Raiders Prove They Are Still Major Threat Despite Huge Injury Toll

[Archie]

Raiders prove Storm can be silenced when star trio are absent

Melbourne have been exposed again. Canberra did a job on them when the Storm were without Billy Slater and Cameron Smith, the same as Sydney Roosters took advantage of those two being out in the final round of last season. Their playing roster's underbelly is not as hard as it was before they had to shed players after the club was caught cheating the salary cap, and it seems that whenever they are without at least two of their ''big three'' - Cooper Cronk completes that trio - they are in trouble.



The Raiders have mostly struggled this season, and were on a five-day turnaround and travelling interstate. On top of that, they were missing a heap of injured players, including stars Josh Dugan, Terry Campese and Brett White. Even with Slater and Smith out, for the Storm to be thrashed 40-12 under those circumstances is a disgrace. The big three make the players around them look better than they really are, and the result against Canberra is a reminder to other teams that if you can do a reasonable job of restricting Slater, Smith and Cronk, then the rest of the Storm are unlikely to bring you undone. I know, it's much easier to talk about restricting them than it is to actually do it - but it can be done.

After the Storm were beaten 40-8 by the Roosters last year, they beat Newcastle in the first week of the finals but were then eliminated by a Warriors side that did a good job of restricting the Storm's stars.

Now that Canberra have won two games in five days, the possibility has emerged that the Raiders could make the finals and ensure coach David Furner is safe for next year. It seems unreal when you consider how badly they were travelling a few weeks ago, but they are just two points away from eighth place. They can certainly stay alive in coming weeks, with home games against Gold Coast and Newcastle.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/raiders-prove-storm-can-be-silenced-when-star-trio-are-absent-20120708-21pk1.html#ixzz2056ozTOk

[Archie]

Storm I will see your Smith and Slater and raise you a Dugan, Campese, White, Whighton, Kennedy, Buttriss..... etc. This crap about the Storm being silenced without their big three is disrespectful to us, what about us being able to silence them WITHOUT 2 of our captains, our fullback, starting hooker... we have a much bigger injury problem than they do, hell cat man Cam Smith wasnt even injured, what a sook obviously NSW were too much for him.