In 2016 GF. Cam Smith made 65 tackles. Hughes is a makeshift half. Munster busted so the plan is belt them there and the ball doesn't get out wide for the speed.
I guess we see how it works but given the weather then seems like decent tactics
If your inside info is right (I'm not questioning you, but insiders have been know to be wrong before), then it restores my faith in Cleary.
In my view, the thing he did wrong last week wasn't dropping Naden (May's try and try assist justify the decision), it was keeping Naden on the bench. In what universe was he ever going to get a run? That could have cost us dearly because when we were fatigued, South's started to find gaps in our defence. I get why he did it. He had the balls to put him on the bench, but he just couldn't bring himself to leave him out. Naden's reaction to his dropping was so good, he is clearly a likeable bloke. It was a sentimental decision on Cleary's part and one that has no place in implementing a strategy to win.
Olam is a big, strong geezer and May is equipped to handle him. Olam will try and run through May and find that May might not be Nigel Plum, but his defence is good enough.
Leniu coming on and running up the middle just continues what has worked best for us this year. There is a reason we made the most run metres of any team this year and its because our forwards, ably assisted by our two tractors on the wing, Mansour and Too, are fearsome rolling up the centre. You think "thank God Leota is off, I'm knackered" and then out comes Leniu running like a centre and smashing you in defence as well. It must be exhausting being on the end of the JFH, Tamou, Leota, Tetavano, Leniu rat a ta tat.
Last week, for reasons only known to Cleary, he thought we should try something different and have a bench with a spectator and a jockey filling two slots (don't get me wrong, I love Kenny, but his inclusion meant we had no grunt to come off the bench after the props rotated out).
With Capewell now on the bench, you have the perfect replacement for Kikau when he is tired. Spray his hands with chalk and tell him "repeat after me 100 times, I will not drop the ball".
Then it comes down to errors. Don't give easy ball to the Storm and they will be labouring to get out of their own end, just like South's were until we ran out of gas. Only this time our bench has
four players, not three and three of the four are bruisers.
If we make few errors and kick for the corners, the Storm won't be able to unleash their undoubted speed. They'll be too busy trying just to get out of their own half and wishing Leniu wasn't so friggin strong.
