Round 10
St.George-Illawarra Dragons 36 d. Melbourne Storm 12

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

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

Steep learning curve for inexperienced Storm outfit
Sat May 17, 2008
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

They tried valiantly; they gave it everything they had. But unfortunately the young brigade sent out to do battle with the St George-Illawarra Dragons in the absence of Melbourne's Origin contingent went down 36-12 at ANZ Stadium.

In wet and slippery conditions, in front of a small, but vocal crowd, the six tries to one loss at least gave the Storm fans a look at the young guns coming through the ranks..

Aiden Tolman was terrific at lock forward, hitting the ball up 15 times while also making 28 tackles; while Kevin Proctor showed enough of the bench to suggest he will be putting pressure on Melbourne's star-studded backrow in the not-too-distant future.

However, it was the guile of Dragons five-eighth Jamie Soward, and the space afforded him by the young Storm outfit, that gave the home team most of the better field position.

The Storm opened the scoring with a penalty goal after seven minutes, but the Dragons returned the favour in the 14th minute with a penalty of their own.

Melbourne kept St George-Illawarra tryless for the opening 22 minutes, until a clever kick from Soward found Jason Nightingale all on his own out wide who scored the easiest of tries.

Two penalties in the space of five minutes gave the Dragons a 12-point lead, making Melbourne's task even more difficult than it needed to be.

The first penalty resulted in two points to Soward, before the second penalty, after a knock-on, gave St George-Illawarra great field position. Soward chip kicked on the first tackle, completely taking the Storm defence by surprise, with Brett Morris gathering five metres out to score.

Whatever was said by acting coach Michael Maguire during the half-time break had the desired effect.

Four minutes in and the Storm crossed for their first try. A simple play near the Dragons' try-line saw the ball through the hands of Matt Geyer, Russ Aitken and Steve Turner before Chambers took possession and crossed in the corner.

The Storm were definitely back in the game, but a four-minute spell not long after their opening try put paid to any revival.

After 53 minutes a knock-on by the Storm gave the Dragons possession 20 metres out. A simple move multi-pass move caught the Storm short on the right side and Josh Morris scored an easy try.

Then, Michael Lett was given a clear run 30 metres out after a simple build-up down the Storm's left, giving Turner no chance at fullback to halt the flying centre.

A spectacular try to Soward in the final 10 minutes, which was awarded by the video ref after he somehow managed to catch up with the ball in mid-air and get his fingers to the ball just as it hit the ground, blew the margin out to 26 points with the conversion.

And St George-Illawarra rubbed further salt into the wounds when Nightingale collected his second of the night, barging over in the left hand corner.

However, the Storm wasn't done with yet, scoring arguably the try of the night when they took the ball 70-metres up-field with seemingly everyone on the left hand side getting their hands on the ball on at least one occasion. Sika Manu was the lucky player who had the ball in his hands at the end of the play, and Turner converted to leave the Dragons 24-point winners.

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.

Report Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au


Storm Round 10 v Dragons Game Notes
Fri May 16, 2008
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Melbourne had to overcome a dogged Newcastle Knights outfit at Olympic Park, finally prevailing 18-4 after being held scoreless for nearly an hour. The win elevated the Storm to the top of the NRL ladder.

The Dragons suffered a nail-biting defeat against the Eels, finally going down 19-18 after Eels halfback Brett Finch kicked a field goal late in their game at ANZ Stadium.

WHO: Melbourne Storm v St George-Illawarra Dragons
WHAT: Round 10 of the 2008 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
WHEN: Saturday, May 17th @ 7:30pm
ON TV: Fox Sports 2 ? 9.30pm
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 never lost to St George-Illawarra in Sydney.
* Melbourne has defeated St George-Illawarra in their past seven meetings.

DID YOU KNOW?
Melbourne Storm's Matt Geyer may feel his age more than usual this Saturday night.

The average amount of NRL games played by the other 16 players in the team is 20.1, with an average age of 21.8.

Geyer has played 247 games and is 32!

