The Nick Meaney storm center says that there are persistent “resentments” of the defeat of last year’s grand final against Panthers, but warned his teammates that they could be distracted with the final objective if they focus on pain too much on Thursday’s rematch.
The Panthers showed that at the end, with their 14-6 victory over minor retailers, the back of a suffocating defense that closed Melbourne’s spine was won.
The storm strikers could not match it with the four times ministers, but Purple’s men are back at home and will have Nelson Asof-Solomone of the suspension together with the new Utoikamanu Stefano recruit to provide a lot of size.
The club has an excellent record the following year after a great final defeat, and hope it will continue in 2025 against a Panthers team that has lost a key staff and is coming from a surprise to defeat at the hands of the roosters.
The Warriors assistant coach Richie Agar was fined and suspended after he allegedly grabbed a journalist for the throat during the opening of the NRL season in Las Vegas.
“I really didn’t think about it too much, I just enjoyed the weekend with the family with us having goodbye,” Meaney said.
“Obviously, there are some resentments there last year and I think we will take it personally.
“But we can’t let that hang too much about our heads or we could distract myself a bit for what we want to do.
“We will take that fuel and take it to the field.”
Meaney comes from a personal tour of 20 points in the great victory of Ronda 1 over the Eels, with the storm renewed after an early goodbye.
And while Meaney accumulated the points, the central partner Jack Howarth produced some phenomenal numbers with amazing 232 million to go with eight busts of Tackle.
His future in the club clouded this time last year, but he has won the confidence of Craig Bellamy and is beginning to realize his potential with the help of a legend of the club that has played a key role in training.
“Jack is physically endowed with a great body and it’s really fast and very strong,” Meaney said.
“He is a young guy, so the next step for him is to learn the game and learn ways to improve, not so much with football in his hands, but with other things such as communicating and putting himself in position.”
“He is learning quite well, and Will Chambers comes quite frequently to help us focus on things like that, so he is obviously taking what Will is teaching him.”
