Storm halfback Cooper Cronk believes there is no ceiling to what the club can achieve ahead of Saturday night’s preliminary final against the North Queensland Cowboys at AAMI Park.
Speaking at a media gathering earlier today, the accomplished Storm veteran noted the importance of his side’s recent good form, praising the team’s consistency in the closing stages of the season.
“Our best football is super competitive and sometimes it matches it with the best teams, then other times we’ve lost games that we probably shouldn’t have.
“But the one thing I take confidence in is that our last four weeks or five weeks has been ultra-consistent and at a really high level.
“There’s no ceiling on what this team can achieve, let’s see how we go on Saturday night against probably the form team of the competition.”
The 31 year-old Cronk, who has played 21 games for Melbourne this season, was also quick to acknowledge the role of Craig Bellamy and his coaching staff, who have worked frenetically during this busy time of the year.
“I think our coaching staff have done a tremendous job,” noted Cronk.
“Craig and his assistants have really stuck to their philosophy and ramped it home in the players heads in terms of what they want to get (from us) in terms of performances.
With the Cowboys coming off a comprehensive 39-0 win over the Cronulla Sharks last week, Cronk admitted that his side will need to be at their best to replicate their win over North Queensland in Round 25.
“They’ll have a game plan to neglect our strengths and we’ll have a game plan to try and contain them as well,” he continued.
“Whichever team goes out and executes their game plan the best I dare say will win the football game.
Having secured home field advantage, Cronk admits that the final piece of the puzzle is down to the players, who will need to execute in front of an electric crowd at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
“We have our destiny in our own hands and we’re going to go out and play what will hopefully be a sold out crowd.
“This is a really good opportunity for Melbourne Storm to be on the front page and the back page and hopefully come away with a really good victory.”
The views expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club.
