S27E17 Preview – Algal blooms
Shutting down your greed for green
Been a little occupied with other things this week, so my need for reminiscence was initially sated by this excellent oral history at The Ringer of the classic 2004 Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller film Dodgeball. Have a read at your leisure as it’s a long, but great read.
What else was interesting to see in the past few weeks has been the dredging up by various parties of some on-field incidents involving Billy Slater.
He had some interesting times did Billy throughout his Storm career. What has always stuck with me was when Craig Bellamy said the following way back in August 2003:
I said to Billy in the dressing rooms before, I think his twin brother Bobby has been playing with us the last four weeks, but I think Billy was back with us today.
I think Billy was a little bit in denial the past couple of weeks. He thought he was going okay, and he was, but he wasn't playing up to his levels of early in the season or what he is really capable of.
I sat down with him earlier in the week and showed him where I thought he was going wrong, and the penny dropped that he hadn't been playing as well as he could. He made a real effort to bounce back today.
Bobby would pop up every now and then, most notably in 2006 when Slater had lengthy suspensions for a couple of incidents including a fight against the Dragons.1
But the main thing relevant to Melbourne Storm and the Canberra Raiders that has been popping up everywhere after Origin I this year was this incident from 2017:
S20E20 – Canberra Raiders vs Melbourne Storm
Watching the rest of the highlights of this match is an exercise in being irrationally mad at a match from the past. Canberra scored a couple of dodgy tries, Cameron Smith was injured, Melbourne had a try disallowed for reasons, the incident above where Billy Slater was knocked out which somehow didn’t lead to a send off for Sia Soliola, and Cameron Munster was put in the sin bin for the final minute for being Cameron Munster.
With the main incident from this match, you could say it was a different time. No player had been sent off for almost two seasons prior to this assault from Soliola, and no player had been sent off for a high tackle for four seasons. It wouldn’t be until 2021 that players were sent off for bad high tackles with Magic Round 2021 the flashpoint. But this was terrible from Soliola. The fact he only received five matches for it meant he was available for Canberra’s final match of the 2017 season against Melbourne where he was roundly jeered by the AAMI Park crowd.
This win though2 would prove to be the start of a ten match winning streak that stretched all the way to the end of the season and Melbourne’s fifth Grand Final victory.
Canberra – 14 (Sezer 15', 80', Cotric 65' tries; Croker 1/2 goals)
Melbourne – 20 (Finucane 4', 69', Chambers 46' tries; Smith 2/2, Munster 2/4 goals)
Stat attack
Melbourne have a pretty dismal record on 29 June, losing four of five previous matches all played away from home on this date. There have been losses at Manly (2002), Parramatta (2008), Wests Tigers (2013), and Canterbury (2015); with the only win coming in 2018 against the Roosters in Adelaide.
Melbourne’s win last season against Canberra ended a five match winning streak by the visitors at AAMI Park.
Canberra is the only visiting team to have a winning record at the venue. Their eight wins from 14 visitors is four more than any other opponent, with the Raiders averaging 17.43 points per game.
This AAMI Park record making up for the Raiders horrible record at Olympic Park, where they won just once from 12 visits to The Graveyard. Their only win in Victoria between 1998 and 2010 came in 2000.
Melbourne’s 68–4 thrashing of the Raiders in Canberra during the 2013 season remains the Raiders heaviest defeat, with the Green Machine only conceding one greater score in their premiership history.
Melbourne haven’t visited Canberra since the 2021 season when a halves combination of Chris Lewis and Cooper Johns led the Storm to a 34–10 victory.
Team line-up
Ryan PapenhuyzenWill Warbrick
Grant Anderson
Jack Howarth
Xavier Coates
Tyran Wishart
Jahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant©Josh King
Shawn Blore
Eliesa Katoa
Trent Loiero
Christian Welch
Bronson Garlick
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Joe Chan
Reimis SmithDean Ieremia
Alec MacDonald
Kane Bradley
Sualauvi Fa’alogo
Chris Lewis
Referee: Grant Atkins (Bunker: Ashley Klein)
Preview
Melbourne Storm vs Canberra Raiders
— AAMI Park, 7:35pm Saturday 29 June 2024
Nick Meaney was left off the team list after picking up a calf injury in the win against the Dolphins. That was the only shock when the team dropped on Tuesday afternoon, giving another opportunity to Jack Howarth to play out wide. Which side of the field he lines up will be interesting to watch, although there could be further changes pending if Xavier Coates can back up after Origin and if a shuffle occurs with Reimis Smith looking to get back into the team after his concussion against the Knights three weeks ago.
