{"id":127148,"date":"2025-09-08T06:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T06:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/127148\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T06:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T06:12:09","slug":"johns-makes-storm-halfback-call-after-hughes-injury-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/127148\/","title":{"rendered":"Johns makes Storm halfback call after Hughes injury – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Melbourne Storm<\/a>\u00a0will be without arguably their best player,\u00a0Jahrome Hughes,<\/a>\u00a0for the entirety of the finals after he suffered a nasty wrist injury in the side’s loss to the\u00a0Brisbane Broncos<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

While the club has a stack of halfback options to replace Hughes moving forward, NRL<\/a> Immortal Andrew Johns believes there is only one person who should be steering the ship against the Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

“The big decision is who they play at seven,” he said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.<\/p>\n

“Without a shadow of a doubt, I’d be playing Jonah Pezet<\/a> and probably go Nick Meaney<\/a> at one, I wouldn’t go with Sua Faalogo.”<\/p>\n

While most are expecting to see Tyran Wishart<\/a> in the halves alongside Cameron Munster<\/a>, Johns believes Pezet is the superior choice.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/a>
JOIN NOW FOR FREE!<\/a><\/p>\n

\"NRLSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 14: Jonah Pezet<\/a> of the Storm runs the ball during the round seven NRL<\/a> match between the Manly Sea Eagles<\/a> and Melbourne Storm<\/a> at 4 Pines Park on April 14, 2023 in Sydney, Australia<\/a>. (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“I would put Jonah straight in. He’s re-signed there for a reason. He’s in his early 20s and [has] done his apprenticeship,” Johns said.<\/p>\n

“When he’s come on the field, he has made a difference.<\/p>\n

“It’s his time for sure.”<\/p>\n

Storm legend Billy Slater<\/a> pointed out a key component of Pezet’s game that could earn him the starting role this week.<\/p>\n

“The only thing is, he’s probably got the best kicking game out of the remainder of the halves that Craig Bellamy<\/a> has to choose from,” Slater said.<\/p>\n

“That’s his strength; his game management and organisation.”<\/p>\n

Teams will be announced at 4pm on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Melbourne Storm\u00a0will be without arguably their best player,\u00a0Jahrome Hughes,\u00a0for the entirety of the finals after he suffered a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-127148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}