Storm v Sharks preview

Melbourne Storm v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
AAMI Park - Saturday 7:30pm

The Melbourne Storm will be keen to put last week's close defeat behind them with a strong performance against the Cronulla Sharks.

The Storm left it a little too late in round 2, and couldn't get home over their bitter rivals the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale on Saturday Night. They did, however, manage to put on 3 tries in the final 20 minutes to show their class across the park.

The Storm have named an unchanged side, and will have talented Lock Forward Dale Finucane available to play after beating a dangerous contact charge at the judiciary on Wednesday night. The Storm will also be playing their first home game of 2015, so expect to see AAMI Stadium packed to the rafters, especially with the AFL season still a few weeks away.

Many believed the Cronulla Sharks troubles to have ended when coach Shane Flanagan was reinstated by the club in November of last year. However that hasn't been the case at all. The Sharks have been just as awful as last year (if that's even possible). First up was a lackluster and uninspired performance against the Canberra Raiders. This was followed up by an equally poor performance against Brisbane where the poor old Sharkies could only muster up 2 points courtesy of a Michael Gordon penalty goal. Both these games were at home and it will be interesting to see if the Sharks luck changes away from home. They will need a massive improvement to match it with the Storm who still have the "big three" firing, as well as some young and talented forwards.

The Sharks surprisingly will field the same team as last week, although Luke Lewis has been named on an extended bench to return from injury and you would think that the NSW and Australian representative will figure at some point on Saturday evening.

Last meeting: Round 23 2014 - Melbourne Storm 48 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 6

Who to watch: Cameron Smith. It's simple, Smith is the backbone of the Storm and the success that Melbourne have had over the years can be attributed to him and his partners in crime Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. This is a man who was supposed to be floored with an ankle injury until round 3 but somehow played against the Dragons! The man is a machine. He is the best hooker in the world and his class is there for all to see.

I expect him to be leading the way in Melbourne's attacking raids, but also and just as importantly leading the way for the Storm with his stout defence, he has made 40+ tackles in his first 2 games of the 2015 season. Smith's short kicking game when giving the opportunity is also very important to Melbourne's quest to score points. Expect to see him on his best on Saturday night.

For the Sharks most eyes will be on Ben Barba and his struggles with adjusting to the five eighth role - he is not who we are focusing on though.

The Sharks need reliable fullback Michael Gordon to be firing on all cylinders if they want to win in Melbourne. Gordon was known for being a tackle busting machine in his days with Penrith, however Sharks fans haven't seen much of it over the past two seasons. Gordon's running style and physicality is up there with some of the best players in the NRL and he is incredibly dangerous at full speed. Unfortunately we as fans haven't seen enough of it recently.

If Gordon can show some intent on his kick returns and find some holes then it could go a long way to the Sharks getting the 2 points. Sharkies fans will be hoping that he can wind back the clock as they need him at his best if the Sharks are to get their 2015 NRL season back on track.

The favourite: The Storm at home are too good to pass up, and will start as favourites in most markets.

My tip: Hard to go past the Storm at home, they will be switched on and will want to get back into the winners circle asap. With Slater, Cronk and Smith at their disposal this should be a comfortable win for the Storm. They have a lot of points in them and could cause a lot of problem's for the Sharks suspect left edge defence.

The Sharkies are having enough problems getting points on the board and Melbourne won't make it easy for this trend to change, they'll need a huge improvement from the performance they dished up against the Broncos last week. Storm by 14+

1. Billy Slater 2. Young Tonumaipea 3. Will Chambers 4. Kurt Mann 5. Marika Koroibete 6. Blake Green 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Cameron Smith 10. Jordan McLean 11. Kevin Proctor 12. Tohu Harris 13. Dale Finucane
14. Ryan Hinchcliffe 15. Tim Glasby 16. Dayne Weston 18. Tom Learoyd-Lahrs

1. Michael Gordon 2. Sosaia Feki 3. Gerard Beale 4. Ricky Leutele 5. Valentine Holmes 6. Ben Barba 7. Jeff Robson 8. Andrew Fifita 9. Michael Ennis 10. Sam Tagataese 11. Jayson Bukuya 12. Wade Graham 13. Paul Gallen
14. Matt Prior 15. Chris Heighington 16. Anthony Tupou 17. David Fifita 18. Luke Lewis 19. Tinirau Arona

Referees: Gavin Badger, Chris Sutton; Sideline Officials: Adam Reid, Clayton Sharpe; Video Referees: Steve Clark, Luke Phillips;

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