Round 22 - Match Preview

Melbourne Storm v South Sydney Rabbitohs
Saturday August 6, 7.30pm
AAMI Park

The Rabbitohs will make the trip south looking to achieve something they never have before – beat Storm in Melbourne.
Twelve times South Sydney have made the trip south but they have returned home empty handed on each occasion. On Saturday night they get another chance to re-write history.
Standing in their way is a Storm side that has won 12 of their last 13 games, their most recent win handing the Cowboys their first loss at home in nearly 12 months.
Melbourne have been almost immovable at AAMI Park this season with a 7-1 record – their best home stand in a season for several years.
Tim Glasby has returned to the side and Craig Bellamy hopes the coming weeks will see the injury burden on his forward stocks lessen.
The Rabbitohs regain captain Greg Inglis for the clash after his three-week suspension and have named him at five-eighth as coach Michael Maguire looks for a much-needed spark to overturn their eight-game losing run.

Be at AAMI Park when we take on the Rabbitohs, Saturday 6 August, 7:30pm.

Key Matchups:

Dale Finucane v Sam Burgess
Two hard men who never take a backward step, when you are tackled by Finucane and Burgess you tend to know about it. Burgess ranks inside the top 10 in the NRL for total metres while Finucane has been in consistent form all season and has averaged 135 metres in the last two weeks. Both players certainly have the ability to bend the opposing line and will be crucial to giving their respective sides some go-forward up the middle.

Cooper Cronk v Adam Reynolds
They lined up opposite each other in Origin before a shoulder injury ruled him out of Game III. Both players have an elite kicking game that has them up at the top statistically in this area. Reynolds averaged 304 kick metres per game while Cronk ranks third in the NRL. The Rabbitohs halfback has had an injury interrupted year but made his return against Manly in Round 20 and will be the key factor in the visitor’s attack on Saturday night.

History: Played 25: Storm 21, Rabbitohs 4 – Melbourne have won eight of the last nine games and remain undefeated at home against South Sydney.
 

What we’ve said:

“Craig really challenged the entire squad last year to bring back that consistency, more so for the younger guys in our squad to play well every week now…. and those guys have done that really well” – Cameron Smith

“There were some things that we weren’t overly happy with against the Cowboys. We want to look to improve on those things this week and slowly build for the first week of finals” – Cameron Smith

“We are unsure where he will play. Whether it’s a fullback, centre or five-eighth. It doesn’t really matter what position he is playing in, he is always tough to come up against” – Dale Finucane
 

What they’ve said:

"It's been frustrating and unfortunately we're in the position we are. We have nobody else to blame but ourselves in terms of our performances" – Greg Inglis

"We have to make the most of whatever we have left this season. We just have to look forward to bettering ourselves each and every week" – Greg Inglis

Match Officials: Referee – Grant Atkins; Assistant – Chris Sutton; Touch Judges – Brett Suttor & Anthony Elliott; Review Officials – Bryan Norrie & Jason Robinson; Senior Review Official – Luke Patten.
 

Broadcast: TV – Fox Sports 1, Radio – ABC & 2GB, Online – NRL Digital Pass.
 

Squads: