Melbourne Storm v Newcastle Knights
Friday 2 June AAMI Park
Kick-off: 6pm
Head-to-Head: Storm 21, Knights 15
Return of J.Brom
Friday night will see Jesse Bromwich return to the Storm line up following his two week Club-imposed suspension. He has been named in the starting side and is full of motivation to earn back the respect of his teammates and the Melbourne Storm faithful. This game against the Knights is the start of his road to redemption and the purple army will be there supporting him the whole way.
Knights always up for it
There is something about playing against Storm that makes Newcastle go up a gear. No matter where they sit on the table, this match-up always seems to go down to the wire with five of their last six meetings decided by single digit margins. Melbourne have won the last two, both by four points, however before that the Knights had won three of four games against the men in purple.
We return to AAMI Park on June 2. Watch us take on the Knights!
Origin boys backing up
It is a challenge every year but Storm players pride themselves on backing up from Origin duty. They have a proven track record of doing so and this week Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Will Chambers are all faced with that challenge. Jordan McLean was named as a reserve for NSW so will be fully fit and ready for on Friday night. An extended 22-man squad has been named by Craig Bellamy, should he need to rest any of his Origin stars but at this stage all will be striving to put that purple jersey back on tonight.
Right edge focus
The stats suggest that Storm’s greatest strength could also be the Knights’ greatest weakness. Melbourne have scored 21 tries this season down the right side of the field. Couple that with that fact Newcastle has leaked their most tries down that same side (22 in total) and suddenly Storm has an area to exploit. An idea is one thing, implementing it is another but look for Will Chambers and Suliasi Vunivalu to have plenty of opportunity in attack.
Friday night footy is back!
A 6pm kick-off is perfect for those working in the city! Grab some mates together, take a short walk to AAMI Park and start your weekend off the right way. An added plus is that the game will be all over by 7.30pm so you can continue on afterwards and make a night of it on Swan St. Friday night footy at AAMI Park is a rare delight so do not miss out!
