Last year’s semi-final against the Storm was a huge game for us in a lot of ways.
We went down as underdogs, having not won there in nine matches.
So we had to play well.
But the best part about it was where we were at as a group.
We just had to put our boots on, because we knew what each other were going to do.
We also knew the bloke next to us was going to stand up and that's the way that we played.
I remember we got a couple of letters from SAS guys who took us on an army camp probably 10 months beforehand.
That was awesome.
It was just two paragraphs for me that said, 'there are no inspirational speeches before battle' and that was exactly where we were at.
We didn't need anyone to get up and say, 'right, let's get out here and do this'.
Everyone just put their boots on and away we went.
I just loved that about our games in the backend of the season until we got beaten against the Roosters.
As I read the quotes from the army guys, you could just picture them going to battle and talking inspirational speeches.
They've done their hard work, trained as good as they can, prepared meticulously and they know what they have to do.
And that is where we were at as a group.
Tackling the Storm:
Our start against Melbourne last year was sensational, because it pulled Melbourne apart the way we attacked from our back three off kick returns.
That's what you've got to do against Melbourne.
If you just play a game of percentages, they are always going to tire you up and beat you.
It's why you've got to chance your arm a bit, pull them out of shape and that's what we did in that first 20 minutes.
Timing perfect:
In a way there is no good time to play Melbourne, because they are such a well-drilled team with some of the greatest players in the world playing in their team.
But it can bring the best out of our guys.
We've got a lot of seasoned first graders there and they'll go down there ready to play.
I think you can pinpoint that round 14 match against Melbourne down there last season as turning point for us.
It was the same sort of thing in that we were coming off a couple of bad losses and we said, 'right we are going down to Melbourne and we need to play well otherwise we are going to get embarrassed'.
And that round 14 game was definitely a turning point for us and hopefully it can be the same for the guys on Monday.
The Big Three:
Cooper Cronk:
The practice that Cooper puts in at training shows on the field. He is meticulous, first-class and very professional in what he does. And it gets reward, because he puts that ball in the right place most times.
Even if it is going over a little bit, you've got Slater flying through and he is going to try and tap it back. So any margin for error, which is very minimal with Cooper, he has also got some great chases there and some good targets who can clean up his kicks.
Billy Slater:
His kick return is very strong, so our kick chase needs to improve on last week otherwise he'll have a field day out there with us.
But as I've said, that will just bring out the best in our team playing against Slater because you know you have to have a good kick-chase.
Cam Smith:
Then you've got Smith with the calmness and coolness he displays with the team going forward.
Cam's left-foot kick is also well spoken about, but he always gets it in and puts teams under pressure. He also just knows how to put the momentum in the Storm's favour all the time and that's the sign of a great player.
So those are little areas we are looking to pick-up to beat Melbourne and get our season back on track.
