Melbourne Storm v Wests Tigers
Saturday 7 April, 3:00pm
Mt. Smart Stadium
The Master reaches 400
Craig Bellamy will coach his 400th NRL game on Saturday, becoming just the seventh coach in the history of the game to reach the milestone. No others have got there with a winning record to match the Storm coach who has won an incredible 68 per cent of games since taking charge of the Victorian side in 2003. For a coach who has given so much to his players over the years there is no doubt the Storm 17 will be looking to return the favour on Saturday.
Hoff makes it 250 in purple
A Storm favourite son will pull on the purple jersey for the 250th time in his career. Ryan Hoffman becomes the fifth Melbourne player to join the 250-Club alongside Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Matt Geyer. It is a milestone to warm purple hearts for a player who has provided so much service to a Club he loves and the feeling is well and truly mutual.
A short wait for redemption
Only 21 days have passed since these two teams met. Memories of that game will be fresh in the minds of every Melbourne player. The Tigers frustrated Storm into defeat in Round 2 at AAMI Park with both teams only scoring one try apiece. The good news is that Craig Bellamy’s team do not have to wait long for their shot at payback.
Eyes on the ball
The external talk after last week’s loss to the Sharks was all about the record number of penalties however internally Storm know they have to be better controlling the football. Melbourne have committed the second most errors of any team in the competition this season with 55 over the first four rounds. That would have been almost the sole focus all week at training so we wait to see whether this translates into a smooth performance.
