Monday, Olympic Park, 7pm
Referee: Ben Cummins
This could turn out to be a ripper of a game. The Storm are entitled to be hot favourites at home, but they do have a heap of players who will be backing up just 72 hours after playing in the Test and a lot of players will tell you they would rather back up the next day than wait two or three days, by which time the mental and physical tiredness has set in and they are trying to emerge from that. The Knights, on the other hand, will be relatively fresh, with only fullback Kurt Gidley backing up after playing off the bench for Australia.
No doubt Knights coach Brian Smith will come up with an explicit plan to try to slow the Storm down and stop the ball from reaching their dymanic attackers in any sort of space, but part of the Newcastle approach is also bound to be an attempt to play the game at speed with the ball in their hands and try to exploit any tiredness in the opposition. The Knights do a great job of putting opponents on the back foot at home, but it is harder to do it on the road and that is the big challenge for them in this game. If they allow Melbourne to dictate, then they will suffer the same fate the vast majority of teams suffer at Olympic Park and lose.
Late mail
Melbourne have the most Test players - a remarkable nine - and therefore have the most to lose out of tonight's game. High-performance Mary Toomey will fly to Sydney and will assess the Test players tomorrow morning before they return to Melbourne ahead of Monday night's clash with the Knights.
Although Newcastle have their own headaches. Steve Simpson's comeback from a knee injury may be put off for a week with the former Test and Origin player suffering soreness this week. He will have a fitness test today.
Cameron Ciraldo, named on a seven-man bench, is in doubt with a shoulder injury, while Adam MacDougall has a knee problem and may not play. Mark Taufua has been training with the squad and may play if the Knights suffer any late withdrawals.
STORM: Billy Slater, Steve Turner, Will Chambers, Israel Folau, Anthony Quinn, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk, Antonio Kaufusi, Cam Smith (capt), Brett White, Michael Crocker, Ryan Hoffman, Dallas Johnson. Interchange: Matt Geyer, Adam Blair, Jeremy Smith, Sam Tagataese, Aiden Tolman. (one to be omitted).
KNIGHTS: Kurt Gidley, James McManus, Wes Naiqama, Adam MacDougall, Cooper Vuna, Chris Bailey, Jarrod Mullen, Danny Wicks, Danny Buderus (capt), Ben Cross, Chris Houston, Cory Paterson, Zeb Taia. Interchange: Matt Hilder, Jesse Royal, Daniel Tolar, Steve Simpson, Keith Lulia, Cameron Ciraldo, Scott Dureau (three to be omitted).
