 10 plays. This is not football. Neither is their constant rushing up in defence, which again pushes the boundaries. They rush up before the dummy half has touched the ball, giving opposition teams no room in which to move. This is not part of our game. Neither is standing your second marker 2 metres behind the first in order to cover the other teams dummy half runners. This is another Storm tactic. And then come the rippers, grapples, crushers, chicken wings, burners and corkscrews. I am sick to death of this crap. I do not want to see the best grinding wrestling sides win the comp. I want to see the team that is highest in skill and level win the premiership.

Melbourne needs to understand they cannot bully the referees and other teams. Their statements after matches they lose puts pressure on referees and is a poor example for our youth. After all they are role models, and when they see Captains carry on like Cameron Smith earlier in the week - well monkey see, monkey do. We need to see a change in attitude of the Melbourne Storm, otherwise we may well see the Storm's major sponsor being Kleenex in 2009.



Warriors create history
Sun September 14, 2008
The ill-fated McIntyre system in its 10th successive controversial season finally saw some life in it with the 8th placed Warriors upsetting the Storm 18-15 in Melbourne today.

Victory was most deserving for the Warriors as they had to deal with a few contentious decisions from controversial referee Jason Robinson to steal victory in the final two minutes.

With the scores locked up at 14-all Robinson gave away one of the most farcical penalties when he penalised Warriors winger Aidan Kirk for apparently elbowing Matt Geyer in possession with the Warriors deep in attack. The Storm worked the ball up the field from the penalty and Greg Inglis landed a 35m drop goal to push the Storm up 15-14.

However, just prevailed when Jerome Ropati put Manu Vatuvai in the clear and he found Michael Witt in support to score the match winner. Witt gave Warriors supporters a few anxious moments when he tried to do a try celebration before putting the ball down.

The McIntyre system was celebrating 10 years of failure this year and never has the 8th placed side won, but today the Warriors were determined and led by captain Steve Price outplayed the Storm by playing pure football.

Witt landed an early penalty goal to put the Warriors up 2-0, but a mistake from the kick off put the Storm on the attack. Melbourne received a penalty and went for the try with Anthony Quinn scoring following a great cut out pass from Billy Slater. Cameron Smith converted the try and landed a penalty goal for the Storm to lead 8-2.

Ropati scored on the stroke of half-time to put the Warriors firmly in the clash and Witt's excellent sideline goal leveled up the scores as both sides headed into the sheds.

Vatuvai regained the Warriors lead five minutes into the second half when he gathered a deft grubber kick from Grant Rovelli. Witt landed another bottler from the touchline to push the Warriors six points clear.

Israel Folau showed too much strength to crash over in the 54th minute. Smith had the chance to level up the scores, but his kick was wide. Smith leveled up the scores five minutes later with a penalty goal as the match was setup for a tense final 20 minutes.

Both sides threw everything at each other with the desperation in defence the stand out feature.

Inglis landed a drop goal with 12 minutes remaining after the Storm got field position following a contentious penalty from Robinson.

The Warriors weren't to be denied and Witt's match-winner threw the finals series right into a new light.

Even though they came 8th the Warriors will have a home final next Friday night against the star-studded Roosters, who lost 24-16 against the Broncos in a bruising encounter. The Warriors will enter favourites on the betting markets, but the Roosters powerful forward pack and kicking game can't be discounted and the Roosters halves will target the inconsistent Vatuvai. The winner of that clash will face the inform Manly outfit, who defeated a woeful St George outfit 38-6 on Saturday night.

Melbourne's premiership defence has been thrown into chaos as they now have to travel up to Brisbane in front of 50,000 screaming fans in what will be a titanic clash. The Broncos will be favourites for the clash and they are peaking nicely for the weeks ahead. The winner will play the Sharks, who have all the sudden discovered how to score tries.

The NRL now don't have a scheduling headache with week three of the finals looming as a nightmare as no major venues in Melbourne were available due to other events. It's likely the Sharks semi final on the Friday night will be at the SFS and the Manly semi final on the Saturday night will be at ANZ Stadium.

The game next week featuring the Warriors and Roosters will kick off at 8:40pm local NZ time with the game beginning at 6:40pm in NSW and Queensland. It's unsure whether Channel Nine will televise the game live, but with the poor ratings of A Current Affair this year, the Nine network would be best advised to pit the NRL up against Today Tonight and Home & Away.

Early tips at this stage would be the Roosters and Broncos. The Roosters kicking game will be too much for Vatuvai and the Broncos will have the mental edge over the Storm, who will now be having self doubts after becoming the first side to lose a 1 v 8 finals match.

Thu September 11, 2008
• Storm Qualifying Final v Warriors Game Notes
  
Tue September 9, 2008
• 'A Footy Fanatic's Guide to Week 1 of the Finals'
  
Tue September 9, 2008
• Storm team for Qualifying final v Warriors
  
Tue September 9, 2008
• Warriors name an unchanged line-up
  

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