Summary
Season 2018 has come to an end and after a brilliant and dominant display the Sydney Roosters are the premiers. Led by Keary on the back of a dominant pack of forwards, the Roosters were magnificent tonight and did what few have done before them, made the Storm look ordinary.
A punishing first-half of football set up the win and after three first half tries enabled the Roosters to take an 18-0 lead into the break, all looked lost for the Storm. The Storm got into the game in the second half a little more but apart from an intercept try to Addo-Carr the Roosters’ defence was impregnable.
And so Billy Slater finishes an incredible career on a low note but nothing could erase his contribution to the game. What a player. So too Cooper Cronk. Played the game with a busted scapular, it seems, and though he barely touched the ball he directed the Roosters like a great conductor.
Thanks for your eyes tonight, folks. See you next time.
Updated
As the Roosters come up on stage to accept their winners’ medals and hoist the Provan-Summons Trophy, here’s our man John Davidson’s match report:
It’s presentation time and, as expected, Luke Keary is announced the winner of the Clive Churchill Medal: “Let’s party, ay?” his closing remarks.
Cameron Smith, to boos, comes on stage to express is disappointment and praise the Roosters. “Some times you just have to take your hat off to the opposition.”
Updated
Jake Friend now sings the praises of Keary. “When he does get his head on he’s an angry little man, so I was excited for what he was going to do tonight and he didn’t disappoint.”
Cameron Smith now: “Not overly surprised with how the Roosters started but we just didn’t handle our start. The first 40 made it hard for us and they just did what they had to do in the second half.”
“We never thought Cronk was not going to play. He did well to hide tonight, switching positions.”
Will he be playing next year? “If I get a contract I will.”
As Cronk walks gingerly around commiserating with the Storm players, his former teammates of many years, Billy Slater gamely fronts up to the mic.
“It’s not how we planned on finishing,” he says. “That’s footy. They were better than us in the first half and got out to a big lead and we couldn’t pull them back. We tried out best.
“I’m really grateful for the career I’ve had and the friends I’ve made. Rugby has taught me selflessness, respect and I appreciate everything everyone has done for me.
“[On the first half] We didn’t help ourselves dropping ball. But the Roosters were too good. Their carries out of their end were too good. We couldn’t handle their big guys and it snowballed.”
What did he say to Cronk after the final siren?
“He’s one of my best mates. What a corageous effort. I told him how proud I was of him, of the performance he put in tonight.”
The Roosters are cock-a-hoop as the Storm players slump on the ground like so many overturned baskets of dirty laundry.
Boyd Cordner reveals that Cronk played with a broken scapular. Incredible if true.
Once again, no team since the Broncos back in 1992-93 has managed to go back to back. The Storm looked a real chance before kick-off but they were never in it.
The Roosters will be delighted. Prior to tonight, despite many very good seasons, they’d won just one premiership since 2002. For a club with a salary cap sombrero, as some said, that wasn’t good enough. So they paid big bucks for Cooper Cronk at the end of last year hoping that would help get them onto the dais. Though he barely touched the ball Cronk played a massive role tonight.
Luke Keary, however, was the star. And if he doesn’t win the Churchill Medal the fix is on.
FULL-TIME: Roosters 21-6
The Sydney Roosters are your 2018 Premiers!
80 min: In the shadows of the siren Friend runs back towards his own sideline eating up the seconds. He runs over the sideline as the siren sounds. At the same time Trent Robinson is sitting beside a busted and exhausted Cronk and the two are embracing.
Penalty goal! Roosters 21-6 Storm (Mitchell 79 min)
After the penalty for the Munster kick, Mitchell puts the icing on the cake.
Munster sin-binned again!
78 min: As Cronk drops to his haunches and is helped off the field, Munster drags his heels to the sin-bin for the second time this game. After tackling Manu he got up and kicked him in the head. It wasn’t with a lot of force but it was enough. He probably should have been sent off but being sin-binned with a few minutes to go is more or less the same thing.
77 min: Smith has made 53 tackles so far but he’s had little influence on this game, which is a very rare thing to say. To be honest, he’s looked tired, a little Roger ‘I’m getting too old for this shit’ Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon.
