Storm's 1st 2008 game!! WHO: Melbourne Storm v New Zealand Warriors
WHAT: Round 1 of the 2008 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Telstra Dome, Melbourne
WHEN: Monday, March 17th @ 7:15pm
ON TV: Fox Sports Two LIVE
ON RADIO: Triple M LIVE
CHECK IT OUT: Melbourne Storm’s website with all the la-*test*-('") stats, profiles, updates, schedule and training times, alerts, news etc…. www.melbournestorm.com.au
Going straight from tafe so I can watch the under 20's boys play, they start at 5pm.. im excited!!
NoName- 03-15-2008
I wanted to go to this game - but have indoor soccer.....
amnesiac- 03-15-2008
This is fantastic that they've decided to play a game at the Dome in order to gain better support, but on a Monday night against New Zealand it might be tough to pull anything decent. I realise there are a lot of Kiwi ex-pats but I think the ones interested in League are pretty much behind the Storm.
NoName- 03-17-2008
Billy Slater has already scored a double and the match is only 12 minutes old :clap:
DoggyOutWest- 03-17-2008
This is fantastic that they've decided to play a game at the Dome in order to gain better support, but on a Monday night against New Zealand it might be tough to pull anything decent. I realise there are a lot of Kiwi ex-pats but I think the ones interested in League are pretty much behind the Storm.
It's St Patricks Day, might have been a better puller than you think... Anybody got a crowd size stat to toss in? Who went??
Mazza- 03-17-2008
Slater hat-trick crushes Warriors
17/03/2008 9:13:16 PM
Luke Buttigieg at Telstra Dome
Sportal
Billy Slater grabbed a hat-trick of tries to spark the Melbourne Storm to an impressive 32-18 win over the Warriors on a scorching night at Melbourne's Telstra Dome.
With 20,084 fans in as the temperature hovered at 36 degrees at kick-off, Slater went over twice inside the first 10 minutes and three times within 25 minutes as the premiers took up where they left off last year.
The Warriors did threaten twice in the opening half as they came from 10-0 and 16-6 behind to be in touch at 16-12 at the break, but the Storm steadied in the second 40 to cruise home.
There was a scare for Melbourne when skipper Cameron Smith left the field late but what looked like a hamstring injury was reportedly only cramp, while Ryan Hoffman had to be replaced before half-time with a rib cartilage injury.
Warriors captain Steve Price suffered a hamstring tear to compound the defeat, while Manu Vatuvei was the hero and villain, failing to deal with a series of high balls but also scoring two tries, and the visitors also sent three kick-offs over the dead-ball line.
The first four-pointer came thanks to a flick pass from Cam Smith as he was falling to the ground on the last tackle, before a quick one-two interchange of passes between Cooper Cronk and Jeremy Smith saw Cronk put Slater through a gap.
Leading 10-0 after Cam Smith converted one of the two tries, the Warriors looked out on their feet but moments later a dropped ball from Vatuvei actually benefitted his team when Jerome Ropati was on hand to score.
Michael Witt converted from the sideline with the help of a ricochet off the right post to cut the home side's lead to 10-6 but Slater went in again when a chip from Cronk was caught by Steve Turner who then offloaded.
Cam Smith landed the conversion for 16-6 and after Anthony Quinn had a try disallowed Vatuvei atoned for some of his mistakes by shrugging off three tacklers to touch down one-handed, with Witt again converting from the sideline.
The Storm bombed a couple of tries in the first five minutes of the second half, but 11 minutes after the break Cam Smith found a bloodied Dallas Johnson to extend the lead after another Vatuvei mistake.
Smith's conversion and a pair of penalties made it 26-12, and Israel Folau underlined just why he's in such high demand with a bullocking 50m break that set up a flying Sam Tagataese to score under the posts, before Vatuvei scored again late on.
Melbourne Storm 32
Tries: Slater 3, Johnson, Tagataese
Conversions: C Smith 3, Turner
Penalty: C Smith 2
Warriors 18
Try: Vatuvei 2, Ropati
Conversion: Witt 3
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
I watched a bit of it on TV last night, pretty entertaining and free-flowing game with lots of tries and too many errors, vatuvei got crucified.
amnesiac- 03-18-2008
This is fantastic that they've decided to play a game at the Dome in order to gain better support, but on a Monday night against New Zealand it might be tough to pull anything decent. I realise there are a lot of Kiwi ex-pats but I think the ones interested in League are pretty much behind the Storm.
It's St Patricks Day, might have been a better puller than you think... Anybody got a crowd size stat to toss in? Who went??
To my surprise 20,084 which is a massive crowd for the Storm all thing's considered.
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