12:30 p.m. in the bowels of ANZ Stadium, sitting next to my old pal Luke Lewis, Clive Churchill Medal around my neck and the Prime Minister’s trophy between us
A pat of the hand landed on my shoulder and Shane Flanagan’s voice saying « look at this »
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The stats sheet read Cameron Smith 67 tackles, amazed at his efforts, it was mission time complete
Before the 2016 Grand Final, Cameron Smith was at the center of our preparation
I’ve never played against an opponent who can better control the tempo of a match or balance the momentum, even when you expected and planned it all week
The only possible way to beat the Melbourne storm was to ruthlessly apply the torch to Smith through a collision avalanche
So from the moment we entered our first team meeting, Smith became the number one priority
What I liked about my Sharks teammates was that they didn’t need to be told twice
« Our full backs have to find Smith on our kicking returns and run hard, try to isolate him » I say
I could see the look in the eyes of [Sosaia] Feki, [Jack] Bird, [Valentine] Holmes, [Ricky] Leutele and [Ben] Barba, they were all on board
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The Storm loved stacking numbers in the tackle, but I knew with the power and footwork on our backs that if they could generate a quick play of balls early in sets then I could sit on back and direct [Paul] Gallen, [Andrew] Fifita, [Matt] Prior, [Luke] Lewis and [Wade] Graham to Smith and drain his gas tank
While the final preparations for the Grand were well underway in the county, everyone who dined at King Wan that week was brutally interrupted by the screaming yells: « Where’s Smith, I’ve got Smith, here he is. , attack him «
Session by session it became ingrained in us how important it was to bomb Smith not for 10 minutes, not for the first half but for the full 80 minutes, now all we had to do was to perform it on the big front stage of around 80,000, a place where only the greats thrive and a place where Smith was so comfortable
In the last moments of the warm-up, I pass some teammates who have proven themselves on the big stage
Lewis, « buddy keep following the fray, if we got Smith in front of us we’re going to him », Gal « buddy keep finding Smith », Prior and Fifita together, « all night boys, I have to go to Smith « , Wade » whenever Smith is by your side I come to you, be ready to go «
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The first half was beautifully brutal, squeaky, from start to finish how much both sides loved it
A 40-minute dominant led us 8-0 as our forwards and outside full-backs pushed their way through the Storm defensive line with a radar on Cameron Smith, making a whopping 35 tackles, unsurprisingly Fifita, Lewis and Prior carrying all the ball 100 meters
The execution of the Smith plan was on track, but the Storm Skipper champion was ready for the fight
8-0 has never been enough to feel comfortable, not when Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith control the opposition, and of course, after a 50-minute barrage to contain a mountain of pressure, Smith injects himself, puts Jesse Bromwich off for their first try and just like that, Smith had the contest flipped
Before we knew it, Will Chambers had scored his second and we were behind our try line, trailing 12 points with eight to 15 minutes left.
« Boys, let’s get back to ourselves » asks James Maloney, « start playing through them again, stop trying to get around them » and like an old broken record I ask that we come back to find Smith this time around Jack Bird, Holmes, Leutele and Beale who put the autopilot on and focused on him, by this point he had made 55 tackles
Fighting the momentum in our favor, it was Fifita who of course straightened our offense just as Jimmy asked and scored one of the most incredible individual tries you’ll see to seal the Sharks their very first post of Prime Minister
Smith ended the night with 67 monumental tackles beside his name and he continued to threaten into the dying moments
It was torture limit what he endured in 80 minutes, a plan we had to execute so precisely to limit the champion No 9’s offensive genius
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National Rugby League, Melbourne Storm, Penrith Panthers, NRL Grand Final, Cameron Smith, Sydney Roosters
World News – AU – Ennis: The Proven Plan of How To Do It shut up Smith and shut up in the storm
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