74 min: Brilliant defence by the Roosters, first on their left edge, then their right. Manu ends the Storm’s attack by driving Curtis Scott towards the sideline. His desperate attempt to toss the ball back inside goes forward. Addo-Carr picks it up and tries to score anyway but he’s muscles into touch by Waerea-Hargreaves and there’s a bit of argy-bargy between them.
72 min: Into the last eight minutes and the Storm must score now. This helps. Bromwich the beneficiary of a Roosters hand in the play the ball. The Storm attack the Roosters’ line. The Roosters give away another penalty to slow the play down. Sin bin? If not, why not? No, no sin bin. The Storm with another six inside the Roosters’ 10m.
Field goal! Roosters 19-6 Storm (Keary 70min)
As I said, no obstruction. The Roosters have one hand on the Provan-Summons Trophy.
69 min: Keary seemingly kicks a field goal but we’re reviewing to see if Slater was blocked from making the tackle by Radley. At first it appears as if Radley stuck out a leg to trip Slater but it looks more like Slater made the most of minimal contact to claim the penalty. Ronaldo would have been proud of that. No obstruction. That is the game.
67 min: Tedesco with another strong run from his own line as the Roosters look to get into Storm territory.
On the last Keary puts up a towering bomb which Vunivalu lost in the air due to being distracted by Mitchell coming through. As a result Vunivalu knocked it on and now the Roosters have a full set 20m out.
65 min: The Storm have been thrashed in this game yet are only 12 points down. They are still in it. Oh, this won’t help. Munster drops the ball in midfield.
The Roosters, who might start thinking about a drop goal, can’t make them pay.
Conversion! Roosters 18-6 Storm (Smith 64 min)
An easy one for Smith, just to the left of the left upright.
TRY! Roosters 18-4 Storm (Addo-Carr 63 min)
Well, well, well. The Storm finally get on the board and it comes from an intercept on the Storm’s 15m. The Roosters were deep in attack and Keary threw a loose pass knowing he had Manu and Ferguson outside him. It was a shocker of a ball and Addo-Carr raced 80m to score next to the posts.
Tupou chased gamely but no-one was going to catch the Fox.
Updated
61 min: Victor ‘Boo’ Radley cops a high shot as he falls into a tackle. Penalty to the Roosters on their own half. On their first tackle Munster strips Aubusson (in a manner of speaking), and he immediately finds Addo-Carr. The speed man sets off down the flank but Friend comes across in cover to drag him into touch. Lovely work.
58 min: Munster runs inside the Roosters’ 10m with two free men outside him. He dummies the pass and is about to stroll over when the trailing arm of the man he dummied, Manu, reaches out to strip the ball! Try bombed. The Storm have lifted gamely but time is running out for them.
57 min: Nice quick passing by the Roosters on the left which puts Tupou into some space and gets the crowd onto its feet. Tupou gets collared but that was pretty to watch.
55 min: Munster ‘scores’ under the posts but there appears to have been an obstruction in the build-up. Yep, Asofa-Solomona ran into Cronk which opened up a hole for Munster. Cronk would have had a hard time stopping Munster anyway but that was an easy decision for the refs.
Moments before, Cronk made a strong tackle on Finucane which looked to have smarted.
54 min: Manu fumbles the ball cleaning up a Munster kick and that’s six again to the Storm. Here’s their best chance of the game. They’re 10m out.
52 min: A nice kick in behind by Croft has Vunivalu on the sniff. The ball evades the big winger with an off-break leaving Tedesco to clean up. He tries to usher it over the dead-ball line but it touches his chest at the last. Drop out.
49 min: Manu tackles Slater inside the Storm’s man’s 20m and tries to rag-doll him over the touchline. Slater just stays in the field of play. His final game of NRL is looking more of a Grimms’ fairytale at the moment.
On the last the Storm kick it dead. They can’t do anything right. But they do at least repel the Roosters on their next set.
47 min: Munster does well to rise above Manu to take a bomb on his own line. Four tackles in and the Storm are still inside their own 20m.
After retrieving a Storm kick downfield Tedesco hits the line hard. What a player he’s been this year for the Roosters (and the NSW Blues). He’s been carving it up tonight.
43 min: Keary tries a kick for his wide men on the last but his grubber grubs straight to Munster, who’s back on after his extended rest. Munster really needs to get involved in this game but he needs his forwards to give him a platform first. The only platform they’ve given him to date is one on wobbly legs.
