NRL 2021: Melbourne Storm defeats Cronulla Sharks 28-16, Ryan Papenhuyzen three tries
Ryan Papenhuyzen has struggled in his return from injury, but fired back at his critics by helping Storm secure another minor premiership.
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Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen has hit back at his critics and revealed the secret to his resurrection was a three-point plan and netball partner Kelsey Browne.
Papenhuyzen produced his best performance in four months on Friday night with a hat-trick of tries against Cronulla to lead Melbourne to a fourth minor premiership in six years.
It was a timely return to form on the eve of finals for Papenhuyzen, whose comeback from a serious concussion has been slow and plagued by criticism.
One of the most dynamic players in the NRL, Papenhuyzen was criticised for his hesitancy and lack of spark as he attempted to overcome the mental scars of a sickening Magic Round knockout.
But the Storm’s finals rivals will be on high alert after Papenhuyzen’s demolition of Cronulla and the pint-sized No. 1 said he wanted to prove his critics wrong.
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“It’s not nice to hear those things but it’s what motivates me too,” he said.
“It’s going to happen. People like to talk rubbish about performances and I probably deserved it last week (loss to Parramatta). It just motivates me to come out and put in a good performance.
“There’s an excuse for people to hang it on me now. I’ve just got to shake it off, move on and show I can get back to what I was doing at the start of the year and back end of last year.
“After last week’s performance I was really down and copped a bit for that. I kept a few receipts and tried to put on a good performance.”
Papenhuyzen’s mauling of the Sharks ensured he will wear the No. 1 jersey ahead of Nicho Hynes in Friday night’s qualifying final on the Sunshine Coast.
At his best, Papenhuyzen is one of the most dangerous players in the NRL and won the Clive Churchill Medal in last year’s grand final defeat of Penrith.
But he was clearly struggling to get back to those heights in the six games prior to his revival against Cronulla.
Papenhuyzen said he hadn’t enlisted the Storm’s sports psychologist Jacqui Louder and had instead turned to his partner, an Australian netball star.
“I’ve had a lot of support from my partner this week,” he said.
“She has been through it all and experienced it all. She knows what’s coming on the back of a bad performance and injuries.
“To sit there and hear her give me feedback and support me was really important this week.
“I’m going to be pretty selfish heading into the finals, but she’s gone through that and understands and is there to help me relax and switch off. It’s important she’s in my life at the moment and helping me out.
“Jacquie is actually the sports psych at Collingwood netball as well so I reckon Kels hit her up during the week and asked a few things.”
Papenhuyzen, 23, was breathtaking with 204m, 14 tackle busts and three line breaks against the Sharks.
But his attacking brilliance came on the back of Papenhuyzen getting the less exciting parts of his game back in order.
“I had to get back to basics. I’ve said it for a few weeks but this week I took it to another level of basic,” he said.
“In the sheds I had three things written down that I had to do well. If I did them well then I thought we’d play well as a team and I’d do my job.
“(The three things were) being involved and my intent when involved, then my defence, making sure I’m getting people in the right spots when I need to.
“It was really simple and things that don’t even involve the footy. When I put my mind to that then everything else comes naturally. If everyone does their job we usually go pretty well.
“I think I’m building. When the boys are playing really well and doing the right things then I’m able to do that.
“If we string that together and perform well from the start then I’m able to be in the game and produce what I did last year.”
In an ominous sign for their rivals, the Storm will welcome back a host of first-choice players in the finals after resting their stars over the past few weeks as they chase back-to-back titles.
Storm hooker Brandon Smith said Papenhuyzen made his critics eat their words with his display and was peaking for the finals.
“Pappy went out there after a lot of criticism during the week. A lot of people were doubting him and he had his head down a little bit because he took that loss (to the Eels) really seriously,” Smith said.
“For him to come out and shut everyone up with three tries and (204) metres was very fortunate to see because he had a really rough week, the big fella.
“It was really good for me to see him coming off with a smile on his face. He was wearing my budgies, so he has me to thank for those three tries.”
