I can not wait for this weekends clash between the only two undefeated team in the NRL, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Melbourne Storm.
These are the two teams I tipped to make the Grand Final. So far this season, they both seem to be set to make yet another of my predictions come to fruition. There is something that keeps nagging at me though….
This is a huge game for the Rabbitohs. A chance to show they have arrived as a premiership threat. Everyone knows the Storm are setting the standard for everyone else to meet, and if the Rabbitohs can be the first team to beat them this season it would be a huge feather in their cap.
The Bunnies will have been eyeing this game off for a while. They know how important it is to be able to show they can compete with the Storm.
Meanwhile, down in Melbourne, this is just like every other game the Storm play. They are facing a team that wants to knock off the defending NRL Premiers. They will be facing a team that is up for a huge challenge.
My concern is that the Bunnies lift for this game, win it…and then think that they have got to the level needed to beat the Storm when it really matters, in the finals.
The Storm we see at this point of the season is a very good side, but it is a completely different animal to the Melbourne Storm side we will see come finals time.
By then the Storm will have been hardened by another long season. Their best players will have battled through another State Of origin campaign. Their fitness and timing will be at its peak, and that is not even to mention their drive to win.
A win for the Rabbitohs this weekend would be a great thing for the club. It would be a huge boost for their players and their fans. Everyone needs to remember though that Premierships and not won in April and that all a win really gives a club at this stage of the season is two competition points.
The Storm have been here before a hundred times. The Rabbitohs are new to the party. I can not wait for this clash. No matter who wins it though, the Storm are still the team to beat.