Matterson busts through for the Roosters in midfield and chews up 30m before Slater brings him down. The Roosters waste no time going right — lightning quick passes from Keary to Tedesco to Manu to Ferguson. The big winger puts his head down and runs through Munster to touch down in the corner but the linesman’s flag is up. Ferguson’s right foot touched the sideline just before he ‘scored’. No try.
The second half is underway!
41 min: The Roosters belt it deep and the Storm have 40m to resurrect themselves. And here’s an early penalty to the Storm for a crusher tackle on Bromwich. He looks a little ginger but he’s up now and okay.
Oh dear, on the Storm’s first hit up Finucane knocks on. That’s a killer.
Cronk has been compared to an under-8s coach by Darren Lockyer as he’s been on the field for his voice and direction but otherwise has been uninvolved in play. Cronk’s stats? 3 tackles, 2 kicks, 7 passes (none more than 2m I’d guess).
Keary has taken on a huge job and is excelling. Give him the Clive Churchill Medal now. Actually, don’t. Cricket’s a funny ol’ game. So is rugby league. I’m not yet prepared to say the game is over. One more Roosters try, however, and I’ll make the call. Just so you know.
Social media peeps sticking the boot into the Storm as you’d expect.
Several Storm players appear to have retired before the #NRLGF
— Ian (@Ian__P) September 30, 2018
Looks like the Storm have a half a dozen players with torn rotator cuffs. #NRLGF
— The J Dog (@Busterjdog) September 30, 2018
Half-time entertainment:
You may have seen during the week that the annual Dally M Awards were held. There was plenty of debate over the ‘worthiness’ of a couple of positional winners (Joey Leilua over Latrell Mitchell, Josh Jackson over Tyson Frizell and Billy Kikau, Luke Brooks over everyone else) but there were a couple of stand out moments.
In a genuinely moving moment (not something you ordinarily say about an awards event) Warriors fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck won the Player of the Year award and then watched, with palpable emotion, three of his club-mates perform for him an impromptu haka. Absolutely brilliant stuff:
Earlier in the evening it was announced that the Dally M awards were born in 1979 and not 1980 as most believed. Thing was, the 1979 winner, St George’s Steve ‘Slippery’ Morris, never received a medal or official recognition. So, in front of his sons, Brett and Josh, and the league community, Morris was finally presented with his medal.
Many of you may not remember Morris the Elder, but he was my favourite player when I was a child, and I was delighted to see him in the spotlight again.
Here’s ol’ Slip in his prime. Compared to today’s halves and wingers he’s built like Audrey Hepburn, but he was so fast out of the blocks his shot straight back, like the ears of a dog with its head out the window of speeding car.
Overheard at the footy: “They look like a bunch of dead lavender over there, don’t they?” — in reference to the Melbourne supporters. #NRLGF pic.twitter.com/H38Tq0EXz6
— Aimie Rigas (@AimieRigas) September 30, 2018
Half-time: Roosters 18-0 Storm
Now that’s a half-time score no-one surely predicted. The Roosters, even with Cronk doing very little, have been far too good. Based on what we’ve seen it’s hard to see the Storm getting back in this but perhaps a Bellamy halftime spray will lift them, after first dusting them like mist spat out by Niagara Falls. An early Storm try could change the momentum.
Updated
40 min: Keary, who has been playing his and Cronk’s role tonight, kicks deep from the halfway line. Again the Roosters swarm all over the Storm ball runners. The Storm have not been in this game AT ALL tonight. Seldom have they looked this impotent.
39 min: Mitchell misses from the right sideline. That’s his third (difficult) conversion miss. The Roosters’ lead looks imposing enough, but had he landed a couple of those misses the Roosters, you’d think, would be out of sight.
TRY! Roosters 18-0 Storm (Manu 38m)
And there it is! The Roosters run it down a short blindside and catch the Storm a man short. Quick hands by Tedesco puts Manu on Addo-Carr’s outside and he dives over in the right corner!
Updated
36 min: Another holding down penalty to the Roosters. They’re 30m out from the Storm line and in front but given the score they decide to run it and go for another try.
34 min: Here come the Roosters! Friend nearly wriggles through on the fifth, before Keary dinks a kick on the last only to see Stimson stick out an arm to deftly haul in the ball.
