NRL 2021: Des Hasler’s mind games don’t fool Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy
Ahead of their qualifying final with Melbourne, it appears Des Hasler is up to his old tricks again, suggesting Storm may be ‘impossible to beat’.
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Storm coach Craig Bellamy has accused Des Hasler of mind games ahead of Friday night’s qualifying final after the Manly coach declared “maybe Melbourne are impossible to beat.”
The reigning premier heads into the finals with the minor premiership in the bag, and it’s also the new equal record holder of the biggest winning streak in ARL/NRL history with 19.
Parramatta ended their run, but Storm bounced back last week with a win against Cronulla despite resting a large number of its stars.
Speaking on Thursday, Hasler admitted his side’s best might not even be good enough.
“I guess you can only really put your best foot forward and that is what it is all about,” Hasler said.
“Maybe Melbourne are impossible to beat, so we will have to wait and see. They are a good side, a very good side.”
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Bellamy said neither he nor his side would be sucked in by Hasler’s comment.
“I think Des might be just playing a couple of games there trying to get our boys a little bit overconfident, which they won’t be, I can promise you that,” Bellamy said.
The Storm coach also took exception to Hasler using the word “grind” to describe his Storm side this season.
“With all due respect, I don’t know whether that ‘grind’ you say that we are, I think we’ve scored a fair few points this year,” Bellamy said.
“Our footy with the footy is a little bit more than a grind.
“Obviously Manly are free flowing and very effective with what they do and they’ve got the players to play that way, but I don’t know whether we’re such a big contrast.
“Our guys have done a great job this year and our guys will turn up there tomorrow hopefully ready to play.”
Star five-eighth Cameron Munster has been named but is no certainty to face the Sea Eagles due to the risk of infection.
“It’s not so much he’s got a knee injury but it’s been split open and he’s had stitches internally and stitches on the outside, and they’re just worried about it opening up again,” Bellamy said.
“It’s a thing that’s basically up to Cameron really and how comfortable he feels and whether it’s going to affect him too much.
“He’s done most of the training and we’ll see how he pulls up tonight and we’ll make a decision tomorrow.”
Winger George Jennings will return but star Josh Addo-Carr (hamstring) will miss, though he’s unlikely to miss any further finals.
SECRET SLATER CRITICISMS WHICH TURNED PAP AROUND
The ink had barely dried on Ryan Papenhuyzen’s contract when Melbourne great and fullback Billy Slater picked up the phone and welcomed him to the Storm.
That brief call back in 2017 forged a friendship that would not only help Papenhuyzen to eventually make Slater’s famous No.1 jumper his own, but also deliver a performance that earned him the Clive Churchill Medal in last year’s grand final.
Even though Jahrome Hughes was considered Slater’s immediate successor after his retirement at the end of season 2018, the Queensland great, who is in pole position to take over as Maroons coach from Paul Green, had other ideas.
“I got to Melbourne after they won the comp in 2017 but I actually didn’t meet Bill in person until the new year,” Papenhuyzen said.
“It wasn’t until my second year when he wasn’t playing that I learned a lot more, the amount of work he puts into a game.
“That first year in 2018, I was watching from the outside, I’d see what he was doing but stand off a little bit.
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“At the time I was low down the ranks, probably considered the third or fourth string fullback.
“But going into 2019, he approached me and said ‘all right mate, what are we doing? I’m going to help you out here’.
“That was so cool to know he had my back and that he was willing to help me wherever I needed. The rest is history.”
While Papenhuyzen has developed into an accomplished fullback in his own right that hasn’t stopped Slater from picking apart the 23-year old’s game on a weekly basis.
Slater, a specialist coach with the Storm, isn’t part of the club’s bubble on the Sunshine Coast but still reaches out to Papenhuyzen after every game.
“It’s the kind of relationship where we can text after every game and gives me feedback and we talk about fullback things. He’ll send me clips to watch,” Papenhuyzen said.
“He has a different perspective, things that I don’t see in my game, he’ll find them.
