Melbourne Storm skipper Cameron Smith hopes their two nail-biting wins have prepared his young teammates for tough times during the NRL season.
The Storm relied on two late field goals from halfback Cooper Cronk, and then a missed penalty kick after fulltime by Penrith’s Peter Wallace, to secure their 18-17 victory at AAMI Park.
They won their opening round match against Manly in golden point thanks to a Smith field goal.
“It’s good for the younger guys to get some tough wins early,” Smith said.
“I think when everything’s going your way early in the season and you’re having really comfortable wins the younger blokes who haven’t experienced tough matches can think this is pretty easy and we can just turn up and this will happen.
“We haven’t had the best start to the season as far as our execution and performance goes but you can’t deny that the effort and the character that the boys have shown is A-1.”
He singled out rookies five-eighth Ben Hampton and winger Young Tonumaipea for the way they handled the pressure in the opening rounds.
There was extra pressure on the Storm to perform in their first game at home which also marked milestones for Smith (all-time club caps) and Billy Slater (250 NRL games).
Test fullback Slater had a mixed game, including a stint in the sin-bin for a professional foul.
He said he was still building into the season following knee surgery post World Cup and wasn’t able to fully train during the week as he continued his recovery.
“I’ve had few hiccups coming into this pre-season and I’ve only been training for about three weeks,” he said.
“To be honest this week I didn’t train a lot so I’m still trying to find that fitness in my legs.
“Playing games is certainly the best way to do that so hopefully over the next month I can get better with my fitness and my form.”