'11 | R24 | Fri | Storm 8-6 Dragons | AAMI

[franklin2323]

This is the worst I have ever seen Slater play. The Storm attack was very scratchy with no Cronk

 

[Gmac]

DO SOMETHING!! a chip spread it early in the count just do something!

 

[carlosthedwarf]

ridiculous

 

[user_nat]

Dragons might have more luck if they passed the ball backwards.

 

[Alan Johnson]

Cooper's hands back to their best.

 

[ironhorse]

The dragons cant do the left side thing without the forward pass , thats how they must train it .

 

[innsaneink]

Storm are very lucky imo.
Dragons can take a hell of a lot out of tonite...they lost it rather than melb win
Drags had a dig...efforts there, execution wasnt

 

[jason taylor]

Dragons lose again.

 

[adamkungl]

Did the Dragqueens win i missed it...

 

[stormbati]

I thought it was high quality game even with all the errors and Beau Champion.

Storm really missed Cronk in the opposition 20. Slater had to play Cronk's role most the time.
Widdop was probably the most dagerous player on the field and Cameron Smith is just an amazing player.

Cronk's absence was also felt in defense. Cooper troubled Champion all night and Cronk would've shut the pass down before it got to Cooper.

Thankfully we caught on to what the Dragons were doing (side to side) and pretty much shut their attack down.

 

[Spot On]

Closer than it should have been courtesy of the forward pass for Stanley's try. Niether side had much in attack. Melbourne because didn't have a half and St George because they don't have a half.

 

[thommo4pm]

Super effort by our boys. To lose by a penalty goal down there, and do all that defensive work on our line in the 2nd half was very pleasing.
Good to see the effort was back again last night, shame it's been missing for the past month though.

 

[Daddycool]

The Storm really missed Cronk and his organisation, plus Champion was doing his best to lose it for them on his own. The Dragons defended a bit better but kept going left and kept dropping it. The other reason the score was close was the 6 gift points off an obvious forward pass...

For all the talk about the Dragons regaining their mojo with a win against the Storm in Melbourne, the result was as most people expected all along... another loss for the Dragons. 5 in a row.... ouch.

 

[kia ora storm]

A good tough game IMO...the forward battle was great. Weyman finally decided to turn up and gave the Dragons some go forward.

There seemed to be a lot of slowing down in the tackles from both sides which was not pinged by the ref.

Smith, Widdop and Quinn were the best for Storm and I agree with some of the previous comments here that once Storm closed down the flanks the Dragons had no attacking options in the middle of the park and this won them the game.

Soward's positional play is poor, he also hardly takes the line on and there is no dimension IMO...he just spins it wide and hopes for the best. Nightingale is a great player but never tries to beat his opponent on the outside and his predictable cut inside posed no threat for the Storm.

Nice to see the Dragons score off a forward pass to keep the game close as well.

No Maurice Blair, Cronk, Woolnough, O'Neill...not bad for a make shift side.

 

[ironhorse]

Score definately flattered the dragons , they made alot of errors and silly plays ,and got alot of rub from Archer i thought. And agreed the ruck was a disgrace from both sides .

 

[Spanner in the works]

Melbourne are a completely different side without Cronk. It's apples and oranges.

 

[kia ora storm]

Melbourne are a completely different side without Cronk. It's apples and oranges.

No...it's sour grapes for the Dragons.

 

[Rodent]

Saints missing Gasnier and Morris then losing Goodwin early made the Dragon backline pretty ineffective. It would have been nice if Goodwin passed to Cooper.
As for the pass for Stanley's try, it looks forward because Boyd has his hands way out in front of his body and he got hammered backwards just after releasing the ball.
A flat pass delivered by a man on the move will always travel forward. It gets very frustrating that about 1% of the people watching and 0% of commentators studied physics in high school.

 

[mongoose]

Good game except neither team offered up much in attack. The Storm were a bit lost in the opposition 20 with no halfback and the Dragons were just lost full stop. That was the worst game Soward has played in 2 years, maybe in his whole career. He looked rattled the whole game.

Brisbane, Manly and Tigers would have beaten either teams tonight. Melboure atleast have an excuse though.

 

[Dragon]

Congrats Storm. Thought our guys played with good effort but they dont look happy at all. No talk on the field, something is wrong (or maybe its just me).

I dont think Melbourne got out of 1st gear and didn't need to. With Cronk there you would have done it a lot easier. Oh well maybe we will meet in the finals, until next time good luck!