“He can be critical but it’s coming from a good place. He’s invested four or five years in me so I know whatever his feedback he cares.”
After a timid return from an eight-week concussion lay off, Papenhuyzen told The Daily Telegraph his confidence is finally back to the levels before the severe head knock suffered during Magic Round in May.
It is perfect timing for Papenhuyzen, whose positional battle with Manly superstar fullback tonight, is one of the most tantalising match-ups of week one of the finals series.
Brandon Smith is expecting Papenhuyzen to rise to the occasion but conceded the most his side can do to blunt Trbojevic’s impact is to ‘minimise the damage’, rather than neutralise the threat he poses from the back.
“He’s the main guy in their team … but I don’t think Tommy Turbo is the kind of guy you can just neutralise,” Smith said.
“He’s probably the greatest player I have seen play the game.
“This season, what he has done in 15 games is actually ridiculous. It is more than what Ben Barba did in 2012 and he played 27 games.
“Stats wise he’s destroying the season, it’s ridiculous.
‘It’s about limiting the damage he does, because he is going to do damage regardless.”
HOW ‘THE GUY TO REPLACE SLATER’ FOUND HIS FEET AT NO.7
Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes sacrificed $850,000 in pursuit of more premiership success and is adamant Melbourne has the hunger to clinch back-to-back NRL titles.
Hughes will play a pivotal role in Melbourne’s title defence when the Storm kick off their finals campaign against Manly at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Friday night.
The qualifying final will be Hughes’ third game back since being left concussed by a brutal high tackle from Canberra’s Corey Harawira-Naera.
After watching Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen wage a 10-week battle with lingering concussion symptoms, Hughes was initially worried about what his future held.
But he bounced back to full health quickly and is now ready to lead Melbourne’s charge for consecutive NRL premierships after winning his first grand final last year.
“The first night and next morning I was s**t, but after that I was pretty good,” Hughes said.
“I haven’t had too many concussions, but I’ve always pulled up well. I don’t know if that’s just me or they haven’t been that bad.
“I took it seriously in the beginning because I saw what happened to ‘Paps’, but once I started feeling better I was sweet. I got over it pretty quickly.
“Corey was devastated about what happened. I have glimpses of him coming into the sheds after and seeing me. He messaged me after the game and before I returned saying ‘it’s good to see you back’.
“I know he’s not like that. I know him through Kiwis camp and that’s not him.“
THE HALFBACK SWITCH
Hughes, 26, made his NRL debut for the Gold Coast Titans in 2013 but didn’t play another game before one appearance for the Cowboys in 2016.
He was one of the Intrust Super Cup’s standouts but his career was at a crossroads before the Storm offered him a shot in 2017.
Hughes took the opportunity with both hands, playing a bit of fullback, halfback and five-eighth as he was groomed to be star No. 1 Billy Slater’s successor.
But the emergence of Papenhuyzen saw him become the first-choice fullback and Hughes sought refuge at halfback after Brodie Croft failed to make the most of replacing Cooper Cronk.
Since then, Hughes has gone from strength to strength and been one of the NRL’s top No. 7s in 2021, boasting nine tries, 23 try-assists and 19 line breaks.
“Everyone thought I’d be the guy to replace Slatts (Slater),“ Hughes said.
“I did for a little bit but Paps came in and played so well that he demanded starting fullback.
“I was going all right and Craig (Bellamy, coach) probably wanted to reward me by keeping me in the team. Unfortunately for Crofty, that was at halfback.
“Even I was a bit surprised when he asked me if I wanted to play there. I obviously couldn’t say no to a coach like Craig and a starting spot in the NRL. I took it and ran with it.
“In the 2019 season when we bowed out in the prelim, there was a lot of outside noise, and probably some inside as well, saying I wasn’t the right choice at halfback.
“People were saying I wasn’t a halfback. I probably would have agreed with them at that time.
“But once Craig gave me the green light that I’d be the seven the next year, I took it upon myself to do everything I could to turn myself into the halfback the Storm need.
