2016 NRL Finals - Week 1 - MATCH THREAD

[Graham]

... a game of two halves.

[Farmduck]

MELBOURNE STORM  

v 

NTH QLD COWBOYS

[Graham]

STORM: 
1 Cameron Munster
2 Suliasi Vunivalu
3 Will Chambers
4 Cheyse Blair
5 Marika Koroibete
6 Blake Green
7 Cooper Cronk
8 Jesse Bromwich
9 Cameron Smith ©
16 Jordan McLean
11 Kevin Proctor
12 Tohu Harris
13 Dale Finucane

Interchange
10 Tim Glasby
14 Kenny Bromwich
17 Ben Hampton
21 Nelson Asofa-Solomona

[Graham]

COWBOYS:
1 Lachlan Coote
2 Kyle Feldt
3 Justin O'Neill
4 Kane Linnett
5 Antonio Winterstein
6 Michael Morgan
7 Johnathan Thurston ©
8 Matthew Scott
9 Jake Granville
10 James Tamou
11 Gavin Cooper
12 Ethan Lowe
13 Jason Taumalolo

Interchange
14 Rory Kostjasyn
15 Coen Hess
16 Scott Bolton
17 Ben Hannant

[Graham]

Melbourne-North Queensland rivalry has been growing in recent years and tonight’s qualifying finals clash at AAMI Park is shaping up to be another huge battle.
The Cowboys knocked off the Storm in the preliminary final last year, but the men in purple have won the contest on two occasions this season in tight affairs.
Craig Bellamy’s men come into the game off the back of a comprehensive win over Cronulla where they bagged the minor premiership, while the Cowboys also enjoyed a good win over Gold Coast.
The winner tonight will progress through to the preliminary final, while the loser will take on Brisbane next week.

[Graham]

Kicked off

[Graham]

Channel Nein as my good friend George Fairclough used to call them, are covering this with Ray Warren.

[Graham]

40-20 kick from Cam Smith after Storm in own half most of time.

[Farmduck]

Cam Smith 40/20 after 2 minutes but Storm can't cash in.

[Futtocks]

Sunny Australia, eh?

[Farmduck]

Why don't these ground managers cut back on the fireworks when they can see it's a very still night?

[Graham]

Cowboys making lots of ground.

Big crowd again.

[Farmduck]

Sunny Australia, eh?

No, not at night.

[Graham]

11degrees in Canberra

12 degrees in Melbourne.

Temperatures not large pop groups.

[Graham]

Storm had more possession.

[Graham]

Cowboys under pressure but holding firm at the back.

[Graham]

20 minutes gone 0-0

[Graham]

Cam Smith cut on eyebrow.

[Graham]

Cowboys having a lot of possession now.

[Graham]

3 line drop outs forced by Cowboys.

[Farmduck]

Pretty tense 0-0 after 24 minutes

[Graham]

Thurston fan club in commentary team.

[Graham]

Maaaagnificent game between two woooonderful sides.

Yes thanks for that Ray.

[Graham]

That's the third time Vunivalu has been run off the ball, but the first penalised.

Smith going for goal on 28 minutes.

[Graham]

2-0 Storm