No pain or worries for Hughes as Storm confidence booms
Scott Bailey and Melissa Woods |
Melbourne have declared themselves better placed for this year’s grand final than last season’s defeat to Penrith, after Jahrome Hughes gave his fractured left forearm a huge tick of approval.
Hughes completed the fastest return on record from a fractured arm in Friday night’s preliminary-final win over Cronulla, scoring a first-half try in the process.
Wearing a guard and sporting a scar where a plate was inserted three weeks ago, Hughes defended on the wing but appeared pain free and able to fend off tackles in the lead up to his four-pointer.
The Melbourne halfback has made no secret of the fact he thought his season was over when felled against Brisbane, before returning to contact training last Thursday.
“It kind of sounds heroic and tough for playing, but I actually felt really good. I wasn’t sore out there,” Hughes, who also dislocated his shoulder in July, said.
“I was able to get confidence on the week, and if I didn’t have that confidence, I wouldn’t have played.
“It was probably a bit over-talked for me.
“Even before and after the game a lot of people were asking how it is. If I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t be playing. It got through fine.”
Hughes has conceded he may need to change his tackle technique, after suffering the injury when going low and collected by Brendan Pikaura’s knee.
But more immediately, last year’s Dally M winner has the winner of Brisbane or Penrith in his sights.
Beaten 14-6 by the Panthers last year, Hughes said the Storm’s all-star spine of he, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster and Harry Grant were better placed for Sunday’s decider.
While critics have questioned Melbourne’s consistency this year, the quartet have won eight of the nine games they have played together in 2025.
All four were electric against Cronulla, with Papenhuyzen and Munster’s running games coming to the fore.
“I think we are (better placed). The experience of learning from last year and learning from not just the game but the week, and how we prepared,” Hughes said.
“That was a lot of the boys’ first grand final. It’s good we got that under our belt and now we can hopefully give it another good crack.
“We’ve had another pre-season together (as a spine).
“Unfortunately we probably haven’t played as many games together this year as we’d like.
“But I feel like we’ve been together enough to know how each other plays, and I think that’s a bonus.”
The other factor for Melbourne is Stefano Utoikamanu, with Craig Bellamy lauding him the best front-rower in the competition over the past two months.
Utoikamanu’s power looms as the missing piece of Melbourne’s puzzle after Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s absence was felt in last year’s decider.
“Last season we were probably cruising going into that game and we got into a tough arm wrestle against Penrith,” captain Harry Grant said.
“That probably hurt us a little bit.
“Whereas this year we have really had to fight for every win. All season we have had to stay in it and come up with different scenarios to win games.
“You’ve got the experience of last year.
“And you talk about Stefano. We’ve got new players within our squad, new staff. It’s more of a new opportunity.”
AAP
