Stormy Knight
A 48-10 demolition of the Newcastle Knights saw the new-look Melbourne Storm forward pack crush any fears of having one of the lightest and leanest packs in the league. The loss of bearded cult hero Kirk Reynoldson to the Knights, hard man Rodney Howe to retirement, and super sub Danny Williams and captain Stephen Kearney to the English league never looked to be a problem with youngsters Ryan Hoffman, Dallas Johnson and Cameron Smith stepping up to the task to complement the more experienced David Kidwell, Alex Chan, and new captain Robbie Kearns. New subs Dennis Scott and Brett White also made their marks in the game with White scoring on debut.
The standouts of the show however were predictably Storm halfback Matt Orford and speedy fullback Billy Slater. Orford scored two tries and won the highly publicized battle of the halfbacks with Andrew Johns, arguably the world's best player in the last five years, who just returned from a season ending injury, while Billy slater showed why he's the most exciting player in the competition by scoring a hattrick of tries. One of which is a copy of his State of Origin try from last year that saw his name propelled even further from being the 2003 rookie of the year to the glitter and glamor of one of rugby league's finest.
The return of Johns was meant to bring Newcastle back to the winners' circle but the loss of eight players before the season began made sure it was never going to happen this early. Johns' passes hardly hit the mark, his trademark kicking erratic and his troops never seemed to understood what he was thinking. Turnover after turnover saw their completion rate dwindle to under 50% and possession was hardly their virtue. The Storm on the other hand nearly scored on every possession, made very few errors, and at any time on the field, had three play makers that were ready to call the shots should one of them was preoccupied.
Newcastle's two tries were even scored by a former Storm winger, Dustin Cooper, who started the match on the bench and took to the field only in the second half following an injury to Newcastle right winger Craig Hall. Cooper was clearly their most dangerous player but somehow the coach thought he wasn't good enough to be in the starting lineup.
The humiliation is compounded by the loss of fullback Mark Hughes to a rib injury that will see him out for at least one game but tempered with the display Cooper who showed that his ability far outweighs his contact value by scoring two tries and nearly scoring another before the video referee gave him the red light. Hughes was earlier given a rest for 10 minutes after committing a professional foul trying to save a certain try but his time in the bin allowed the Storm to strike twice.
At the end of the match, the win and the scoreline took the Storm to the top of the table for the first time since round 15 1998 while Newcastle languished at the bottom.
The standouts of the show however were predictably Storm halfback Matt Orford and speedy fullback Billy Slater. Orford scored two tries and won the highly publicized battle of the halfbacks with Andrew Johns, arguably the world's best player in the last five years, who just returned from a season ending injury, while Billy slater showed why he's the most exciting player in the competition by scoring a hattrick of tries. One of which is a copy of his State of Origin try from last year that saw his name propelled even further from being the 2003 rookie of the year to the glitter and glamor of one of rugby league's finest.
The return of Johns was meant to bring Newcastle back to the winners' circle but the loss of eight players before the season began made sure it was never going to happen this early. Johns' passes hardly hit the mark, his trademark kicking erratic and his troops never seemed to understood what he was thinking. Turnover after turnover saw their completion rate dwindle to under 50% and possession was hardly their virtue. The Storm on the other hand nearly scored on every possession, made very few errors, and at any time on the field, had three play makers that were ready to call the shots should one of them was preoccupied.
Newcastle's two tries were even scored by a former Storm winger, Dustin Cooper, who started the match on the bench and took to the field only in the second half following an injury to Newcastle right winger Craig Hall. Cooper was clearly their most dangerous player but somehow the coach thought he wasn't good enough to be in the starting lineup.
The humiliation is compounded by the loss of fullback Mark Hughes to a rib injury that will see him out for at least one game but tempered with the display Cooper who showed that his ability far outweighs his contact value by scoring two tries and nearly scoring another before the video referee gave him the red light. Hughes was earlier given a rest for 10 minutes after committing a professional foul trying to save a certain try but his time in the bin allowed the Storm to strike twice.
At the end of the match, the win and the scoreline took the Storm to the top of the table for the first time since round 15 1998 while Newcastle languished at the bottom.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 5:05 AM.
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On Tuesday, March 15, 2005 4:48:00 PM,Definitely need to make that cue card. ^^;;
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=^^=
On Saturday, March 19, 2005 10:37:00 AM,
Wow, you really love your rugby...i had no idea you were such a big fan.
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