Loss not weighing on minds
MELBOURNE stars insist they have buried the scars of last season’s grand final heartbreak as the Storm come under mounting pressure to deliver another premiership.
The Storm are at unbackable odds to clinch the NRL trophy on Sunday night after winning the minor premiership by six competition points in one of the most dominant seasons in the code’s 109- year history.
To illustrate the gulf between the Storm and North Queensland during the regular season, the Cowboys finished a staggering seven wins adrift of Craig Bellamy’s minor premiers.
The Storm were 11 minutes away from glory last season when Sharks prop Andrew Fifita crashed over to plunge the dagger into Melbourne and break Cronulla’s 49- year title drought.
Storm centre Will Chambers, who scored the 64th- minute try in last year’s decider that placed Melbourne on the brink of victory, said the squad was mentally stronger for last year’s failure.
“To be honest, we put last year behind us before we started this season,” he said.
There is an added incentive for the Storm to prevail on Sunday night.
Melbourne was stripped of premierships in 2007 and 2009 in the wake of the club’s infamous salary- cap scandal, but for champion halfback Cooper Cronk, those titles still count in his eyes.
“To be honest, it is what it is, the club did the wrong thing, the sanctions were handed down, but I still have the DVDs at home that I will watch every and now and then if I forget about us winning those premierships,” he said.