Saturday’s second NRL Round 19 match is between Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders with the opening kick to commence at 17:30 local time. The game is to be played at AAMI Park which see’s home team Melbourne Storm hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders.
Where and when: 17:30 | Saturday 19/07/2014 @ AAMI Park
Preview:
The Storm welcomed back their Origin stars for their clash against the Bulldogs last week but their inclusion wasn’t enough to hold out another determined effort from the Bulldogs, who grinded out a tough 6 – 4 win.
It was the Storm’s second loss in a row and their fourth from their past six outings. It also meant that the once fortress like venue of AAMI Park was further weakened with the Storm this year recording five wins from their nine home-games.
They did have the chance to tie the game up in the final minutes of the match and pushing the Bulldogs – who have won their last three on the trot and sit at the top of the ladder, is a solid benchmark to go by.
They Storm have named the seventeen as last week with the Hoffman and Hinchcliffe to start rather than come from the bench.
RAIDERS
The Raiders recorded a rare win and an even rarer victory away from home when posting a 36 – 20 win over the Titans last week on the Gold Coast.
The Raiders wrestled the lead off of the home-side late in the first half and were able to hold that advantage for most of the second stanza before posting three late tries to seal the win.
The Titans were on the quick back-up from a Monday night win over the Rabbitohs but did have the likes of Myles, Taylor and Bird backing up from Origin.
The Raiders will take any win that they can get at the moment given it was their first for five weeks and only their fifth of the season but it still wasn’t an effort that would be worthy of worrying a much more consistent Storm side.
The Raiders will welcome back Brett White and Joel Edwards to the forward pack whilst Jarrad Kennedy starts in the centres for Brenko Lee.
HEAD TO HEAD
Remarkably, the Raiders have won three of their past four against the Storm with the most recent match, in round 7 this year at Canberra, seeing the Raiders hold on to a 24 – 22 win.
Their last two visits to AAMI Park have also resulted in a wins and the Storm will have to be on full alert for this match with the Raiders, who are coming off a win and have nothing to lose, set to throw everything at them.
Each of the past four games have resulted in plenty of match points – averaging 53.5 points.
With both sides happy to let the ball do the work, the same could be on the cards here, with the Storm coming out on top.
Teams:
STORM: Billy Slater, Marika Koroibete, Will Chambers, Kurt Mann, Mahe Fonua, Ben Roberts, Cooper Cronk, Jesse Bromwich, Cameron Smith, Bryan Norrie, Kevin Proctor, Ryan Hoffman, Ryan Hinchcliffe. Interchange: Tim Glasby, Tohu Harris, Junior Moors, Jordan McLean.
RAIDERS: Anthony Milford, Reece Robinson, Jarrod Croker, Jarrad Kennedy, Sami Sauiluma, Terry Campese, Josh McCrone, David Shillington, Glen Buttriss, Brett White, Josh Papalii, Joel Edwards, Shaun Fensom. Interchange: Kurt Baptiste, Paul Vaughan, Dane Tilse, Shannon Boyd, Matthew Allwood.
News:
Anthony Milford will only get better, warn his Raiders teammates, who are tipping an NRL showdown against Maroons No.1 Billy Slater to bring out the best in the whiz-kid.
Milford, who last month rejected a rich offer from the Raiders to sign with Brisbane, underlined how much they’ll miss him next season with a match-winning performance against the Gold Coast on Sunday.
The 20-year-old livewire was involved in everything in the first half, scoring one try and having a hand in two others, before putting the icing on the cake with another try four minutes from fulltime to snap a four-game losing streak for the Raiders.
But his skipper Terry Campese believes Saturday’s clash against the Storm in Melbourne will see Milford lift another notch.
Milford was the standby fullback for Slater in State of Origin camp this year, and Campese knows his teammate has his eyes on the Maroons’ No.1 jersey down the track.
“I know what Tony thinks. And he’ll definitely be thinking that he’ll want to get above (Slater),” Campese said.
“He’ll have that as a personal challenge going against the Queensland fullback.
“That’s somewhere `Tones’ wants to be over the next few years.”
Raiders winger Sami Sauiluma echoed his skipper’s comments.
“He’ll probably step up – he was 18th man for Origin a few weeks ago,” he said.
“So this will be his biggest test as he’s next in line.”
Meanwhile, injury has forced a change to the Raiders’ backline for the clash, with Jarrad Kennedy named in the centres to cover for Brenko Lee, who will miss up to four weeks with a hamstring injury.
With Kennedy moving to the centres, Joel Edwards will start in the second row, while Brett White’s return will shift Paul Vaughan from the front row to the interchange.
Raiders: Anthony Milford, Reece Robinson, Jarrod Croker, Jarrad Kennedy, Sami Sauiluma, Terry Campese (capt), Josh McCrone, David Shillington, Glen Buttriss, Brett White, Josh Papalii, Joel Edwards, Shaun Fensom. Interchange: Kurt Baptiste, Paul Vaughan, Dane Tilse, Shannon Boyd, Matt Allwood (18th man).