Smith almost gets the ball to sit up in the Roosters’ in-goal but it trickles over the dead-ball line giving the Chooks a 20m restart.
Penalty goal! Roosters 14-0 Storm (Mitchell 32m)
Now it’s a 14-point lead to the Chooks with the Storm a man down for the remainder of the half. A huge nine minutes coming up. If the Roosters get another it will be a long way back for Melbourne.
On the last Friend dinks one into the Storm in-goal and Addo-Carr has to send it dead with Keary breathing down his neck. Drop out to the Storm.
Storm's Munster sent to the sin-bin
31 min: Asofa-Solomona drops a pass cold as the Storm attack the Roosters’ line. Friend picks up the loose ball and runs 40m before Addo-Carr rounds him up. Munster joins the tackle and holds Friend down. A professional foul without doubt and he’s off to the sin bin. Mitchell will kick for two from 20m out, right in front.
Updated
27 min: The Storm end another set with a whimper. Croft to Chambers on the last and he slips into a tackle. Handover. The Roosters then earn a penalty for a Storm high shot.
Cronk watch: He’s just following the play like a pilot fish accompanying a shark. Every now and then he hands off a two-metre pass but he’s barely involved in a hands-on manner.
26 min: Keary bombs from the Storm 40m but Vunivalu has time to compose himself before taking the catch. Two tackles later the Storm get another welcome penalty when Curtis Scott, I think it is, is lifted above the horizontal in the tackle.
25 min: The Storm punch it up the middle and eat up some metres. On the last Croft passes a little behind Chambers inside the Roosters’ 10m and it’s enough to allow Mitchell a clear shot at him. Mitchell’s all over Chambers like a hot flannel and drives him over the sideline.
23 min: Slater slips to the ground on the second to avoid a shepherd with Bromwich. The Roosters’ defence holds. On the last Croft grubbers in behind the line and Mitchell takes no chances, helping it over the deadball line. Drop out.
21 min: Kaufusi spills the ball again and it’s the Roosters on the attack. Mitchell kicks inside on the last but Munster, running backwards, take the catch and sets Addo-Carr free.
Gould has made the observation that Cronk, who is barely involved in play, is coaching, more than playing.
Penalty to the Storm. A set from the Roosters’ 20m line. Can they hit back?
19 min: We’re reviewing a possible try to the Roosters but it’s never a try. Taukeiaho was all set to barrel through Slater and score but Slater did remarkably well to strip the ball as the Rooster fell over the line. In the build up, Ferguson had a foot on the line when he batted the ball back infield. No try.
18 min: The Roosters have had about 70% possession. I can’t recall the Storm starting a set inside the Roosters’ half. They better soon or this game could get away from them. Early days but I just thought about the Storm’s 40-0 grand final loss to Manly in 2008. Couldn’t happen again, could it?
TRY! Roosters 12-0 Storm (Mitchell 15 min)
Crickey! The Roosters are in again! After negotiating their own danger zone they rolled downfield all too easily. After again earning a repeat set they went left. This time Friend passed long to Keary who found Tedesco on the wrap. He dished to Mitchell who stepped inside Chambers to dive Superman-like over the line!
Mitchell just makes it with the conversion, kissing the left upright.
Updated
14 min: The Storm threaten to the left before kicking deep right and it’s only some deft passing by Mitchell and Tupou that sees them avoid being tackled over the sideline.
Updated
11 min: The Roosters are pounding the Storm like heavy artillery. The Storm barely crossed their own 20m in that set. After a kick downfield by the Storm the Roosters are already over the half on their second tackle.
On the last Keary chips to the left but Vunivalu leaps to take it without much trouble. He’s then driven into the ground by Friend. And that’s a penalty to the Storm, Friend’s tackle rather spear-like. Silly from Friend. The Storm were looking ragged and that’s a gift.
10 min: Mitchell misses the conversion from the left but the Roosters will be delighted with this bright start.
And here’s Keary bombing to Slater who is tackled 10m out from his own line.
TRY! Roosters 6-0 Storm (Tupou 8min)
The Roosters earn a repeat set when Kaufusi knocks on inside his own 20m. In a flash the Roosters shift left: Cronk to Keary who Sydney Harbours a pass waaaaay out left to Tupou. With Vunivalu too far infield the big winger has time to run in it inside the left corner post for the game’s first try!
