WHO: Melbourne Storm v Wests Tigers
WHAT: Round 18 of the 2008 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney
WHEN: Monday, July 14th @ 7.00pm
ON TV: Fox Sports 2 LIVE – 7.00pm
CHECK IT OUT: Melbourne Storm’s website with all the latest stats, profiles, updates, schedule and training times, alerts, news etc…. www.melbournestorm.com.au
IN BRIEF
Melbourne welcomed back eight of their nine State-of-Origin stars (Michael Crocker was rested) with a terrific 30-14 win over the Canberra Raiders at Olympic Park. The win left the Storm just two points off the top of the NRL ladder.
The Wests Tigers enjoyed a bye in Round 17.
FAST FACTS
• Melbourne has won four of their past six clashes with Wests Tigers
• Wests Tigers have lost four of their past five games
• Melbourne average just 13 points away from home
• Wests Tigers have won only two from five at Campbelltown over the past two seasons
DID YOU KNOW?
Matt Geyer will celebrate his 250th Melbourne Storm game on Monday night. Geyer will become the 20th player to play 250 games for the one club. He will become the 59th player to play 250 career games.
KEY MATCH UP
Injuries have also conspired to deplete the Wests Tigers line-up. Halfback Matthew Head is out with shoulder and thumb injuries while is front-rower Todd Payten is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury. Add Ryan O’Hara (broken jaw) and Danny Galea (ankle) who are out for the season and the casualty ward at Wests Tigers makes for depressing viewing.
However, one player they do have fit and firing on the field at the moment is five-eight Benji Marshall. With five line-break assists and six try assists in just nine games, Marshall needs to provide the spark for a side averaging just 1,241 metres of territory a game – the worst in the NRL.
His battle with Greg Inglis will be one of the individual clashes of the season. They are arguably the two most exciting players in the competition when on-song, and Monday night could well be where these two light up the night.
Since Origin II where he single-handedly destroyed New South Wales and lead Queensland to a 30-0 win at Suncorp Stadium, Inglis has been in career best form. Against Canberra last Sunday coach Craig Bellamy said after the game he believed Inglis had taken his game to another level, not skill-wise, but tough-wise. Inglis has always been the most talented player in the NRL, now he was adding mental toughness to his arsenal as well.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 15, Storm: 15, Wests Tigers: 5
At Campbelltown Stadium: Played: 1, Storm: 1, Wests Tigers: 0
FOR AND AGAINST 2008
Points for: Storm: 334, Wests Tigers: 328
Points against: Storm: 209, Wests Tigers: 348
Tries for: Storm: 59, Wests Tigers: 57
Points differential: Storm: +125, Wests Tigers: -20
LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm def. Raiders 30-14 @ Olympic Park, Melbourne
Wests Tigers BYE
LAST EIGHT CLASHES
| YEAR | RESULT | VENUE |
| 2007 | Tigers def. Storm 30-12 @ | Bluetongue Stadium |
| 2007 | Storm def. Tigers 18-16 @ | Olympic Park |
| 2006 | Storm Tigers 46-4 @ | Olympic Park |
| 2006 | Tigers def. Storm 30-28 @ | Leichhardt Oval |
| 2005 | Storm def. Tigers 34-22 @ | Olympic Park |
| 2005 | Storm def. Tigers 30-14 @ | Leichhardt Oval |
| 2004 | Tigers def. Storm 32-18 @ | Leichhardt Oval |
| 2004 | Storm def. Tigers 30-24 @ | Olympic Park |
THE STORM STORY SO FAR
WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE: STORM 4 (Try: Hoffman) def. by RHINOS 11 (Try: Donald; Goals: Sinfield 3; Field Goal: Sinfield) at Elland Road, Leeds
ROUND 1: STORM 32 (Tries: Slater 3, Johnson, Tagataese; Goals: C. Smith 5, Turner) def. WARRIORS 18 (Tries: Vatuvei 2, Ropati; Goals: Witt 3) at Telstra Dome, Melbourne
ROUND 2: STORM 16 (Tries: Aitken, White, Falou; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. by SHARKS 17 (Tries: Kearney, Gallen, Simmons; Goals: Covell 2; Field Goals: Kimmorley) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 3: Storm (Try: Slater; Goal: C. Smith) def. by ROOSTERS (Try: Kenny-Dowell; Goals: FitzGibbon 3) at Sydney Football Stadium
