Glasby has the last laugh
NEVER again will anyone ask who Tim Glasby ( right) is.
The Melbourne prop capped off a stellar season on Sunday night by forming part of the Storm pack that shut down North Queensland wreckingball Jason Taumalolo and claimed the NRL title.
In the past 12 months Glasby has made his State of Origin debut, won a maiden NRL premiership and made his name as one of the best defensive players in Melbourne’s team.
Not bad for a bloke who was labelled “Tim Who” on the front page of Sydney newspapers when he was selected for Queensland in June.
“I think it’s funny. It is what it is, it was part of the Origin banter,” he said.
“Obviously it was in an Origin series it was a huge occasion for myself, and obviously with the Storm I want to win a premiership and play well with my mates. That’s why I work hard.” OF ALL the goals Melbourne have reached in 2017, this was by far the hardest one: Stopping the freight train that is Jason Taumalolo.
Much of the NRL’s grand final week centred on how the Storm were going to bring down the North Queensland star many have labelled the best forward in the game. His historic statistics were sung bible and verse.
The 2016 Dally M winner averaged almost 200m a game during the regular season, which he somehow upped to almost 235 during their finals charge.
He needed only 54m to become just the second player ever to crack 5000 in a year.
Taumalolo reached the mark in Sunday’s grand final loss to the Storm, but managed just 101m in total as the Cowboys lock was put in a box by the Storm’s suffocating defence.
His previous lowest metre count this year was 120 against Parramatta in round five.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy admitted it would be impossible to stop the Kiwi juggernaut entirely, but revealed how they aimed to dent his overall.
“Obviously we defended well against him,” Bellamy said.
Taumalolo took over 18 runs a game to get close to a doublecentury through the year, meaning close to almost 12m a carry. Bellamy asked his players to limit him to 10m on Sunday and they did just that.