Updated
7 min: The game is being played between both 20m lines with the Roosters just edging field position. And there it is, Cronk just passed to his right. Was it my imagination or did he look as stiff doing so as a Mummy from an old horror movie?
5 min: The Roosters are on their third set and I haven’t seen Cronk touch the ball yet. Keary again with the kick on the last. Slater carts it up and is met by an unwelcoming party of Tricolours.
Penalty goal! Roosters 2-0 Storm (Mitchell)
The gun centre makes no mistake. Can the Storm come back from here?
2 min: The Storm safely negotiate their first set and they boot it. Tupou, legs up to here, hits the line hard. A few tackles later the Storm lay all over the tackled player as if he was a beanbag. and that’s the first penalty of the game. Just to the left of the posts, 18m out. Mitchell to knock it over...
PEEEEEEEP!
1 min: Smith kicks off and the Roosters roll towards the half before, on the last, Keary clears the ball downfield.
Storm to kick off, running left to right on my screen. Here we go...
AC/DC’s Thunderstruck is echoing around the ground to signal the impending approach of the Storm players to the field.
And here they come! Wearing their Grimace-purple shorts with white jerseys.
Now it’s Roosters’ turn. And here’s Cooper Cronk, giving his left arm a wiggle to see if it’s still attached. He looks focussed, as he should considering this is his eighth grand final. Let’s hope his painkillers have been managed otherwise he may soon feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
We’ve just had the national anthem. Nearly there!
The scheduled kickoff time has come and gone, as predicted. But I don’t suppose anyone is annoyed. It happens every Origin, every NRL final. It’s like going to the movies when you see a screening time of 7.20pm but you know, because you’ve been around the block a few times, that’s when the ads start. The film starts 15 minutes later.
So how is everyone feeling tonight? The Storm would appear to be favourites tonight. If Cronk was 100% I think I’d be leaning towards the Roosters.
Oh, I mentioned earlier that Ryan Hoffman is playing tonight. Of course he was the Storm’s 18th man. He’ll be watching from the bench tonight. What a trouper he has been.
Fittler has interviewed both coaches and on the relax-o-meter I’d say Trent Robinson is ahead at the moment, but that’s no surprise. Craig Bellamy pops and whistles like a kettle on the boil during game time and it’s a joy to watch.
The Teams:
Roosters
1. James Tedesco
2. Daniel Tupou
3. Latrell Mitchell
4. Joseph Manu
5. Blake Ferguson
6. Luke Keary
23. Cooper Cronk
8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
9. Jake Friend (c)
10. Siosiua Taukeiaho
11. Boyd Cordner (c)
7. Mitchell Aubusson
13. Victor Radley
INTERCHANGE
12. Isaac Liu
14. Dylan Napa
15. Zane Tetevano
17. Ryan Matterson
Storm:
1. Billy Slater
2. Suliasi Vunivalu
3. William Chambers
4. Curtis Scott
5. Josh Addo-Carr
6. Cameron Munster
7. Brodie Croft
8. Jesse Bromwich
9. Cameron Smith ©
10. Tim Glasby
11. Felise Kaufusi
12. Joe Stimson
13. Dale Finucane
INTERCHANGE
14. Kenny Bromwich
15. Christian Welch
16. Brandon Smith
17. Nelson Asofa Solomona
Have to admit I know very little about Gang of Youths, so much so that earlier I typed Gangs of Youth. That said, I reckon they’re putting on a decent show. Loud, synthy, and the drummer is wearing an old Newcastle jersey.
You’ll never beat Chisel in 2015 but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
Already on Nine’s coverage there’s been a sonnet or two spoken for Billy Slater who is playing his final game today after a long and fruitful career; so fruitful, in fact, that many believe he’s the finest fullback to play the game in history. Phil Gould has just said Slater is the best fullback he’s seen.
Of course Slater is not the only one hanging up his boots. There are a host of others and it’s some roll-call of retirees—one headed, I’d argue, by Cowboy Johnathan Thurston, one of the jewels in the game’s crown.