PAPS HITS TOP GEAR AS STORM SOUND FINALS WARNING
Ryan Papenhuyzen burst back to life to deliver Melbourne Storm another NRL minor premiership and leave Cronulla’s finals dreams in the balance.
Papenhuyzen’s hat-trick helped the Storm clinch their fifth minor premiership with a 28–16 win against the Sharks at Cbus Super Stadium on Friday night.
The defending champions have now finished four of the past six seasons as minor premiers and only lost three of 24 games this year.
After missing out on a record 20th straight win in last week’s loss to Parramatta, the understrength Storm overcame a slow start to sink the snappy Sharks and secure the JJ Giltinan Shield.
Melbourne will now host a qualifying final at the Sunshine Coast next Friday night while the Sharks must wait until Sunday afternoon to learn if they will play finals footy in 2021.
SUPER STORM
The Storm cemented their place as the most dominant NRL club of the past 20 years.
It was the eighth time Melbourne has finished the regular season on top of the ladder, however they were stripped of the 2006, 07 and 08 titles for salary cap breaches.
The Storm will get a chance to book a preliminary finals berth when they host the fourth-placed team at their second home on the Sunshine Coast.
While the Storm were slow out of the blocks, they will welcome back a host of first-choice players for the qualifying final, however Origin stars Cameron Munster (knee) and Josh Addo-Carr (hamstring) are under injury clouds.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Justin Olam were placed on report and face nervous waits.
“They (minor premierships) are hard to win,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.
“We only lost three games this year. It’s a real reward for our club. We’ve been ultra-consistent. By Monday we’re into another season which is probably more important.
“I’m not glad we lost last week and we’ve been down, but it’s hard to stay up for a long time.
“Perhaps some of our experienced players were waiting for the finals. We’ve been looking forward to the finals for a fair bit. We’ve been living out of suitcases for two years.
“Hopefully we can produce our best next week. What we’ve done recently (resting players) is to be ready for next week.”
PAPS IS BACK
Papenhuyzen silenced his critics with a brilliant individual performance to kick the Storm into gear against a desperate Cronulla.
Criticised for his hesitancy since suffering a serious concussion in May, Papenhuyzen bagged a scintillating hat-trick, including his first try since Round 6, and terrorised the Sharks.
The reigning Clive Churchill medallist finished the game with 204m, 14 tackle busts and three line breaks to lockup the Storm’s No. 1 jersey heading into the finals.
“I felt really good,” Papenhuyzen said.
“I brought it back to the simple things. I was lucky enough to get a few tries.
“There’s still a bit to go but I’m happy. I’m feeling good and tonight builds confidence. That was the game I needed, lucky it was before the finals.”
SHARKS STILL CIRCLING
The Sharks were a club in crisis back in April when coach John Morris was sacked after just five rounds and replaced by caretaker Josh Hannay.
They won only two of their opening 10 matches and looked destined for a bottom four finish in 2021. But a four-game winning streak got their season back on track and they finished with two wins from their final three games to remain in the play-offs hunt.
Cronulla’s fate now hangs in the hands of the Gold Coast Titans, who can knock them out of the top eight by beating the New Zealand Warriors by at least 12 points on Sunday.
If the Titans fail, Cronulla will make its seventh straight finals appearance with a 10-14 record and minus 36 points differential.
While their record is not flash, Cronulla’s character could not be questioned. The Sharks have been challenged all season but gave Melbourne a scare at 12-all.
“We’re disappointed. We wanted to go in the front door, not sneak through the back,” Hannay said. “It would have been nice to win but we’ve got a pulse. We’ll hope and pray things go our way on Sunday, we’ll be glued to the TV.
“I really hope we have a game to play, these guys want to play again, they want another chance. I’ll back these guys to be up for the occasion if they get the chance.
“They are a resilient bunch. Resilience doesn’t come easy to young players but these guys have it. The resolve our young guys have shown is a good sign for the future.”
JOHNS: INSIDE THE MINDS OF FINALS-BOUND COACHES
—Matty Johns
Final weekend, and when it comes to the contenders it doesn’t matter whether you’re landlocked into a table position, there’s still plenty at stake.
