KEY POINTS:
The Melbourne Storm are studying footage of the brawl with the Dragons on Monday night and seeking legal advice in a bid to keep their star fullback on the field for the game against the Warriors at Mt Smart on Sunday.
Billy Slater was yesterday named in a
team with just one change from that which demolished St George and the club will decide today what plea to enter to the charge of contrary conduct that he faces after rushing in to join the melee.
He will be banned for two weeks regardless of whether he admits the charge or defends the case and is found guilty, so the Storm have nothing to lose in fighting at the judiciary.
Anthony Quinn returns to the left wing to replace Brett Anderson as the 2007 champions push on in an attempt to become the first side to win the minor premiership three times running. Five-eighth Greg Inglis suffered concussion in the Dragons game and prop Brett White had a hamstring problem but both are expected to play.
The Warriors yesterday named the side that beat the Bulldogs and Cowboys, no injury concerns. Nathan Fien, Micheal Luck, Simon Mannering, Sam Rapira and Evarn Tuimavave continue their run of playing in every match this season.
There will be some heat on the officials at Sunday's game after the Australian coach Ricky Stuart fired an allegation that the Storm had resurrected their grapple tackling technique now that the early season heat had gone out of the issue.
"The month or six-week period where the referees are jumping on top of it is over," Stuart told Sydney radio 2KY yesterday after watching the Storm-Dragons game. "Now they're [Melbourne] back into it again and it's coming into the most important stage of the season. There's a technique on how they attack the head and they're getting away with it again. I'm a big advocate of keeping away from the player's head."
The Storm and their coach Craig Bellamy have repeatedly denied that they train in wrestling techniques aimed at pinning the head and neck so as to slow the play-the-ball.
A fortnight ago Parramatta accused them of trying a new slow-down style, using a knee jammed hard down on the tackled player's calf so he can't get up. On Monday night, Dragons prop Jason Ryles was sent off after he kicked out at Storm prop Jeff Lima in what appeared to be retaliation after a tackle.
It was Lima who was fingered by the Eels as a prime offender in the calf jab.
The Warriors need to keep their focus on their own play and leave aside the issues in build-up and any rub with the referee during it.
The big improvement that has brought three consecutive wins seems to be in communication in defence, with far fewer of the gaping holes that allowed soft tries in some games being offered now.
What they have to watch on Sunday is the Storm's use of the kick to the wing for their big jumpers Inglis and Israel Folau, as well as Slater who has great timing to take the dropping ball at speed.
The Storm have strike-power everywhere. The easiest way to combat it is to be hard on their hooker and link-man Cameron Smith which is easier said than done.