Storm on a mission
Bellamy urges his troops to seize the day against dangerous Raiders
MELBOURNE Storm coach Craig Bellamy has implored his side to not waste tonight’s golden opportunity to win through to the NRL grand final for the first time since 2012.
Melbourne squandered their home preliminary final 12 months ago, bundled out of the finals by eventual premier North Queensland on a dirty night for Storm.
Tonight, the minor premiers get their chance to correct that outcome when they run into a dangerous Canberra Raiders side at AAMI Park.
“I think you’d probably look at it as a wasted opportunity (if we lost tonight),” Bellamy said.
“At the end of the day, we’ve done a whole heap of good things this year.
“To be minor premiers, we’ve taken a lot of steps forward this year from the past couple of years.
“I don’t think one game is going to change that but also you don’t get these opportunities too often and you want to make the most of them.”
As of last night, about 25,000 tickets had been sold for the blockbuster.
Melbourne have been forced to make one change from their qualifying final win, with forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona ruled out with an elbow injury.
An injury cloud remains over forward Dale Finucane (ankle), with a final decision to be made this morning.
Storm suffered a 22-8 loss to the Raiders in Canberra last month, the only meeting between the two sides this year. The start, tonight, looms as crucial.
Storm are arguably the best front-running side in the NRL, but a shaky opening could prove fatal against a Raiders outfit that likes to throw the ball around.
“I think in any game you want to have a good start, but (particularly) against Canberra you need to be on your game straight away,” Bellamy said.
“We found that out when we played them six weeks ago. They scored off the first set inside a minute, so that goes to show how dangerous a team they can be.”