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NRL Premiership - Round 16 - Melbourne Storm V Wests Tigers - 26 June 2016 - AAMI Park, Melbourne, Vic - Ian Knight

Melbourne Storm v Sydney Roosters
Saturday July 23, 7.30pm
AAMI Park

Storm will be looking to continue their three-game winning streak when they take on the Roosters on Saturday night.
It will be the Club’s first game at AAMI Park in four weeks and there will be plenty of purple pride to cheer on the boys.
The game presents the chance to maintain Melbourne’s three-game buffer inside the NRL’s top two.
In order to do so Melbourne know they must put in a much improved performance than they showed against the Knights, narrowly escaping from Newcastle with a 20-16 win.
They take on the Roosters who will be coming off a five day break and will still be reeling from the Round 14 clash between these two teams that results in Sydney’s biggest loss of the season.
The 46-0 Storm win started a five-game losing run for Sydney but they have been horribly unlucky in that time.
Defeats to the Warriors, Bulldogs and Eels all came by four points or less while they were gallant and very well should have taken the points against the Sharks on Monday night.
Both teams are unchanged heading into Saturday night’s game and regardless of ladder position, a fierce contest is guaranteed when these two sides meet.

Be at AAMI Park when we take on the Roosters, Saturday 23 July, 7:30pm.

Milestone: Jesse Bromwich 150 NRL games
 

Key Matchups:

Cameron Munster v Latrell Mitchell
One thing is for sure, both of these young guns are extremely tough to tackle. Munster and Mitchell have 147 tackle busts between them this season to both sit inside the NRL’s top 10. Munster was impressive once again in his return to the side after a three game absence through injury. Mitchell leads the Roosters in tries scored (11) and line breaks. Expect plenty of highlights to come from these two excitement machines.

Felise Kaufusi v Dylan Napa
While Jesse Bromwich and Jared Warea-Hargreaves will add another chapter to their epic rivalry, these two young props will be equally important up the middle. Kaufusi is riding high on confidence after his call up to the Origin side and will make his first start in the front row for the season. The 24-year-old also had over 100 metres in just over 40 minutes of playing time in Newcastle last week. His opposite number Napa leads the Roosters for total metres and will be a key difference from that Round 14 game, which he missed through suspension.

History: Played: 31; Storm 17, Roosters 14 – Melbourne have won the last two against the Roosters but the past six games have been split at 3-apiece.

What we’ve said:

“They’ve got a current State of Origin player on the bench (Aiden Guerra) and Sam Moa is a current Kiwi player on the bench as well. They are a strong team, they played pretty strongly for a fair part of the game on Monday night” – Craig Bellamy

“We are always proud of those guys who come through our system and go on to play big milestone games. Jesse has reached 150 and still got plenty ahead of him” – Craig Bellamy

“When someone celebrates a milestone we want to make sure they have good memories of the day. We will be doing everything we can to get the win” – Blake Green
 

What they’ve said:

"We love playing against the best teams because it brings out the best in you as a player. There's a reason why these teams are at the top, and it means we have to bring our best to match it with them" – Sam Moa 
 

Match Officials: Referee - Gavin Badger; Assistant - Adam Devcich; Touch Judges - Rohan Best & Shane Rehm; Review Officials - Ben Galea & Jason Robinson; Senior Review Official - Bernard Sutton.
 

Broadcast: TV – Fox Sports 1, Radio – ABC & 2GB, Online – NRL Digital Pass.
 

Squads:

Melbourne Storm

Sydney Roosters

1. Cameron Munster

1. Latrell Mitchell

2. Suliasi Vunivalu

2. Daniel Tupou

3. William Chambers

3. Dale Copley

4. Cheyse Blair

4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall

5. Marika KoroIbete

5. Blake Ferguson

6. Blake Green

6. Connor Watson

7. Cooper Cronk

7. Mitchell Pearce

8. Jesse Bromwich

8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves

9. Cameron Smith ©

9. Jake Friend (c)

10. Felise Kaufusi

10. Dylan Napa

11. Kevin Proctor

11. Boyd Cordner

12. Tohu Harris

12. Mitchell Aubusson

13. Dale Finucane

13. Sio Siua Taukeiaho

 

 

Interchange

Interchange

14. Kenny Bromwich

14. Sam Moa

15. Christian Welch

15. Isaac Liu

16. Matt White

16. Aidan Guerra

17. Young Tonumaipea

17. Ryan Matterson

 

18. Kane Evans

Acknowledgement of Country

Melbourne Storm respect and honour the Traditional Custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the lands we meet, gather and play on.