NRL 2021: Kevin Walters keeps Storm guessing with Broncos’ line-up for Good Friday clash
It’s a rivalry that has simmered away for decades now, but now the battle between the Broncos and the Storm has reached boiling point, writes Robert Craddock.
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It is one of the most underestimated and deep-seated rivalries in Australian sport and Cameron Smith has no doubt who started it.
Who else? The fierce desire of long time Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy to beat his former boss Wayne Bennett was, according to Smith, the spark that lit the fire for two decades of intense combat on and off the field between the Broncos and the Storm.
“As a player there was something different about those games,’’ Smith wrote in his career-ending biography of the Broncos-Storm rivalry which will be continued in Melbourne on Friday night.
If the Storm and the Broncos were boxers you would never have to worry about drumming up fake outrage to promote their fights.
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You’d just put a phone in their hand, ask them about the other, and your job would be done.
The rivalry, dominated by the Storm partially because it has always meant more to them, needs no artificial flavours.
It is raw and real and deeply embedded in the souls of both clubs with the Storm, who have not been beaten by the Broncos for more than five years, the only NRL club with a superior all time win-loss record against Brisbane.
The rivalry is not one person, one group of administrators, or one issue. It gets passed on and it changes hues and floats on an off the field. But it is always there, simmering away.
For many years it was a silent, unspoken feud but in recent years, the lid has popped off the saucepan.
Melbourne have refused to be silent over the fact that it considered the Broncos are trying to steal their success story.
Club owner Matt Tripp, incensed that Brisbane should, at various stages over the past year target their former captain (Cam Smith), coach (Craig Bellamy) and chief executive Dave Donaghy who will join Brisbane this season, decided enough was enough.
“To try to run off the playbook of the Melbourne Storm is one thing, then to go after the captain, coach and chief executive is a little bit boring and shows a lack of creativity from a supposed powerhouse,’’ Tripp told News Corp late last year.
“They are embarrassing themselves. Whatever happened to promoting from within or employing your own people to do a job? God knows they have enough people up there in Brisbane to pick from.’’
Cop that. It was hard to argue with Tripp’s logic but Brisbane may argue what’s wrong with a bit of tit for tat?
The Broncos have always felt the Storm strode to glory off their coat-tails by snatching Brisbane old boys to be their club founder (John Ribot), first chief executive (Chris Johns) first premiership captain (Glenn Lazarus) plus Bellamy who was formerly Wayne Bennett’s assistant at the Broncos.
Then there is the pain of recruitment. In a century in which the Broncos have failed to sign a long-serving champion the Storm snatched Queenslanders Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Greg Inglis.
Brisbane have made three unsuccessful attempt at luring Bellamy home but his shadow is never far away and the Broncos are having one last go to recruit him as coaching overlord. Broncos coach Kevin Walters, who spent four years as Bellamy’s assistant in Melbourne, was asked on Thursday about Bellamy’s possible recruitment and subtly defended his right to go it alone.
“I have always been comfortable in my own skin,’’ Walters said.
“I have some great assistants around me but I am very comfortable with my position as a head coach of the Broncos. I have lots of experience in different areas and different coaches and now it‘s about putting all those experiences together. My work with the Maroons really accelerated me as a coach, it’s a very intense environment and that topped me off as a coach and it’s time to ply my trade in the NRL. ‘’
It has always meant more for Melbourne to beat Brisbane than the other way around.
Pained by a grand-final loss to the Broncos in 2006, the quest for revenge is so deep-seated it has driven them to become the club who sabotages Brisbane’s proud for and against playing record like some cyber super hacker.
Enough is never enough. The stats are jolting. The Broncos are averaging just 28% of wins (13 from 48) against the Storm, easily their worst result. The next worst is 50% (Manly).
On average they concede 25 points per game to the Storm – no-one else is above 20.
They score just 16 per game against the Storm but above 20 for all other teams bar Manly.
The challenge is relentless which is why a win on Friday night would be one for the ages.
Walters tries his best to bamboozle Storm
— Peter Badel
Broncos coach Kevin Walters is playing selection mind games with Storm rival Craig Bellamy over whether Brisbane playmaker Tom Dearden will be rushed into the side for Friday night’s clash at AAMI Park.
Dearden was originally named 18th man for the Storm showdown, just as he was the previous week when he was included on an extended bench for the Broncos’ round-three clash against the Bulldogs at Suncorp Stadium.
Dearden was ultimately a late inclusion for the Bulldogs clash, scoring a try off the bench in Brisbane’s 24-0 victory, and Walters is again planning to deploy the off-contract rookie in a utility role off interchange.
Speaking at his pre-game press conference on Thursday, Walters confirmed Dearden would come into the 17, only to bizarrely backflip just minutes later, suggesting the playmaker would be a part of Brisbane’s 19-man squad.
Walters will finalise his starting 17 on game day and is clearly doing his best to bamboozle Bellamy, but his comments suggest Dearden will return to the side at the expense of forward utility John Asiata.
“Tom will come into the 17 again, we feel he did enough to retain his position in the side,” Walters said. “John Asiata will drop out of the 17.
“Depending on the situation of the game, there are some big forwards, so we won’t introduce Tom too much, too early.
“He can play a good role for us off the bench, whether it’s through the middle or the hooking role or in the halves. He has a lot of bases covered for us and that’s why he is in the 17.
“He is versatile and we feel he can bring lots of energy when he’s on the field.”
In the aftermath of last week’s defeat of the Bulldogs, Walters indicated he wanted more minutes from Dearden, suggesting starting halfback Brodie Croft could be in the firing line for the Storm showdown.
But Croft has retained the No.7 jumper, giving him the chance to shine against the Melbourne club that cut him to the Broncos in 2019, believing he lacked the game management to take the Storm to a premiership.
“We feel Brodie did enough last week to maintain his position in the side,” Walters said.
“I want to see more of the same from Brodie. I thought he had a strong game last week, he created some good opportunities. There were some opportunities he missed and didn’t take, particularly around his communication with the forwards and setting up the play.
“Defensively he has been very strong and he will have to be again (on Friday night). We are looking forward to a similar performance, particularly that second 40 minutes where we controlled the ball and controlled the tempo of the game.”
The Broncos have lost eight consecutive games against the Storm dating back to 2016, but Walters is hoping the return of props Payne Haas and Matt Lodge can spearhead a Brisbane boilover.
“Payne feels he owes the team and it’s great to have him back (from suspension),” Walters said. “He is a great guy to bring back into the side, a powerful forward and he and Matt Lodge will bring some grunt to our forwards.
“They are two of the better middle forwards in our squad so we welcome them back with open arms against a Storm side who have one of the best packs in the competition.”
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