ROUND 4: STORM 28 (Tries: Quinn 3, Folau, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 4) def. BRONCOS 8 (Tries: Robinson, Stagg) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 5: STORM 26 (Tries: Slater 2, Inglis, Quinn, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 3) def. SEA EAGLES 4 (Try: Barney) at Olympic Park
ROUND 6: STORM 23 (Tries: Chambers, Turner, Slater, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 3; Field Goal: Cronk) def. RAIDERS 16 (Tries: Best, Plum, Purtell; Goals: Carney 2) at Canberra Stadium
ROUND 7: STORM 12 (Tries: Inglis, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. COWBOYS 10 (Tries: Williams 2; Goals: Thurston) at Dairy Farmer’s Stadium
ROUND 8: BYE
ROUND 9: STORM 18 (Tries: Folau 2, Quinn; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. KNIGHTS 4 (Try: Mullen) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 10: STORM 12 (Tries: Chambers, Manu; Goals: Smith, Turner) def. by DRAGONS 36 (Tries: Nightingale 2, B. Morris, J Morris, Lett, Soward; Goals: Soward 6) at ANZ Stadium
ROUND 11: STORM 15 (Tries: Chambers, J. Smith; Goals: C. Smith 2, Field Goals: Cronk) def. RABBITOHS 12 (Tries: Vagana 2; Goals: Luke) at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
ROUND 12: STORM 46 (Tries: Geyer 2, C. Smith, Folau, Turner, J. Smith, Crocker, Cronk; Goals: C. Smith 7) def. BULLDOGS 0 at Olympic Park
ROUND 13: STORM 0 def. by TITANS 18 (Tries: Delaney, Meyers, Jeffrey; Goals: Rogers 3) at Skilled Park
ROUND 14: BYE
ROUND 15: STORM 48 (Tries: Inglis 3, Turner 2, J Smith, Slater, Geyer, Folau; Goals: C Smith 6) def. COWBOYS 20 (Tries: Henry, Williams, Webb, Cashmere; Goals: Thurston 2) at Olympic Park
ROUND 16: STORM 22 (Tries: Manu 2, Tomane, Cronk; Goals: Turner 2, Cronk) def. by EELS 24 (Tries: Tautai, Williams, Reddy, Inu; Goals: Burt 4) at Parramatta Stadium
ROUND 17: STORM 30 (Tries: Inglis 2, Slater, Manu, Quinn, Turner; Goals: Smith 3) def. RAIDERS 14 (Tries: Monaghan, Carney, Chalk; Goals: Carney) at Olympic Park
2008 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Slater 9, Folau 8, Inglis 7, Quinn 6, Turner 5, Manu 4, Chambers 3, J. Smith 3, Geyer 3, Hoffman 2, Cronk 2, Johnson, Tagataese, Aitken, White, C. Smith, Crocker, Tomane
2008 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 42, Turner 4, J. Smith, Cronk
2008 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Cronk 2
2008 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C Smith 88, Slater 36, Folau 32, Inglis 28, Quinn 24, Turner 20, Manu 16, J. Smith 14, Chambers 12, Geyer 12, Cronk 12, Hoffman 8, Johnson 4, Tagataese 4, Aitken 4, White 4, Crocker 4, Tomane 4
MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Sam Tagataese (shoulder): 1 week
Aidan Guerra (ankle): 2 weeks
Danny Vaughan (knee): season
Ben MacDougall (knee): season
Dane Nielsen (shoulder): season
Will Chambers (knee): season
THE STORM AHEAD
Round 19: Saturday, July 19th v Dragons @ Olympic Park, 5.30pm
Round 20: Sunday, July 27th v Warriors @ Mt Smart Stadium, 2.00pm (AEST)
Round 21: Friday, August 1st v Titans @ Olympic Park, 7.45pm
Round 22: Friday, August 8th v Sea Eagles @ Brookvale Oval, 7.45pm
Round 23: Friday, August 15th v Roosters @ Olympic Park, 7.35pm
TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
| POSITION | CLUB | POINTS |
| 1 | Sea Eagles | 26 |
| 2 | Roosters | 26 |
| 3 | Sharks | 26 |
| 4 | Storm | 24 |
| 5 | Dragons | 22 |
| 6 | Broncos | 21 |
| 7 | Titans | 20 |
| 8 | Eels | 18 |
| 9 | Panthers | 19 |
| 10 | Tigers | 18 |
| 11 | Knights | 16 |
| 12 | Raiders | 16 |
| 13 | Warriors | 16 |
| 14 | Rabbitohs | 14 |
| 15 | Bulldogs | 12 |
| 16 | Cowboys | 10 |
SQUAD FOR MONDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Billy Slater
2. Steve Turner
3. Matt Geyer
4. Israel Folau
5. Anthony Quinn
6. Greg Inglis
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Jeff Lima
9. Cam Smith
10. Brett White
11. Michael Crocker
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson
Interchange:
14. Jeremy Smith, 15. Adam Blair, 16. Sika Manu, 17. Antonio Kaufusi.
Coach: Craig Bellamy.