In the forwards, Bronson Garlick has been named on the bench, but could start in place of Harry Grant, while Alec MacDonald has been named as a reserve trying to get his spot back on the bench after an ankle injury.
There was also a rumour around this week that Ryan Papenhuyzen may have some kind of foot injury which is putting him in doubt for this match. Hopefully caution is the better part of valour here and if Paps needs a weekend off to watch North Melbourne again, then take it off and Sua Fa’alogo can deputise. Only issue is who is going to kick goals…
Update: Papenhuyzen and Grant are officially out, Fa’alogo is in at fullback with Garlick starting hooker. Kane Bradley moves on to the bench… unless there’s further changes. Smith and Lewis have been released from the squad.
For the Raiders, Tom Starling has been named at hooker replacing Zac Woolford, and they have a potential debutant in Jordan Martin. Albert Hopoate comes in for the injured Nick Cotric. There’s a bunch of other supposed first grade quality players missing through injury, but given they’re on a roster constructed by Ricky Stuart I can’t voucher for the accuracy of that. Their biggest missing piece is injured halfback Jamal Fogarty who hasn’t played since round 7.
The 2024 Raiders are in Struggletown. As Dan over at The Sportress puts it quite bluntly:
The last two weeks are one of the darkest periods in recent Raiders history. I’d put it alongside the hell of the opening of 2018 and the turmoil of 2021 as periods where things have felt hopeless. Not in the calamitous sense of the word. But in the yearning, the tearful, the desperate sense. The Canberra Raiders are in hell right now but it feels like there’s no way out.
Losing to the Wests Tigers will do that, but I’m not as sold on whether the Raiders are beyond salvation just yet, and we all know what they do when they come to AAMI Park. Their chances may come down to which version of Jordan Rapana shows up. The world-beater and previous Storm destroyer (usually on the wing), or the one that has brain explosions and costs his team dearly with errors and penalties.
Melbourne meanwhile need to do two things: bank another win during this part of the season and stop conceding more than 20 points. Should the defence be able to complete effective tackles this week, hopefully the Raiders will be restricted to less than 20 points and Melbourne’s reasonably potent attack will score more than enough points to get the win. Still, this game and the Tigers game next week does loudly scream it’s a trap. Hopefully this time ahead of the team’s final bye weekend for the season, the players are focused on the task in front of them to get the job done and there is no ambush.
I would love to see Melbourne put a score past the Raiders, but at the moment I’ll take a 24–6 win. Melbourne will again be wearing their 2024 Indigenous Jerseys first worn against Manly in round 12.
What else is going on?
The Jersey Flegg Cup squad will be the curtain raiser at AAMI Park on Saturday, facing off against the Bulldogs from 4:45pm. The Storm will be looking to back up from their win in Fiji on Saturday which lifted them to ninth on the ladder. It will be a tough ask though against the second-placed Bulldogs.
In the state cup competitions, the Bears are back in action against the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at North Sydney Oval (3pm kickoff). This is a battle between first and third in the NSW Cup, so it could be an interesting clash although it’s not listed to be streamed on NSWRL.tv. In Queensland, the Falcons travel down to play the Seagulls (Wynnum Manly subspecies) on Saturday afternoon (3pm kickoff). This is also a battle between top eight teams with the Falcons in sixth and the Seagulls flying high in third. The following day, the Tigers are back in action against the Magpies (2pm kickoff) with both teams in need of a win to get back in touch with the top eight.
Meanwhile in the Super Netball while the Storm are up against the Raiders, the Lightning will be up against the Mavericks at John Cain Arena. That scheduling makes total sense. The Lightning are currently fourth and play their three remaining matches on the road. A win this week against the fifth-placed newcomers could well secure a finals berth for the Sunny Coast after missing the finals for the past two seasons.
Apologies for the grainy footage and the Eye of the Tiger soundtrack on this one.
After a bye even!