Round 15
Melbourne Storm 28 d. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 6

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

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

Johnson suffers knee ligament damage
Mon June 25, 2007
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Melbourne Storm lock Dallas Johnson has sustained minor lateral ligament damage to his right knee from yesterday's Round 15 victory over the St George-Illawarra Dragons at Olympic Park.

Storm's Manager High Performance Unit Mary Toomey says the extent of the injury won't be known until later in the week.

"It will take several days to know whether the injury settles quickly enough to allow him to play Origin," said Toomey.

"The injury isn't as bad as first feared which is good news for Dallas and good news for Queensland."

News sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au


Storm celebrate birthday in style
Sun June 24, 2007
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

It was party time today at Olympic Park as the Melbourne Storm celebrated its 10th year in the NRL with a thumping 24-6 win over the St George-Illawarra Dragons. Suffice to say it was a perfect present for the 13,545 Storm fans in attendance.

The Storm had to do it the hard way after losing Israel Folau and Dallas Johnson to injuries in the first half, but eventually found their feet in a commanding performance.

"Certainly we got off to a rocky start, I mean that was the softest we've been defensively for I don't know how long," lamented Storm coach Craig Bellamy.

"But to their credit they fixed that up a little bit and got a bit more aggressive with their contact and we got ourselves back into the game."

Beau Scott scored early for the visitors, his strong run from 20 metres out catching Storm defenders flat-footed and providing the glimmer of an upset.

The opening exchanges also saw Folau leave the field with a thigh injury, forcing Ryan Hoffman to the centres, Anthony Quinn to the wing and giving Clint Newton an early opportunity in the second row from the bench. Folau was soon joined by Johnson, the tackling machine succumbing to a knee injury.

It was tough-going early on for Melbourne as they adjusted to the absence of Cooper Cronk who injured his ankle in the previous round's demolition of the Cowboys, and had to contend with a committed St George-Illawarra outfit who looked nothing like a team on the foot of the NRL ladder.

Of James Aubusson's performance replacing Cronk, Bellamy said: "I think as the game went on Aubo felt more comfortable and we started doing the things that we trained to do."

"I thought he had a very good second half."

In many games this year the combination of a Cronk kick and Folau leap has provided the Storm with points when their backs were against the wall. With both players off the field that option was not available, although James Aubusson and Quinn did their best to replicate it, Quinn just missing out on one occasion.

Thirty minutes into the match, Greg Inglis came excruciatingly close to putting Matt King over the line out wide, only for the ball to be batted out of his hands by Tom Hewitt. The ensuing set saw Cam Smith pass to King who powered onto the ball, scoring under the black dot.

Inglis had another chance in similar field position five minutes later and this time was successful in getting the pass away. Newton was the recipient, and the big man made no mistake in barging over the line. Cam Smith missed the conversion, but an earlier penalty goal still gave Melbourne a six point lead at the half-time break.

"I thought our last 10 minutes of the first half was pretty good, we got back into the game and we started to get into the patterns of play that we practiced all week," said Bellamy.

"We just wanted to play it simple with a new halfback there and I thought they did that pretty well.

"We didn't want to start the second half like we started the game and to their credit they didn't. I was really happy with our second half."

Inglis was in the action as the second half commenced, delivering a bullet-like pass to Matt Geyer who streaked for the line under intense defensive pressure before brilliantly offloading to Steve Turner. The fullback dived over the line untouched and the Storm began to stamp their authority on the encounter.

Hoffman was named in the Storm's Team of the Decade on Friday night, and midway through the second half he showed why. Packing the scrum at lock, he picked up the ball and ran hard for the line. Three defenders could not contain him and the score ballooned out to 20-6.

Another Team of the Decade member, Geyer nabbed his 101st career try, doing a superb job in grounding an Inglis pass in the western corner.

The final nail in the Dragons' coffin came when great lead-up work from Inglis and King found Turner with the try-line in sight, but work to do. The little fullback burrowed his way towards the corner, and it was up to the video judge to award the try with a benefit of the doubt ruling.

With Manly losing on Friday night, the Storm has once again taken the outright lead in the NRL Minor Premiership.

Next week's bye will provide a well-earned break for the team and ensure that State-of-Origin commitments and a mounting injury toll will not come into calculations.

The Storm will then play South Sydney in Gosford before returning to Olympic Park on Monday, July 16th to take on the Newcastle Knights.

STORM 24 (Tries: Turner 2, King, Newton, Hoffman, Geyer; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. DRAGONS 6 (Try: Scott; Goal: Soward).

Report sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Tue June 19, 2007
• Aubusson named at halfback in Cronk's absence for Dragons clash
  

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