You must be ready for the war physically, emotionally and mentally – there are no shortcuts when it comes to beating Melbourne.
The Storm love to stand over you physically, so you need to show that you’re not intimidated. You need your big men to carry hard with support and plenty of energy from your halves and fullback. This keeps Melbourne’s numbers out of the tackle, which they love to commit to take control of the ruck.
To put it simply, your forwards need to be ultra-aggressive and once they’re down fight hard on the ground to get the play the ball speed.
They are a massive challenge for any pack to contain, but big Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Christian Welch and Jesse Bromwich will always suffocate the ruck unless you get them moving backwards.
Manly’s tactic last week to shift the ball inside their half was tactically excellent and can be the key to breaking open that Purple Wall out of yardage.
If you look at the Storm’s defensive tactics inside the opposition half from a bird’s-eye view, Josh Addo-Carr and Dean Ieremia will leave you 15 to 20 metres of space on their outside. A long dummy half pass or moving the ball simply two passes wide early can get you on the outside of Melbourne’s initial three running ruck defenders – most often Dale Finucane, Christian Welch and Jesse Bromwich.
This leaves them vulnerable on the edges, which means they start to retreat. But this is the moment that can make or break sides – the discipline is in being taking the 20 metres they’re willing to give you and not seeing them as point-scoring opportunities.
Take the field position and play the long game – set up camp in Melbourne’s half and put them under pressure.