Seven of these retirees, including Slater and Thurston, have played more than 300-games each. The others are Luke Lewis (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks), Simon Mannering (Warriors), Chris Heighington (Newcastle Knights), Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos) and the Storm’s Ryan Hoffman. Like Slater, Hoffman is playing today and he has the enviable opportunity to end his career on the highest of highs.
The other retirees are: Jonathan Wright (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles), Peter Wallace, Tim Browne (Penrith Panthers), Antonio Winterstein (North Queensland Cowboys), Beau Scott (Parramatta Eels), Jacob Lillyman (Newcastle Knights), Joseph Paulo (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks), Brenton Lawrence (Gold Coast Titans), Jason Nightingale (St George Illawarra), Frank-Paul Nuuausala (Sydney Roosters) and Jason Clark (South Sydney Rabbitohs).
Could it be too that another all-time great announces his retirement at the end of the game? Despite signing for 2019 Cameron Smith has floated the idea that he could in fact call it quits should the Storm win today. It would make perfect sense if he did. He has nothing left to prove.
On stage now are Gang of Youths, today’s sacrificial pre-game entertainers. It’s a poisoned chalice that very few performers survive drinking from. Good luck to them
Updated
Before we move on, a quick look at the other deciders played earlier today.
In the inaugural Women’s NRL GF—which capped off a short but extremely promising season in which the standard of football was superb—Brisbane 34 defeated Sydney Roosters 12.
Here’s Richard Parkin’s live-blog if you want to catch up on the action:
And in the Intrust Super Championship between Canterbury and Redcliffe, the Bulldogs ran out 42-18 winners.
Updated
He walks. Can he walk the talk? And will his arm stay attached to his body after the Storm’s big men run at him all night?
🧐#NRLGF #NRL pic.twitter.com/59bEj6hD9T
— NRL (@NRL) September 30, 2018
Preamble
Since the turn of the millennium, the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters have, between them, played in 13 grand finals (the Storm in seven, the Roosters six—quick mafs).
Surprisingly, however, in all those years they’ve never met in the decider. That ends tonight. At approximately 7.20pm (when it comes to meeting scheduled kickoff times the NRL seems to go by gut feel rather than use Fancy Dan clocks and the like) the two teams will meet at the Sydney Olympic Stadium to determine the winner of one of the closest NRL seasons in memory.
Remember, at the close of the regular season, just two competition points—one solitary game—separated teams one (Roosters) through to eight (Warriors). For all that, the Roosters and the Storm finished 1 & 2 with respective points differentials of 181 to 173. With both their rosters bristling with stand-out talent and genuine match-winners it’s no shock to see both have prevailed through the finals series to face off in tonight’s royal rumble.
It's bigger than a game...#NRLGF pic.twitter.com/X43pkGRHK5
— NRL (@NRL) September 29, 2018
The lead-up to the game has, you’ll recall, been dominated by a tale of two shoulders. One belonged to Storm fullback Billy Slater, the other to his former teammate, now Roosters half, Cooper Cronk.
Slater faced the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night to contest a grade-one shoulder charge leveled against him after the Storm’s preliminary final against the Sharks last weekend. Though it wasn’t at all the type of front-on, head-threatening shoulder charge that concerned the NRL when it outlawed the move a few years back (and, for that reason, it would have been tough for Slater to miss a grand final for such an innocuous tackle) it sure looked like a shoulder charge under the letter of the law. But in the best legal performance since Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, Slater’s legal team earned their money and then some by getting the custodian off, freeing him to play tonight. To say it was a divisive decision is say Lionel Messi is a good footballer.
In the Roosters’ preliminary final win over Souths, Cooper Cronk suffered a severe rotator cuff injury to his left shoulder, one that put his place in tonight’s match under extreme doubt.
BUT CRONK WILL START TONIGHT.
Some have suggested it’s not quite as bad as the Roosters have made out, that Cronk was always going to play even if it took a dozen painkilling injections and a whole roll of sticky tape to get him out there, but there’s no doubt Cronk will not be 100%. One big hit could end his night and severely dent the Roosters’ chances of winning.
Due to the cloud over Cronk, due to Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cameron Munster (and despite the talent of James Tedesco, Latrell Mitchell and Luke Keary), I’m tipping the Storm in a close one.
Let’s just hope it’s another pearler of a match in this wonderful NRL season.
KICK-OFF: 7.20pm (AEST)