NRL: Grab the chance, Luck urges

Micheal Luck is not afraid of the big tackles and often looks the worse for wear. Photo / Getty Images

No one bleeds more for the Warriors' cause than Micheal Luck.

So when the man whose face is so frequently transformed into an open wound by the knees and elbows of the opponents he tackles implores his younger teammates to make the most of tonight's grand final qualifier against the Storm, you'd expect they'd listen.

"This is as close as I have been," said Luck, who is a game away from the grand final for just the second time in an 11-year career.

The other time was in 2008, when the eighth-ranked Warriors pulled off a shock win over the minor premier Storm in Melbourne and then beat the Roosters before falling to Manly in the grand final qualifier.

Luck's message to his teammates is to seize the day, because it might be a while until the next one comes around.

"It's a preliminary final," he said. "We are one win away from going to the big show.

"It is not every year you get an opportunity with a squad as healthy as we are now and as talented as we are.

"There are plenty of years where you think you have a good side but, for whatever reason, injuries and suspensions take their toll ... This is a huge opportunity for us."

Luck has been around long enough to tread the fine line between optimism and overconfidence. Happy to sing his teammates' praises, he thinks long and hard when asked whether the Warriors' best performance will be good enough to trump a Storm side also operating at its peak.

"If both sides play as well as they can it will be a good game," he eventually offers.

Whether he is avoiding a bold statement for fear of provoking fate or dodging a potentially damaging admission that the Warriors might not be up to it isn't entirely clear, although the smart money would be on the former. Luck is not the sort of player to lack belief.

"If we focus on what we do well and play the style of footy I know we are capable of then we are a big chance [tonight]," he said. "If we don't, we'll get beaten.

"They are the best side in the comp and they have been for some time. They know their systems and what they do well they do well every week."

Luck also pooh-poohed the notion the Storm aren't quite the force they were prior to the exposure of their salary cap cheating.

"Just because you lose a few players, you don't lose your structure and you don't lose your attitude," he said. "Everyone focuses on their superstars but they have got a lot of other guys who are hard players.

"The times when we've gone over there and beaten them is because we have played very, very well. And there have been times when we haven't and they have trounced us.

"Their best performance and worst performance aren't too far apart. They will play well [tonight], we know that. We have to play well as well or we will be in for a long night.

"But we are talented and we are healthy. We have the right attitude and the structures and a gameplan that has worked for us and got results.

"If we all play to our ability and back each other up, I am confident of giving it a good shake."

Storm v Warriors
Melbourne, 9.45 tonight

Billy Slater
Matt Duffie
Dane Nielsen
Beau Champion
Anthony Quinn
Gareth Widdop
Cooper Cronk
Jesse Bromwich
Cameron Smith (c)
Bryan Norrie
Kevin Proctor
Sika Manu
Todd Lowrie

Storm: Ryan Hinchcliffe, Rory Kostjasyn, Adam Woolnough, Jaiman Lowe.

Kevin Locke
Bill Tupou
Lewis Brown
Krisnan Inu
Manu Vatuvei
James Maloney
Shaun Johnson
Sam Rapira
Aaron Heremaia
Jacob Lillyman
Feleti Mateo
S. Mannering (c)
Micheal Luck

Warriors: Lance Hohaia, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino, Elijah Taylor, Steve Rapira.