“I learned as much as I could and to finish 2020 as a premiership-winning halfback was awesome.”
THE $850,000 SACRIFICE
After his 2020 heroics, Hughes became one of the NRL’s top recruitment targets for the 2022 season.
A number of clubs launched bids to snare him and none were more enticing than the New Zealand Warriors, who came to the table with a lucrative three-year deal.
A New Zealand native, Hughes was on the verge of joining the Warriors but couldn’t bring himself to leave Melbourne and committed to the Storm until 2024 on a deal worth $850,000 less.
“I was close to leaving but at the same time, I wasn’t,” Hughes said.
“I looked at it and thought I’d love to go back home, be closer to my dad and his family, and where I grew up (Wellington).
“The money was enticing as well, but it was so hard to leave the Storm with the way things are here and how much I love it.
“I’ve come to love Melbourne so much, not just the club but the city as well. If I was anywhere else, I probably would have left. But the club and Melbourne … I couldn’t go.
“I was pretty close (to leaving) because I wanted to prove I could do well outside of the Storm. But I also wanted to become more of a leader here as well. I’m happy with my decision.”
THE PREMIERSHIP PLEDGE
It is one of the great sport debates – does the hunger to win subside after a premiership triumph?
The Storm have played in four of the past five grand finals and clinched a fourth minor premiership in six years this season.
The appetite to win is still strong and Hughes insists the Storm desperately want back-to-back premierships.
“It’s still there,” he said.
“If you don’t have the hunger to win another premiership then you shouldn’t be here.
“It was a dream I had for a long time. To be able to do it still doesn’t feel real.
“Now I’ve done it, it’s just made me hungry for more. I’ve never thought ‘I’ve done it and I’m happy with one premiership’.
“It’s made me hungry to win more and get that feeling again.”
MADGE MADE ME: HARRY’S DEBT TO UNDER SIEGE MAGUIRE
Melbourne star Harry Grant has jumped to the defence of Michael Maguire as his former coach at the Wests Tigers fights to save his job.
With the Tigers missing the finals for a 10th straight season, Grant is preparing to line-up for his first playoff game when the Storm face Manly on Friday night and he says he wouldn’t be in the position he’s in without Maguire.
The Storm hooker’s stance comes as the fallout continues from the Tigers’ humiliating 38-0 loss to bottom-placed Canterbury on Sunday.
Grant’s time at Concord in 2020, when he was loan from Melbourne, not only resulted in Origin selection and Rookie of the Year status but helped prove to Storm coach Craig Bellamy he was a regular first grader.
“He (Maguire) was so invested in me personally and my experience at the Tigers. He was also invested in me playing well and being better, not only as a player but as a person,” Grant told The Daily Telegraph.
“I can never knock the Wests Tigers or Madge, he gave me a great opportunity.
“Who knows, I might not be sitting here about to play my first finals game.
“I definitely would not have won an Origin series or Rookie of the Year if Wests Tigers didn’t give me the opportunity.
“What he did for me last year, I felt my game develop, he helped to really improve my game personally last year.
“They’re building something there, I saw that, I hope they do get success because it’s coming.”
Brandon Smith, who was ahead of Grant in the Storm’s hooking pecking order, believes his fellow rake will rise to the occasion against Manly.
“He’s sweet. He’s a kickback dude but takes rugby league real seriously and the best thing about him is he trains really hard, he’s the first bloke out there and he’s always working on his craft,” Smith said.
“I think if you put in the work it eliminated the fear, I think Michael Jordan said that … he’s going to be fine.”
Grant is taking both Smith and Jordan’s advice and will be seeking out the like of Bellamy to ensure he is prepared for not only his first game, but what will be the start of Melbourne’s back-to-back title tilt.
“It’s a new experience for me, I don’t really want to go into unprepared or blind,” Grant said.
“I have been sourcing a bit of knowledge from those older senior players and coaches.
“I want to get a bit of advice from them on what worked for them and didn’t work for them over the year and put that into practice throughout the week.”
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