Storm’s ‘cooling influence’ for fiery final

A cool head could prove critical in what looms as a fiery preliminary final clash at AAMI Park on Friday night and Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy says his team has just the man for the job.

Lauding the importance, and popularity, of Ryan Papenhuyzen and “not just because of his haircut”, Bellamy stopped just short of comparing the superstar fullback to legendary club captain Cameron Smith for his capacity to refocus his teammates in the hottest of cauldrons.

Bellamy was loathed to talk up the looming front row battle between Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Sydney Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, a clash that has been a hot topic leading into the grand final decider.

But acknowledging the expectations of an all-out assault not just from the visitors, but both teams, knowing what’s at stake and in front of a sold-out crowd, Bellamy said the calming qualities of Papenhuyzen were among the most appreciated parts of his game.

That and his resilience, having overcome a horror 24 months of injuries to return to his place among Storm’s most valuable assets.

“He’s had a lot of injuries, a lot of issues, a lot with the head as well, but he just keeps working hard and getting back there and going again, and hopefully at some stage he’ll have a run where he’ll have a long run and he’s just such a talented player,” Bellamy said on Thursday.

“He’s the cooling influence for us to a degree. I wouldn’t say he’s a Cameron Smith for us, but he’s along that line, and when we need to cool things down a little bit, he’ll cool us down.

“We know how popular a player he is, not just because of his haircut, so we know how important he is to us as a footy team and a footy club, and, fingers crossed he can stay fit.”

The Storm blasted crowd noise during their captain’s run training session at AAMI Park on Thursday to help cope with the expected turnout of 30,000 people.

“There’s going to be a fair few people here, they’re going to be fairly noisy,” Bellamy said.

“We’re not used to that, playing in front of 30,000 people, so it’s going to be a little bit noisy. We need to just to make sure that we’re aware of that and adapt to those conditions or that situation.”

Bellamy said the Storm players had come through some intense training sessions during the two weeks since winning their way to the preliminary final “unscathed” and that included star playmaker Cameron Munster, who the coach said was hitting his best after a long lay-off during the season.

Munster missed 10 games, including the State of Origin series, with hip and groin issues that will require post-season surgery. He’s also been dealing with the premature birth of his third child, his first daughter.

But Bellamy said after taking a “little while” to find his feet after such a long time out, he’d see enough since his return and in the subsequent weeks to be confident that Munster can deliver his best against the Roosters and guide his team to another grand final.

“I think it took him a little while to get back to where he wanted to get to and where we wanted to get to, but I think over the last two or three weeks we’ve seen real good signs of him doing what he does well and doing what we need him to do to be as effective as he can for us,” Bellamy said.

“It’s been a tough period for him off field but he’s handling it really well and he’s getting plenty of support in the right places.

“You don’t really notice that off the field with him. He’s always sort of the same sort of guy.

“But just on field I think that’s probably where it’s even sort of arduous this year … he’s really getting back to what we can expect from him and what he’s capable of and hopefully he can go out and do that again tomorrow night.”