OF COURSE HE'S THE BEST COZ STORM ONLY ACCEPTS THE BEST!!! And if they're not the best, we turn them into the best, i have to stop using best in every sentence haha but it's truuuuuuee!! Inglis voted game's best player Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Resident Melbourne Storm superstar Greg Inglis has today been crowned the best player in the NRL by his peers in Rugby League Week magazine's annual players' poll. At just 21-years-of-age, Inglis has become the youngest player to win the prestigious award in its 22-year history. A cross-section of 100 players from all NRL clubs voted anonymously, with Inglis polling 22 votes, beating last year's winner Johnathan Thurston who finished second with 19 votes. "It's a real honour to be voted by my peers as the best player in the game," said a delighted Inglis. "It's come as a bit of a shock because there are so many great players in the NRL - Cam Smith, Darren Lockyer, Thurston, the list goes on. There are so many brilliant players that it's quite a humbling experience to be voted the best. "But I know I've really only just started my career in the past few years and I've got a long way to go before I reach my full potential. I've just got to keep working hard on my game to become the best player I can be and help my teammates as much as I can." Since lighting up Suncorp Stadium with one of the most dominant performances in State-of-Origin history in Game II, Inglis has been unstoppable. He's scored eight tries in his past three club games, including hat-tricks against North Queensland in Round 15 and Wests Tigers in Round 18. Inglis was also voted the best centre in the game polling 45 votes, despite spending most of this season at five-eighth. Several other Storm players were also voted the best in their respective positions. Billy Slater was a clear winner of the NRL's best fullback award polling 66 votes; Folau was even more convincing, voted the best winger with 77 votes; Cam Smith the best hooker with 59 votes; and Craig Bellamy was voted best coach with 57 votes. For the rest of the results in the annual players' survey be sure to go and purchase a copy of Rugby League Week which goes on sale in newsagencies today.

