For more than 12 months a true rivalry has been building between Melbourne and Cronulla.
It began with a fiery Round 4 clash last year, grew as Storm clinched the 2016 minor premiership and reached a pinnacle in last year’s Grand Final.
Their most recent meeting was also a tough, grinding 80-minutes with only one try scored between the sides.
Now the next installment sees Storm venture to Shark Park this Thursday night to do it all again.
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While rivalries are built on history, it will mean little when that first ball is kicked tomorrow.
“People can call it what they like but it is a Round 14 game against Cronulla,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.
“It is going to be a tough game, (the Sharks) have won a whole heap of close, tough games this year.
“They like getting in the grind, they are very good at it and when the vital moments happen they know what to do and they’ve been doing them well.”
The Sharks won the last meeting between the two sides earlier this year.
It was a lowly 11-2 score line with a 73rd minute try to James Segeyaro the only true highlight in a dower game.
The contest was not one for the history books and will certainly not be front of mind for Melbourne this week.
“That game was in Round 6, this is Round (14) so a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then,” Bellamy said.
“We’ve had a look at the last game without a doubt, there are some things there we will be looking at doing a little bit differently.
“We were trying some guys out at that stage too so you can take a little bit out of that game but no two games are ever the same.”
