NRL 2023: Melbourne’s Christian Welch expecting fiery response from Penrith on Friday
It’s already the hottest ticket in Melbourne but skipper Christian Welch has inadvertently added spice to Friday night’s blockbuster clash against reigning premiers Penrith.
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Hard and fast football with a side of rugby league theatre, that is exactly what the hottest ticket in Melbourne has to offer.
There’s not a single AFL match in the Victorian capital on Friday night but Marvel Stadium, home to St Kilda and Essendon, will be pumping purple.
The Storm will ring in their return to Marvel Stadium – for the first time since 2010 – with a blockbuster clash against fellow NRL powerhouse Penrith.
“With the roof closed, it’ll be a fast track. There’s no wind, no rain. The ground surface is pretty dry so that will mean a pretty fast exciting game to play and for the fans to watch,” Melbourne’s general manager of football Frank Ponissi said.
“The weather element is taken out.
“Playing against Penrith in those fast conditions just takes this game to another level.”
But so does skipper Christian Welch’s hot mic moment in last week’s post match press conference.
Welch inadvertently added a sprinkling of spice to the clash when a live microphone caught the forward sharing his shock at Penrith beating Newcastle without having ‘anybody’ playing.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary had rested his contingent of Origin stars, leaving the likes of Dylan Edwards and enforcer James Fisher-Harris to lead the team.
“Nah, I wasn’t (having a dig),” Welch said.
“Penrith had six of their regular starting 13 out. So it’s a testament to the system Penrith have, that next man up. It’s a pretty incredible performance from that club.”
BRUTE FORCE
But Penrith’s Fisher-Harris is hardly just ‘anyone’ and a genuine star in his own right.
The soft-spoken enforcer will no doubt be looking to return serve on Friday night.
And that is exactly what Welch is expecting from Penrith’s big men, a tough battle up front with Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota and Spencer Leniu looking to make a statement.
“They’ve been the best forward pack in the last few years,” Welch said.
“They bring a real physicality and aggression and then you have Isaah Yeo who is steering the ship there and sending off those brutes of Leota and Leniu and those guys are just trying to run over you.
“Then Yeo got the finesse and craft that can really connect with the two playmakers.”
But Melbourne will have their own brute on Friday night in behemoth forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
Asofa-Solomona was used on the right edge last week where he was able to use power to explode through Manly’s defence.
Welch believes Asofa-Solomona’s home is at prop but can see coach Craig Bellamy using his size strategically, like this weekend where he has been named on the edge again.
“It’s great having a guy with his power and strength to move out there. It’s a tough position out there.” Welch said.
“Nelson brings a lot of strength in his ball carrying but he’s a really important link between the forward pack and the middle of the field in terms of defence.
For such a big man, he moves really well.
“I’m not sure if it will be permanent, but it’s an advantage to be able to change teams depending on who you are playing.”
HANDING OVER THE BATON
Melbourne have not missed a finals series since 2010 and won three premierships during that time.
It turned the Bellamy led outfit into the NRL’s benchmark.
But Ponissi believes that the baton has finally been handed over to Penrith.
Penrith went down the Storm in the 2020 grand final but have gone on to win back-to-back titles and are on track to three-straight premierships. The last team to achieve such a feat was Parramatta in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
To Ponissi, Friday night’s clash is not just a chance to overtake Penrith at the top of the NRL ladder but a litmus test to the Storm’s title hopes in 2023.
“They’re the benchmark,” Ponissi said.
“Penrith coming off back to back premierships … and they’re hitting form and we’ve had a good couple of weeks so for us it’s a yardstick to see exactly where we are.
“You want to test yourself against the best, and at the moment they are the best. You rise to the challenge.”
STORM’S SUSTAINED SUCCESS
Melbourne are heading for another top-four finish in 2023. In the last 13 seasons, the Storm have only missed the top four once, after finishing 5th on the ladder behind Parramatta in 2022.
It’s the kind of sustained success their NRL rivals can only dream about.
Bellamy’s coaching has been the cornerstone of that success but Welch believes the club’s recruitment and development has been just as crucial.
It’s the reason Melbourne have been able to overcome the loss of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and more recently Brandon Smith, Felise Kaufusi and Jesse and Kenny Bromwich.
While most have expected the Storm to slide at the loss of such star power, the side continues to succeed on the field.
“With a tight salary cap it’s hard to get a like for like replacement. Sometimes you can’t just buy these players. So it works out that you have a young player, who is a clean slate and you can spend three or four preseasons really building the player into good habits we appreciate at the Storm,” Welch said.
“You look at Harry Grant, he went to the Tigers and shot up the Dally M leaderboard but he spent four or five preseasons learning his trade under Cameron Smith.
Finding someone like Nicho Hynes, who actually fell out of the system up in Queensland, but realising he has potential.”
One of those players being built from a ‘clean slate’ is boom playmaker Jonah Pezet.
The 20-year old is considered one of the best halfback prospects in the country.
But rather than secure a regular NRL spot at another club, Pezet joined Melbourne from Newcastle in 2021 knowing he’d be stuck behind halves Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes – who both signed on long-term contracts.
Ponissi once called it the ‘Big Three effect’. The phenomenon of players wanting to join the club knowing there would be a chance to play alongside the likes of Munster, Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen. Before them it was Smith, Slater and Cronk.
“I didn’t want to talk to another club, as soon as I could settle my future here I wanted to do that. I’m here until the end of 2025,” Pezet said.
“I’m only 20. I’ll be coming off when I’m 22 and I’ve got heaps of footy ahead of me.
“I’m learning off the Australian five-eighth (Munster) and New Zealand halfback (Hughes). It’s one of the major reasons why I wanted to come here.”
Pezet has played six NRL games this year and filled in for Munster, who was out with illness, last weekend.
Ponissi said Pezet will become an NRL regular, where he will be used as a backline utility from the bench.
BIG GUNS RETURN
Munster has been named to return at five-eighth but Pezet has been named in the extended reserves as back-up for the Queensland playmaker.
Forward Tui Kamikamica has overcome a calf injury and has been named on the bench with Tariq Sims retaining his spot at prop.
Injured superstar Ryan Papenhuyzen will return to full-time training in two weeks for the first time since suffering a broken knee cap 12 months ago.
“We have a week break after this game. We’re hoping when everyone comes back, he will start full-time training with the squad,” Ponissi said.
“If he can do that for about three to four weeks then hopefully we get to a stage where he can be considered for playing.
“He still has to do a fair bit of running still. When he does that we’ll be able to get a return date for him.”
Papenhuyzen was initially slated to return in round eight after spending time in America with high performance and rehabilitation guru Bill Knowles in January.
This latest milestone in Papenhuyzen’s recovery could see the fullback return in time for the finals series.
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