For South Sydney, a no-brainer to rest stars. They’ll need all the energy they can get in week one, whether they play Melbourne or Penrith.
I’m intrigued by how the other coaches have gone about their final game.
Some are going in full strength, some resting almost all their stars, others just a couple.
Let’s talk about why these coaches have come to this decision and what they are looking for out of their teams performance.
MELBOURNE
Craig Bellamy would’ve loved his team to win and make a statement last weekend.
Their last six weeks have been pretty ordinary and you could feel the loss coming, they’re just lucky it wasn’t in a more vital game ahead.
Craig’s rested quite a number of last week’s pack and notably, Cameron Munster.
If the Storm would have blown Parra apart and the creative players clicked, you’d be seeing almost all of the spine rested, but Craig is still searching for the right combination.
Both Ryan Papenhuyzen and Nicho Hynes are in, and in my opinion the strongest performance will wear the fullback jersey next week and the other will play off the bench.
Likewise, Bellamy hasn’t quite been able to nail down the ideal formula for how to get the best out of the Brandon Smith, Harry Grant formula.
Last week Craig started with them both and the team lacked that 20 minutes gear change when Harry comes into dummy-half and Brandon reverts to a running middle forward.
All of us on the couch can question, is it better for Melbourne to finish second and face Souths without Latrell? Or, be Minor Premiers and face Manly?
Craig Bellamy won’t ponder the question. Melbourne desperately need to make a statement on Friday night, a return to disciplined Storm football.
PENRITH
Talk about wanting to make a statement! Penrith have picked a side to do exactly that.
When Eels coach Brad Arthur flagged that he would rest most of his stars I suspected Ivan Cleary would do the same. Instead, Ivan’s seen it as an opportunity to enter the Finals with a crushing victory.
But the Panthers do need another hit out. The Nathan Cleary/Jarome Luai combination has looked a tad rusty since Nathan’s return, and it wasn’t until the second half last Sunday that you could see it starting to find rhythm.
The Panthers play their best when Cleary and Luai play by the ‘shot/shot’ principle, attack down one edge of the field and then immediately get the ball to the opposite side with 2 long quick passes.
It creates great opportunities for their big back-rowers and opens up their middle as the game evolves.
Last week there was too much resetting of the centrefield and all it did was re-set the Tiger’s defence.
When Nathan and Jarome play with width, Isiah Yeo has a picnic through the middle.
I expect Penrith to run hot Friday night.
PARRAMATTA
I can understand Brad resting a number of stars. In writing this I’m unaware of the Roosters/Raiders result, but it’s hard to imagine Parramatta busting into the top four, with Manly picking a full strength team against North Queensland.
However, it is a risk, and even more so when you look at the strength of this Penrith side, you don’t want a heavy defeat.
For the Parramatta team this is a big test of mental toughness.
Going into the Storm clash they’d been heavily criticised for two weeks and criticism tends to sharpen the sword. Early in the week the Eels’ players gathered and basically said, ‘Enough is enough.’
Enough it was, bashing up Melbourne no less.
But as is the way in Rugby League, a good win has seen them lavished with praise.
Just as criticism sharpens the sword, praise can equally weaken the resolve. They don’t need to win, but if they can push Penrith to the post, they’re in good shape.
MANLY
Des picking a full strength Manly isn’t just about ensuring fourth spot, it’s about keeping the momentum going.
Manly had a dip last week but lifted when they had to.
The Sea Eagles have won six from their last seven, the only loss to the Storm 28-18, where Melbourne dominated possession and Manly could’ve still very easily won.
Manly are fit, they are flying, so why break the chain and bench key men.
I love Manly’s left side attack. The combination of Kieran Foran, Josh Schuster and Tom Trbojevic is special.
Josh Schuster gives Manly what Glen Stewart once did, a ball playing backrower who takes pressure off the halves and gives the attack so many different variations.
Tom Trbojevic was amazing again last week … a different kind of amazing. He had a difficult first half and was a little off his game as was his team, but he couldn’t be discouraged, scoring three second half tries.
Like his team, he’s as tough as he is talented. A mega-clash with Melbourne beckons next week.
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