Round 7 - Match Preview

Melbourne Storm v Wests Tigers
Sunday May 1, 4pm
Leichhardt Oval

Storm will be out to ensure history does not repeat itself when they face Wests Tigers this Sunday afternoon.
The circumstances are eerily similar to the Club’s last visit to Leichhardt Oval - Round 21, 2015 - when Wests Tigers ended their five game losing streak at Melbourne’s expense.
Heading into this Round 6 clash Wests Tigers are again in a dry spell, winless from four games, making them them a dangerous prospect for Craig Bellamy’s men.
Storm will be looking to make amends after Monday night’s defeat to the Bulldogs while Wests Tigers’ latest setback came at the hands of the Knights last week.
The dreaded injury cloud has also visited both clubs, leaving Storm without Will Chambers for the next 12-14 weeks while for the Tigers Aaron Woods has been ruled out for up to six weeks.
Melbourne are yet to name a replacement for their Origin and Australian centre while 24-year-old Ava Seumanufagai will replace Woods in the No.8.

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Key Match-ups:

Cameron Munster v James Tedesco
Despite his side’s wayward form, James Tedesco has set the competition alight in the opening six weeks. The 23-year-old leads the NRL in tries scored (eight) and line breaks (seven) while his five try assists caps off his full compliment of attacking prowess. Standing at the other end on Sunday will be an in-form Munster. The Storm No.1 had a game-high 217 metres against the Bulldogs and was again one of Storm’s best. Neither youngster is known to take a backwards step, ensuring there will be highlights a-plenty from both fullbacks on Sunday.

Cameron Smith v Robbie Farah
After missing the first three games of the season Farah has slowly worked his way back into Wests Tigers' line-up. This weekend he will face his old nemesis, the man who has held a monopoly over the Kangaroos No.9 jersey for the past decade. Smith and Farah have played out their rivalry at both club and Origin level for the best part of 13 years and with more than 550 games of NRL experience between them, both men will know every trick in the other’s book. This match-up at hooker will be one to keep a close eye on.
 

History: Played 26: Storm 16, Tigers 10 – Melbourne hold a narrow lead in the recent head-to-headwinning three of the past five but have won just two of their last seven games at Leichhardt Oval.
 

What we’ve said:

"(Wests Tigers) always seem to grow an extra leg when they play at Leichhardt. They are a tough team to play, they’ve got a lot of dangerous players attacking wise" - Tohu Harris

"Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous team. Without a shadow of a doubt they’ve probably got the most dangerous player in the game in James Tedesco" – Frank Ponissi
 

What they’ve said:

"Woodsy brings a lot of talk into the team environment so Tim Grant and I are going to have to put our hands up. I feel I already am a talker on the field but I probably will have to give more now that Woodsy is out" - Ava Seumanufagai

"JT [Jason Taylor] got up us a bit after the game for the way we played and he’s right. We’ve got a lot to work on, especially coming up against a quality side like the Storm. We can’t let them off the hook like we did many times against Newcastle" - James Tedesco

Match Officials: Referee – Ashley Klein; Assistant – Adam Gee; Touch Judges - Nick Beashel & Ricky Macfarlane; Review Officials – Jared Maxwell & Ben Galea; Senior Review Official – Bernard Sutton.

Broadcast: TV – 9GEM & Fox Sports 1, Radio – ABC Grandstand & Triple M, Online – NRL Digital Pass.
 

Squads: