Remorseful Chan back for Eels?
clash

Melbourne prop Alex Chan will return to the Storm side this Sunday to take on his former club Parramatta, after serving his second two-match suspension of the year.

Chan, who completed a two-week ban after pleading guilty to a high tackle charge back in Round 7, was with the Eels for three seasons prior to joining the Storm at the end of last year.

The 29-year-old's time with Parramatta was overshadowed by a horrendous run of injury that saw the front-rower break his right arm three times in two years.

Since making the move south he has stayed injury-free and has been a formidable addition to the Storm's pack, but has only managed four games after being suspended twice as the result of two high tackle charges.

Chan admits copping his second suspension in four matches was devastating but he has used the past fortnight to correct his flawed tackling technique.

"I'm just glad to be back from spending the past couple of weeks on the sidelines, it's been frustrating watching, especially with the results we've had in the last fortnight," Chan said.

"It's been tough having to watch and not being able to play, it felt like I used up more energy watching the game than playing the game itself.

"I've had to rethink a lot of things, I've had to reassess my tackling technique and I've been doing a lot of work with the coaching staff in the past two weeks to make sure I don't have any more problems.

"We've been doing some work and trying to get my technique a lot better so I don't get in the same situation as I've found myself twice already this year."

Chan says he hasn't been eyeing off the Parramatta showdown since the start of the year, but concedes Sunday's match will be crucial to the Storm's progress over the next few weeks.

"I tend not to look at the upcoming games on the schedule which frustrates my wife because she wants to know who we've got and where we are playing and I don't know until the week comes around," Chan added.

"I haven't been thinking too much about who it is we're playing until this week, I prefer to approach games that way so I'm not getting too far ahead of myself.

"The team knows that we're capable of playing a lot better than what we have lately and we've been letting ourselves down in those games that have slipped away from us."

As for his injury-plagued stint with the Eels, Chan prefers to dwell on the experience gained and the development of his own game.

"Everyone keeps thinking of the bad times but I tend to look at the last few years with Parramatta as a great learning curve and I picked up a lot at the club about my own game," Chan said.

"I'd rather think of all the good times I had there and, yeah, I had a few injuries there but that's football."

Storm coach Craig Bellamy has named a 19-man squad for Sunday's clash at Parramatta Stadium, including young outside back Jake Webster and utility Cooper Cronk, who made his NRL debut off the bench last week.

Back-rower Ryan Hoffman has been omitted from the side that lost by ten points to the Sharks at Olympic Park last Saturday night.

MELBOURNE STORM TEAM TO PLAY THE PARRAMATTA EELS, SUNDAY MAY 16, AT PARRAMATTA STADIUM (3PM):

1.Billy Slater 2.Matt Geyer 3.Steven Bell 4.Ben MacDougall 5.Dustin Cooper 6.Scott Hill 7.Matt Orford 8.Robbie Kearns 9.Cameron Smith 10.Alex Chan 11.David Kidwell 12.Stephen Kearney (c) 13.Dallas Johnson Bench 14. Danny Williams 15. Kirk Reynoldson 16. Glen Turner 17. Rodney Howe 18. Cooper Cronk 19. Jake Webster

IN: Alex Chan, Jake Webster OUT: Ryan Hoffman STORM TRAINING THIS WEEK:

Thursday: 9am & 3.30pm - Olympic Park Saturday: 9.30am - Olympic Park