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However, Fletcher gave Storm fans hope by what the Panthers did last year after going from last to a prelim final. <\/p>\n
\u201cPenrith were in exactly the same position after Round 8 last year, they were two and six, so there\u2019s hope for them,\u201d Fletcher said. <\/p>\n
However, Nathan Hindmarsh doubts the Storm can turn it around in time to play finals. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t see them getting out of this hole,\u201d Hindmarsh said. <\/p>\n
Johns noted it is a bad sign that Bellamy seems out of answers. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou see Bellyache and part of it\u2019s this that he sits in the press conferences and he\u2019s going, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Johns said. <\/p>\n
Hindmarsh questioned if Bellamy knows how to get his team out of the hole, given he has never been in this position before. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a bit scary because when your coach has been there forever and has won multiple premierships and has taken them to semi-finals every year, I don\u2019t know whether he doesn\u2019t know because he\u2019s never been in this position before and he\u2019s scratching his head,\u201d Hindmarsh said. <\/p>\n
Could Luai be on his way to the Chiefs? | 01:05<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m looking at their go-forward. I don\u2019t see much. I\u2019m seeing Munster probably defending a lot and Munster was below par for him. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know he came out the other week and said, look, I\u2019ll stick my hand up and I\u2019ll cop it because I\u2019m not performing that well. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I thought against a side like the Bunnies, I thought he would stand up and demand the ball and be involved a lot more.\u201d <\/p>\n
Johns feels the six-again rule change has turned the competition on its head and wondered if the Storm were struggling to adapt. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the history and modern rugby league from the 80s forward, there\u2019s been three or four occasions where there\u2019s been a little rule adjustment that we didn\u2019t think a lot of, but it had a significant effect on the games and who dominated games,\u201d Johns said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you go from 1986 try-less grand final, 4-2, Parramatta versus Bulldogs, two best defensive sides. <\/p>\n
Nikau joins F2F to tell his amazing tale | 02:05<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next year they loosen the rucks, make it from five-meter rule to eight-meter rule. Who makes the grand final? It\u2019s the Raiders who come out of nowhere as the best attacking side and Manly. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you see that throughout rugby league history, it happens. Occasionally, the competition gets turned on its head. And what we\u2019ve seen, we\u2019ve underestimated this 20-40 rule with the six agains, where there\u2019s no penalties unless it\u2019s in your own quarter. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat has made the game so continuous, it\u2019s added another layer of fatigue and speed to the game and maybe they\u2019re just struggling to adapt to it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fletcher agreed the NRL\u2019s push to get the wrestle out of the game has hit the Storm more than most. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause they were so good in controlling the ruck in the old days, now the referee is saying, release straight away,\u201d Fletcher said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the old days, they could wrestle a little bit, which made your line get set. Penrith are the best at doing it. They are just on the border line every time.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matty Johns has warned the Melbourne Storm they may need to change their approach as Craig Bellamy\u2019s side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,306729,10122,306632,8089,306731,39189,11288,40823,4582,122801,4746,18656,647,4466,69066,761,762,306730,158,677,71040,6177,237215,306728,16205,146684,262628,271853,68838,85,1080,11737,4412,660],"class_list":{"0":"post-633323","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-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-border-line","12":"tag-bryan-fletcher","13":"tag-career-truth","14":"tag-craig-bellamy","15":"tag-die-ultimatum","16":"tag-engine-room","17":"tag-grand-final","18":"tag-grand-final-appearances","19":"tag-jarome-luai","20":"tag-leg-amputation","21":"tag-mark-st-john","22":"tag-matty-johns","23":"tag-melbourne","24":"tag-melbourne-storm","25":"tag-modern-game","26":"tag-national-rugby-league","27":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","28":"tag-nick-meany","29":"tag-nrl","30":"tag-oceania","31":"tag-prelim-final","32":"tag-press-conferences","33":"tag-rugby-league-history","34":"tag-rule-adjustment","35":"tag-rule-changes","36":"tag-side-sits","37":"tag-six-again-rule","38":"tag-six-again-rule-changes","39":"tag-six-game-losing-streak","40":"tag-sports","41":"tag-sydney-roosters","42":"tag-team-tips","43":"tag-valentine-holmes","44":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633323","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=633323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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