THE breeze blowing through the gap left by a demolished grandstand at Melbourne Storm training yesterday was not icy, it was bracing. The Storm have no injury concerns, merely players making maximum use of alternative limbs. And captain Cam Smith was not shielded from the media, he was rested from daily promotional activities.
This, if it is not too much trouble for the vultures of the "northern media", is how the Storm would like their activities to be reported for the rest of the finals - with enough sugar-coating to kill diabetics in neighbouring suburbs. Particularly anything relating to grapple tackles (Woops! That should be legitimate blocking manoeuvre that may cause accidental head-high contact.)
Storm chief executive Brian Waldron said as much yesterday when he fumed (sorry - kindly pointed out) how the media had been dwelling on the apparently inconsequential matter of Smith's appointment with the NRL judiciary tonight instead of "the positives that came out of the game" against Brisbane.
"It borders on disgraceful journalism at times," fumed (make that "helpfully explained") Waldron. "We just can't concentrate on the great things that happen in our game. Sure, we need to protect players and we need to be conscious of the image of the game. But I think there are a lot of positives that can be commented on about last Saturday night's game rather than negatives. But it doesn't always happen."
And, if you did not know Waldron was a media-savvy and generally affable soul, you might have almost kept a straight face. You might have believed that, rather than report on a case that has major short-term (for the Storm's title defence) and long-term (for the seemingly endless grapple-tackle debate) ramifications, he truly thinks there are matters more worthy of attention in the lead-up to Friday night's game against Cronulla.
Like, um, whether Billy Slater or Israel Folau has the dreamiest eyes? Or if Greg Inglis is a champion or merely bloody good? The type of positive things the "northern media" wilfully ignores.
At it was, on a day when the Storm had to deal with the difficult task of remaining upbeat about Smith's chances of playing on Friday night, while at the same time making it very clear they were not attempting to influence the judiciary, the club needed a scapegoat. And, in a city where the game's official broadcaster screens your epic semi-final in a home shopping timeslot contributes heavily to the general ambivalence, they are not easy to find.
Much easier to put on the bovver boots and take aim at an old target - the pesky northern media. Something that, in the past, has deserved the odd kicking. Like when the luddites question the need to support a team in the nation's second largest city. Or when they talk about how boring it will be if the Storm make the grand final again - somehow forgetting this is easily the most talented and, on their day, exciting team in the competition.
However, even allowing for the reflex impulse of sporting clubs to circle the wagons when under duress, this hardly seemed the time to be shooting the messenger. Not when Waldron acknowledged in the next breath he had no complaints about the Smith case going to the judiciary or that the chances of having Smith's two-match ban overturned were no better than "the toss of a coin".
If the Storm want to play victim, they may be better served highlighting the extravagant attempts of their recent opponents to milk the grapple-tackle controversy for their own ends.
The way in which a group of Broncos stood with their hands in the air on Saturday night, like schoolboys begging to go to the bathroom, as play went on around them. Or how, the previous weekend, Warriors skipper Steve Price spent so much time getting in the referees ear he left the field covered in wax. The type of opportunism intended to create the impression the Storm have Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant and The Undertaker in their front row.
Those on-field demonstrations, more than anything in the media in the past fortnight, have put the Storm back at the centre of the grapple-tackle debate and, in turn, threatened to prejudice Smith's case - as much as it can be prejudiced given the presence of clear-cut video evidence. The Storm can only hope the judiciary view that video as positively as they would like us to view everything else.