Steve Turner 64 games, 23 years
Brett Anderson 2 games, 22 years
Will Chambers 13 games, 19 years
Sam Tagataese 15 games, 21 years
Dane Nielsen 1 game, 22 years
Russ Aitken 10 games, 22 years
Cooper Cronk 92 games, 24 years
Clifford Manua 8 games, 21 games
Antonio Kaufusi 58 games, 23 years
Jeremy Smith 47 games, 28 years
Sika Manu 8 games, 21 years
Aiden Tolman 1 game, 20 years
Liam Foran 0 games, 20 years
Kevin Proctor 0 games, 19 years
Scott Anderson 2 games, 22 years
Sinbad Kali 0 games, 21 years

AVERAGE
Games: 20.1 (Total: 321)
Years: 21.8

KEY MATCH UP
This week more than most Melbourne will be looking to play a very simple game up the middle third of the field. The likes of Antonio Kaufusi and Clifford Manua will be asked to do a lot of work in this area, and they are just the men to do it. They are both very big, and very strong, and they have that rare ability to push the defensive line back considerably, and regularly. Kaufusi has shown signs in the past few weeks he is heading back to the form that earned him a Queensland and Kangaroos jumper, while Manua showed enough in his games against the Roosters and the Broncos to suggest that he could be a real danger man for the Storm.

The Dragons' Jason Ryles can count himself unlucky he wasn't included in the NSW State-of-Origin squad, and will be determined to put in a barnstorming performance against the team coached by Bellamy. If he and his partner in crime Justin Poore can dominate up the middle, they will be well on their way to securing the two points.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 19, Storm: 14, Dragons: 4, Draw: 1
At ANZ Stadium: Played: 2, Storm: 2, Dragons: 0

FOR AND AGAINST 2008
Points for: Storm: 161, Dragons: 154
Points against: Storm: 87, Dragons: 150
Tries for: Storm: 28, Dragons: 26
Points differential: Storm: +74, Dragons: +4

LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm def. Knights 18-4 @ Olympic Park, Melbourne
Dragons def. by Eels 19-18 @ ANZ Stadium, Sydney

LAST EIGHT CLASHES
2007 Storm def. Dragons 28-6 @ Olympic Park
2007 Storm def. Dragons 24-10 @ OKI Jubilee Stadium
2006 Storm def. Dragons 24-10 @ ANZ Stadium
2006 Storm def. Dragons 34-24 @ OKI Jubilee Stadium
2006 Storm def. Dragons 24-10 @ Olympic Park
2005 Storm def. Dragons 24-16 @ Olympic Park
2005 Storm def. Dragons 46-12 @ WIN Stadium
2004 Dragons def. Storm 34-14 @ WIN Stadium

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

2008 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Slater 7, Folau 6, Quinn 5, Hoffman 2, Inglis 2, Johnson, Tagataese, Aitken, White, Chambers, Turner

2008 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 23, Turner

2008 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Cronk

2008 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C Smith 46, Slater 28, Folau 24, Quinn 20, Hoffman 8, Inglis 8, Turner 6, Johnson 4, Tagataese 4, Aitken 4, White 4, Chambers 4

MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Aidan Guerra (ankle): 2 weeks
Adam Blair (eye): Indefinite
Danny Vaughan (knee): season
Ben MacDougall (knee): season

THE STORM AHEAD
Round 11: Saturday, May 24th v Rabbitohs @ Bluetongue Stadium, 7:30pm
Round 12: Saturday, May 31st v Bulldogs @ Olympic Park, 5:30pm
Round 13: Monday, June 9th v Titans @ Skilled Park, 7:00pm
Round 14: BYE
Round 15: Saturday, June 21st v Cowboys @ Olympic Park, 7:30pm
Round 16: Sunday, June 29th v Eels @ Parramatta Stadium, 3:00pm
Round 17: Sunday, July 6th v Raiders @ Olympic Park, 2:00pm
Round 18: Monday, July 14th v Wests Tigers @ Campbelltown Sports Stadium

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

SQUAD FOR SATURDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Steve Turner
2. Brett Anderson
3. Will Chambers
4. Sam Tagataese
5. Dane Nielsen
6. Russ Aitken
7. Cooper Cronk (c)
8. Clifford Manua
9. Matt Geyer
10. Antonio Kaufusi
11. Jeremy Smith
12. Sika Manu
13. Aiden Tolman

Interchange:
14. Liam Foran, 15. Kevin Proctor, 16. Scott Anderson, 17. Sinbad Kali, 18. Lucas Miller.

Coach: Craig Bellamy

News Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Tue May 13, 2008
• Slater out as Storm names 18-man squad for Dragons clash
  

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