‘Stinks’: Munster slams Storm attitude as finals loom
Joel Gould |
Melbourne will finish the regular season in second but their finals campaign could be over in the second week without a major adjustment in attitude and desire.
The alarm bells are ringing after a 40-10 home collapse to Sydney Roosters was followed by a 30-14 away loss to Brisbane on Thursday night on the cusp of the finals.
Poor discipline, leaky defence and clunky attack are not like Melbourne. Worse has been their weak mentality.
“We’ve got to have a hard look at ourselves,” five-eighth Cameron Munster said.
“Defensively we just have an attitude problem. The last couple of weeks our attitude stinks.”
Coach Craig Bellamy has plenty to try and fix ahead of next week’s qualifying final against Canterbury. He’s been around enough finals to know that the Storm are headed for an early exit if an alarming trend is not reversed.
“The biggest disappointment for me is over the last two weeks we’ve had 70 points put on,” Bellamy said.
“That’s not a good thing, not a good sign coming into finals.
“Defence is what wins big games, and big games are just about to start. We’re nowhere near where we should be in that department.”
The task against the Bulldogs got a lot harder when half Jahrome Hughes fractured his arm against the Broncos in the first half on his return from a five-week absence with a shoulder injury.
The Storm will get captain and hooker Harry Grant back from suspension.
Jonah Pezet or Tyran Wishart will partner Munster against the Bulldogs.
“I played with them the last three or four weeks before Jahrome came back, so we’ve got a really good combination,” Munster said.
“It’s obviously going to be disappointing not having Hughsey there, he’s such an integral part of our attack and our defence. But we’ve got some good depth in our halves. I’ve got a lot of belief in those two guys.”
It was unusual to hear Bellamy’s response when asked whether his side had the desire to go all the way and win the comp.
“I’m doubting that at the moment. We’ll see next week, we’ll find out,” he said.
Those words were painful for Munster, sitting next to his coach, to hear but he is not giving up hope of winning his third premiership.
“We’ve got the team to do it. There’s a couple of cracks at the moment with blokes needing an attitude adjustment,” he said.
“I know a lot of people are going to put a little speculation and a lot of stuff in the headlines and media about whether we can do it or not, but that’s what you sell papers for. We’ve got to worry about our own four walls.”
AAP
