We infiltrated the Storm camp this week to bring you all the latest news on Friday night’s clash with the Knights at AAMI Park.
The big news out of Melbourne this week is Ryley Jacks has been named in the number seven jersey as Brodie Croft is dropped from this week’s squad.
Storm football director Frank Ponissi has told the Age, Croft has handled the decision with class and expects he’ll push to be recalled in weeks to come.
“At this stage Brodie will be back in the Queensland Cup to get some confidence back in his game as well as working on the areas that the coaches have asked him to work on,” Ponissi said.
“He is a great young kid who has taken it all on board very professionally and we have no doubt he has the attitude to work his way back into the NRL.”
Tim Glasby has also returned to the bench after being a late addition to the roster last week, with Kenny Bromwich back in the starting side.
Whilst the Storm haven’t had an ideal start to the season, prop Tim Glasby is confident the consistent defensive performances by his side are a sign of good times ahead.
“Our defence has been really pleasing,” Glasby said on the Storm website.
“In the three games we’ve lost, we’ve had a total of four tries scored against us which is promising.
“If we can bring that effort in our defence and fix that completion rate, we will be putting ourselves in good stead.
“At least we can pinpoint a real spot to fix up and we can work on that, that is a real positive.”
Coach Craig Bellamy went on record in last week’s press conference stating he was underwhelmed by a lacklustre 64 per cent completion rate in their match-up against the Tigers in Auckland.
“It isn’t good enough,” he said.
Statistically the Melbourne Storm have a 75 per cent win rate at home, however this season rings to a different tune for Cameron Smith’s side.
On top of an uninspiring low completion rate, the Storm compiled 19 handling errors last week (and are leading the competition in handling errors this season) and gained no points from 43 tackle-breaks.
