STORM v COWBOYS

Sunday, ANZ Stadium, 7.15pm

last week about the Cooper factor playing his last game at home for the Storm.

“This week we know it’s going to be his last game for the Storm.

“I think the emotional thing was more last week than this week. This week it’s about everyone.

“It’s not too often players get a chance to play in a grand final, so it’s about our whole team, about our whole club.

“It’s about where that emotional factor is.” SHORT-PRICED NRL premiership favourite Melbourne Storm is “overrated” and can be beaten by North Queensland in the grand final, according to premiership-winning coach Phil Gould.

“I haven’t been a fan of the way the Melbourne Storm have been playing in recent times,” Gould said on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast yesterday ahead of Sunday’s decider.

“I think they’ve sort of been overrated a little bit.”

The Storm finished six points clear of the Sydney Roosters as minor premiers and recorded huge wins over Brisbane (42-12), Manly (40-6) and Souths (64-4) in the second half of the season.

“I know they finished a long way in front in the premiership ladder, but if you look at their two finals games I think they were pretty fortunate in both,” the former NSW coach said.

While the Storm thumped the Broncos 30-0 in last Friday night’s preliminary final, Gould claimed Parramatta’s two-point loss to Melbourne in week one of the finals provided the blueprint for how the Cowboys could cause an upset on Sunday.

“Parramatta should have beaten them on that day,” the Penrith Panthers general manager of football said.

“You’ve got to be really physical, you’ve got to hold on to the ball, you’ve got to make sure they get it at their own end of the field and you’ve just got to be relentless on them.

“They’re the best team in the competition, but they’re not unbeatable.”

The Cowboys have been near perfect with their completion rates in upset wins over Cronulla, Parramatta and the Roosters to reach the grand final.

“If the scores are close, and they can keep it close for a long period of time and they can bang out 35 sets of six, it will go a long way towards winning the game,” Gould said.

“It might just be enough for the Melbourne Storm, who are raging hot favourites, to find a way to lose.”