Meaney ready for No.6 and goal kicking duties

Storm recruit Nick Meaney has rapidly evolved into the club's new Mr Fix-It, being named to stand in for suspended five-eighth Cameron Munster in round one while also preparing to take over goal-kicking from fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen.

Papenhuyzen must get through Thursday and Friday training sessions to face the Wests Tigers on Saturday night as he completes his recovery from an ankle injury – but either way he is likely to hand the goal-kicking over to former Bulldogs Meaney at least in the short term.

"I think I might be, depending on how his foot is," Meaney told melbournestorm.com.au.

"I know he can run and jump and all those things but I'm not sure whether he's going to be kicking yet. Wait and see. I'll keep practising during the week and see how we go."

Meaney slotted a perfect six-from-six across the club's two pre-season trial matches, to go with 59 from 81 (73%) in three seasons at Belmore, where he learned from a sharp-shooting legend.

"When I was at the Bulldogs I was working with Daryl Halligan quite a lot on how to goal kick and all the ins and outs," Meaney added.

"There's been other times where there are other goal kickers in front of you but it's a good skill to keep in your back pocket and keep practising. I've sort of done that the last couple of years. In the trials I went all right so hopefully carry that through the year."

Papenhuyzen kicked an impressive 49 from 57 (86%) last year but is not yet quite 100% certain of starting round one, according to Storm football manager Frank Ponissi.

"Ryan's still got a bit of work to do before he gets the all-clear from the medical staff," Ponissi said.

"Early signs are good. If he can get through (Thursday) and pulls up well for Friday he's a big chance of playing on Saturday night."

While Meaney is ready to take over the goal-kicking, preparing to fill Munster's shoes at No.6 has taken much of his focus lately.

"It's a new challenge for me, I haven't really played there in the NRL competition before so I'm really looking forward to it," Meaney said.

"It's been a while, I used to play back there in high school. Over my career I've played centre and wing, I'm sort of used to defending in the line, I know whether to jam or hold back and rely on my teammates.

"I think it's more the attack systems I'm getting used to here at the Storms, how they run things differently and building combinations with people around me. I've been training there the last couple of weeks, I'm ready to go."

Meaney had to switch his focus from preparing to fill in for Papenhuyzen due to his ankle injury once the fullback's training picked up and when Cooper Johns injured his shoulder in the final trial.

"I know Paps was in doubt as well for that fullback position so I was sort of focusing more on that but once he came back and his ankle and foot started to improve and Coops was out I thought 'here I go, I might have to chuck on the six jersey'," Meaney said.

"We had Cooper Cronk in here the other day helping me with a few things and Billy Slater giving me a few pointers here and there helps me understand what the five-eighth role is all about."