Melbourne Storm v Sydney Roosters Preview: The Grand Final Rematch

The Storm and Roosters are producing the quality play most people expected in the first five rounds. In round six, rugby league fans are treated to a rematch of last year’s grand final and a showdown between the best two teams in the NRL.

FRIDAY 19 APRIL, 7:55PM, AAMI PARK

This week’s grand final rematch is clearly a must-watch. The Roosters dominated the Storm last year, winning the NRL Telstra Premiership, 21-6. Getting a win this time will be an even tougher task after the Storm lost Billy Slater this offseason to retirement.

Regardless, Melbourne will be excited to exact revenge on the Roosters. This year, five-eighth, Cameron Munster has taken a leap forward, leading the team as the primary playmaker.

Cameron Smith is still a mastermind at dummy-half, though he seems to be in cruise-control right now, happy to give Munster more playmaking responsibility.

Jahrome Hughes has filled Billy Slater’s shoes as well as you could expect: Hughes leads the league in kick return metres (437) and has proven a dynamic option in attack.

For the Roosters, they have also seen their five-eighth, Luke Keary, take over as the team’s go-to playmaker.

Cooper Cronk continues to manage the team, but with each passing game, Keary continues to take ownership of the team. 

Key Matchup:

As mentioned, both teams have origin-bound five-eighths, so the key matchup is between Cameron Munster and Luke Keary.

Expect both players to be heavily involved, but whoever makes the fewest mistakes will provide their team a great platform to win the possession and field position battles – both feature heavily in how the Storm and the Roosters like to win games.

The Munster-Keary matchup has broader implications too. Many are of the opinion that if Keary holds current form, he deserves the NSW Blues No.6 jumper for Origin Game 1.

A win for the Roosters spurred by a dominant Keary showing should almost guarantee a spot in the NSW starting 17.

For Munster, he is the incumbent QLD five-eighth. While he only needs to hold form to retain his origin spot, Michael Morgan and Daly Cherry-Evans are also in great form.

Coach Kevin Walters may be tempted to try Munster in a utility role to bring Morgan into the halves if Munster’s form fades. A Munster-led win in this game would guarantee he holds his spot in the halves.

How Each Team Can Win:

The Roosters are undeniably the best attacking team in the NRL. They lead the league in tries and points scored. They excel at turning field position into points – if they hang around the opponents half of the field for too long, expect tries to come.

Their attack is effective through the middle or on the outside. James Tedesco is always lurking for an offload or inside ball through the middle, while Keary is probably the best short-side playmaker in the NRL. They also have guys like Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu on the outside who can turn early ball into points in a hurry.  

The glaring weakness for the Rooster is the errors. They are error-prone, currently leading the league with 50 errors.

This is a product of chancing their hand in attack, and having extreme confidence to take risks. Melbourne may be able to exploit those errors if the Roosters have an especially bad day holding onto the ball.

The Storm are not quite the attacking team that the Roosters are (though they are still effective). But, for what they lack in attacking talent, they make up for with smart tactics and solid defence.

The core of Craig Bellamy’s game plan is to win the field position battle. Therefore, they kick often and early, as they lead the competition in total kicks (116) and are fourth in kick metres (2,982), while also starting their sets off right, sitting second in kick return metres (1,062).

The Storm are also terrific at breaking tackles and wracking up post contact metres: they lead the league in both those categories. In this regard, the Melbourne forward pack is underrated.

If the Roosters don’t finish off their tackles, Cameron Smith will carve them up through the middle. This is of particular importance with Roosters hooker, Jake Friend, out injured.

Team news:

The Storm are unchanged aside from the return of winger Suliasi Vunivalu. He enters the starting lineup for Sandor Earl.

The Roosters will welcome back Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to return from a rib injury. Zane Tetevano shifts to lock in place of Isaac Lui who drops out of the side with a broken finger.

Victor Radley must pass HIA after last week’s head clash, but looks very likely to play. He will start in hooker with Jake Friend still out with a shoulder injury.

Betting Insights:

• Melbourne has won each of its last four night matches against Sydney at AAMI Park.
• Each of Melbourne’s last seven matches have gone UNDER the total match points line.
• James Tedesco has scored at least one try in each of Sydney’s last three matches.
• Will Chambers has scored a try in each of Melbourne’s last two matches.
• Daniel Tupou has scored at least one try in seven of Sydney’s last nine matches.
• Josh Addo-Carr has been the first try-scorer in two of Melbourne’s last six Friday night matches at AAMI Park.

Tip:

The red-hot Roosters will prevail against a Melbourne side that’s had some mediocre form over the last two weeks. Roosters by 2.

How To Watch:

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