NRL grand final 2016: Hostile crowd beckons Storm, but Cameron Smith unfazed

SALARY cap cheating, wrestling tactics and an over-representation of Queensland players — rugby league hates the Storm and Sydney will make their grand final hell.

SALARY cap cheating, wrestling tactics and an over-representation of Queensland players — the Storm are bracing for a hostile crowd in the NRL grand final.

The Storm face Cronulla in next Sunday’s decider, with the majority of support at ANZ Stadium to be with the Sydney side.

The Sharks received huge backing at Allianz Stadium on Friday night in a crowd predicted to be 90 per cent Cronulla, 10 per cent Cowboys.

The split promises to be similar for the grand final at ANZ Stadium given the general hatred of Melbourne over salary cap cheating of 2007-09 and despised wrestling tactics — as well as a high representation of Queensland players, including greats Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk.

Cameron Smith is unfazed by the swell of support against his side.

The Sharks have had scandals of their own, including the ASADA crisis. But they are yet to win a title and will have their fair share of bandwagon supporters, like the Cowboys did last year as they surged to their maiden premiership.

Smith said his team were used to being the enemy as he heads into his fifth grand final — three of those salary cap tainted.

“I don’t think we’ve played a final in Sydney when anyone’s been going for us,” Smith said.

“That’s sport and that’s part of the game and we’ve done it all year.

“We’ve played 13 games away this year and we haven’t had too many people there supporting us but I’m sure we’ll have some purple in the crowd.

Melbourne Storm have booked a spot in the grand final.

“At the end of the day, the crowd isn’t going to have an influence on the game, for us it’s there to be won and we can control what we do.”

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy watched the Sharks roll North Queensland 32-20 to win through to the grand final, taking note of playmaker James Maloney, who scored two tries and kicked six from seven goals.

But Bellamy said he wouldn’t take too much from the Sharks’ performance against the Cowboys, preferring to concentrate on their own meeting in round 26 when the Storm beat Cronulla to win the minor premiership.

“We played them only a couple of weeks ago, so we will probably go back to what we saw there, and our games before that, as far as what we’re going to go with for a game plan,” Bellamy said.

“You know they’ve got real quality halves - Jim Maloney was outstanding - and they’ve got a tough pack of forwards and some really quick, strong outside backs, so they’ve got a really good balance.”

- with AAP

Originally published as NRL grand final 2016: Hostile crowd beckons Storm, but Cameron Smith unfazed