The Will Chambers-Curtis Scott swap may not be permanent for Melbourne Storm
Melbourne centres Will Chambers and Curtis Scott switched sides for the season opener against Brisbane but Craig Bellamy hasn’t ruled out moving the two back, even on the fly.
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Crafty veteran Will Chambers has welcomed the opportunity to switch flanks with Curtis Scott, a minor adjustment which could trigger maximum results for Melbourne Storm.
The Storm has not ruled out flipping the flanks in the run, either, with Chambers and Scott proficient on both sides having experimented on opposite edges last season and throughout Craig Bellamy’s “old school” preseason.
Chambers, 30, lined up alongside Josh Addo-Carr last week, combining neatly with both the express winger and tough back-rower Kenny Bromwich.
Scott, who carved out a decorated junior career on the right edge, gelled nicely with Suliasi Vunivalu.
“It’s pretty handy to have two centres that can play both sides, pretty much natural on both sides,” Chambers said.
“I’m lucky now that the guy outside me is named Josh Addo-Carr, (he’s) got genuine gas, I’m losing a step or two and he’s gaining it, which is good.”
Storm coach Craig Bellamy unveiled the switch last week against Brisbane Broncos with resounding success.
Scott carried the ball for 205 metres and scored once, while Chambers held up his end despite going into Round 1 slightly underdone following a painful ankle injury last month.
“It was a frustrating injury because it wasn’t bad but it was, if that makes sense,” Chambers said.
“I couldn’t really run properly and it felt like I had glass in my shoe.”
Chambers, like the Storm, is keen to go on with it in Friday night’s crunch clash in Canberra.
The Storm reaped the rewards of completing sets last week, scoring twice inside 13 minutes, and ultimately forced the Broncos to lay an extra 50 tackles in the first half alone.
“It’s only been one game, you can’t put it (handling issues) all behind you but hopefully we can… build well into the season,” Chambers said.
“We held the ball which made it a lot easier… last year we gave a heap of ball away and built pressure on ourselves.
“They were blowing because they had to make so many tackles.”
Bellamy last week revealed he spoke to Chambers last year about his role and expectations.
But the veteran, who missed six games to suspension last year from three separate incidents, yesterday refused to shed any light on the contents of the frank discussion.
“I had a chat to him about where I stood and what I had to improve on and we left it at that,” Chambers said.
“I made sure I did everything right to improve this year.”
Originally published as The Will Chambers-Curtis Scott swap may not be permanent for Melbourne Storm
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