Storm sensation reaches dizzying heights Wednesday, July 23, 2008 COULD Israel Folau really be afraid of heights? Surely not. This is, after all, the same teenage whiz-kid who has terrorised opponents by routinely defying gravity on his way to 30 tries in 41 games since making his debut for Melbourne Storm last year. For 18 months now, Folau, 19, has been unstoppable. But, at a team recovery session yesterday, a rock wall did what no opponent has been able to do - ground him. "That's right, mate, I'm scared of heights," Folau confirmed, as he peered up the indoor wall he was about to climb. There was no sign of that trepidation at Olympic Park on Monday night. Folau produced another stunning try, his ninth of the season, when he leaped off the back of St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hornby to open the scoring in the 26-0 thumping. Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy rated it his best effort since the gruelling State-of-Origin period when Folau, playing in his first interstate series for Queensland, scored four tries in three games for the Maroons. "After Origin, it's a bit of a let-down for him, and he had a wonderful series in the Origin. Mentally and physically he's probably been a little bit tired there. He was tremendous. I don't know how many carries he had," Bellamy said. "He must have had 14 or 15. He caused a fair bit of trouble most of the time. That first try he scored, to catch the ball and get over the line, that was quite remarkable really. We're very happy to have him back." Folau, however, refused to use the Origin drain as an excuse for a couple of flat performances. "Since coming back from Origin, I've definitely felt that my form hasn't been the best," he said. "I can't blame it on being flat or anything like that. I'm back to trying to play the best I can now." Folau confessed to getting "pretty excited" every time Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk puts up a cross-kick. "It worked out well last night and the rest of my game was pretty good, as well, I thought," Folau said. Second-placed Melbourne faces the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland on Sunday but may be without star fullback Billy Slater. Slater faces a two-week ban for his part in an all-in brawl during the win against the Dragons. WELL SLATER GOT OFF WITH ONLY THE 1 WEEK.. CANT BELIEVE ISSY IS AFRAID OF HEIGHTS. DID ANYONE SEE THE PICTURE IN THE PAPER OF HIM STANDING NEXT TO GREG..? I ALWAYS KNEW ISSY WAS A BIG BOY BUT DIDNT THINK HE WAS AS BIG AS INGLIS! HE'S MORE BUILT AS WELL SHEESH I'D HATE TO BE AN OPPOSITION SUPPORTER KNOWING YOUR TEAM WAS MOST LIKELY (ALMOST DEFINITELY) GOING TO LOSE IF THESE 2 WERE IN THE STORM SIDE FOR THAT WEEK. Provoked Slater cops one-game ban Thursday, July 24, 2008 MELBOURNE fullback Billy Slater last night successfully argued that his actions during an all-in brawl against St George Illawarra on Monday night were instigated by being headbutted three times by Dragons winger Jason Nightingale. Slater had a grade-two contrary conduct charge downgraded at the NRL judiciary, and will miss just one game, after claiming that Nightingale had headbutted him during the fight that resulted in three players being sin-binned. In explosive -*test*-('")imony, Slater told the hearing Nightingale had struck him with his head deliberately on one occasion and accidentally twice, provoking his reaction. "The third one, that's the one I react to," Slater said. "As he flings me across, he hits me in the head, and then he goes in again. I reacted straight away to that. The first one, I let slip." Slater said there was "no way in the world I would have thrown a punch" until the headbutt. "I'm not saying what I did was the right thing to do," he said. "I'm not pleading innocent. I realise we're role models and I realise it's the wrong thing to do, but I wasn't of the mentality to throw a punch before I got headbutted three times." Nightingale responded last night by saying: "Let him say what he wants. I wouldn't deny him the opportunity if it helps him get off." NRL prosecutor Peter Kite said there was nothing deliberate about the clash of heads and claimed Nightingale had only defended himself. During cross-examination, he said to Slater: "You're getting your head down, so is he, you make contact." Slater replied: "I don't get my head down." Kite: "There's nothing deliberate by Nightingale to headbutt you." Slater: "I can understand an interpretation of accidental on that second one, but I think the last one was deliberate. You can actually see him drop his head and go straight for my face. I'm not saying right, but I was provoked." The three-man panel of Mark Coyne, Don McKinnon and Bob Lindner were shown six angles of the all-in brawl. In a later incident, prop Jason Ryles was sent off for kicking front-row opponent Jeff Lima, although he was not charged by the match review committee. Kite said Slater "ran a distance" to get involved in the melee. "He was so committed he had to jump over player Folau to get involved," he said. "From the moment he jumps, throwing his right arm over the pack, the matter escalates. It goes from what was a push and shove between a few players to an all-in brawl over the sideline. It's the action of running in that causes the escalation. "Player Slater wasn't required to enter the fray to protect anyone, including himself. He ran in from a distance, six or seven metres, and he ran in in a very aggressive way." However, Slater said initially he had attempted to pull Dragons centre Matt Cooper away from the brawl, but got caught up in the fight itself. "I sort of reached over, grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away," Slater said. "I was trying to claw him, grab his arm or jersey, something that I could pull him back." Kite argued that "there was no one to pull away when you decided to run in", to which Slater responded: "You don't think about those things when you're out there." Slater's defence team, headed by Geoff Bellew, argued the actions of Dragons second-rower Beau Scott, who had pleaded guilty to a grade-one contrary conduct charge for his part in the brawl, were more serious than Slater's. "He doesn't just keep it going, he restarts it," he said. BETTER THAT HE MISSES THIS GAME AGAINST WARRIORS BUT IS BACK FOR OUR GAME AGAINST ****** TITANICS!! ** Manly..Titans.. they're all the same! A bunch of %^*^*@& blaming storm for everything and anything they rekon is illegally helping us win! **

Went to the game on Monday night with some friends and loved the biffo!! We had Ben Holland and Jarrad Rivers sitting next to us and even they loved the action on the field. St George = Girls

The ones you menioned sitting next to you.. also girls! How good was it when Jezza scored his try then slammed the ball into the guys head! It was fair considering the guy came in late trying to smack him round.. he just got schooled by the rest all coming in to celebrate. Made it even better that it was up our end so right in front of us 'ferals' who didnt go skulking for cover from the rain haha