Anthony Quinn Storm NRL Signing

[14 AUGUST, 2008]

 

 Former Newcastle Knight now Melbourne Storm man, Anthony Quinn has firmed up his NRL and Rugby League future, locking in a new deal with the Melbourne Storm club to see him staying in Victoria for the next few years.

Quinn latest player to commit to Storm

 

The re-signings continue at Melbourne Storm with winger Anthony Quinn committing his long-term future to the club by agreeing to a new deal that will keep him in Melbourne until the end of the 2012 season.

 

Quinn is another key signing in the Storm’s quest to remain a force in the NRL for many years to come. He joins Dallas Johnson, Jeff Lima, Sika Manu, Adam Blair, Aiden Tolman and Cooper Cronk who have all put pen to paper on new contracts with the club this season.

 

Quinn is currently in the second year of a three year deal at the Storm having joined from Newcastle in 2007. In that time he has enjoyed tremendous success winning a premiership last year, and representing New South Wales in this year’s State-of-Origin series.

 

“The main reason for signing the long term deal was due to the success I’ve enjoyed since I’ve been at the club,” said Quinn.

 

“My girlfriend Frances supported me when I moved to Melbourne and she has settled in really well down here. We’ve bought a house in St Kilda and without her support I’m not sure I would have achieved everything I have at Storm.

 

“I’ve fulfilled a dream by winning a premiership and gone on to play representative football with New South Wales. I’m not sure I could have achieved that anywhere else.

 

“Given the players at the club and the coaching staff here, I can’t see why I won’t continue to have success at Melbourne Storm.”

 

In fact, Storm football manager Frank Ponissi says one of the reasons for re-signing Quinn to a long term contract was because of his improvement since coming to Melbourne.

 

“We feel Anthony has come along in leaps and bounds since he’s been here in Melbourne and we see him as an integral part of our team in the future,” said Ponissi.

 

“This contract is a big reward for his efforts, especially playing Origin football for the first time this year, and we wanted to reward him for that.

 

“He wasn’t coming off contract until the end of 2009, but we didn’t want to wait until next year to start the negotiations. We wanted to be proactive and tie him up to a deal before other clubs started to make a big play for him, as we’re sure they would have.”

 

The re-signing of Quinn well before his current contract expired is a conscious effort by the Storm to establish a settled squad for the foreseeable future.

 

“The plan going forward is to re-sign a number of players over an extended period of time,” said Ponissi.

 

“What we don’t want is to begin contract negotiations towards the end of their current agreements. The aim is to continually have a settled squad and ensure players are safely locked away well in advance.

 

“We are now in the process of signing the next group of players up over the next few months, and this will ensure that when we move into our new stadium in 2010, we’ll have a very strong squad of players who can bring further success to the club.”

 

  ____________________________________________________

    

 Chris Couch

  Media Manager

 

 Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club

  Princes Park, Gate 3, Royal Parade, Carlton North VIC 3054

  PO Box 141 Parkville VIC 3052

  E-mail: ccouch@melbournestorm.com.au

  Website: www.melbournestorm.com.au

NRL Minor Premiership 2008

The Manly boys were physical, but the Storm showed a tonne of guts away from home and held on to take a strong victory in their Friday night NRL fixture at Brooky Oval last night. Locking the two enemies on 32 competition points a piece with only a few rounds to go before the Top 8 NRL Rugby League finals series for 2008

Melbourne broke a nine-year hoodoo at Brookvale Oval tonight, notching their first victory at Manly’s home ground since 1999 with a hard fought 16-10 win, sending them equal on points with the Sea Eagles at the head of the NRL ladder and blowing the race for the minor premiership open in the process.

 

It’s the third time in a row the Storm has now beaten the Sea Eagles, including last year’s 34-8 grand final victory, and the psychological scars inflicted on the Manly players may be significant come finals time. The NRL Results are now all critical as the Top 8 Finals series is only a few short weeks away for NRL 2008.

 

From the opening whistle it was tough, brutal, uncompromising football, and when Melbourne’s Michael Crocker and Manly’s Brent Kite came to blows in the opening minutes, the stage was set for a classic encounter.

 

While both forward packs were trying to bash each other into submission, it was the sublime skills of Storm fullback Billy Slater that allowed Melbourne to score their two first-half tries.

 

His support play on the inside of halfback Cooper Cronk, who hit the flying fullback with a laser-like ball on the chest, and offload to Matt Geyer got the Storm off to the perfect start in the eighth minute.

 

A clever chip by Cronk over the Manly defence in the dying minutes of the first-half saw Slater gather a bobbling ball he had no right to, before drawing the defender and slipping the ball to Israel Folau. The giant centre out-sprinted veteran Manly five-eighth Steve Menzies from 30-metres out to score in the corner.

 

In between Melbourne’s tries, the Sea Eagles had their moments when they sent the almost 18,500 Manly fans packed into the ground into raptures.

 

In the 12^th min the Storm were lucky to get away without conceding a try from Brett Stewart. The Manly fullback was deemed to have taken out Anthony Quinn just before challenging a high ball with Slater. Slater spilled the ball and Stewart pounced, but the video referee had other ideas.

 

However, Manly weren’t to be denied when backrower Glenn Hall scored after referee Shayne Hayne penalised the Storm 10-metres from their own try-line, gifting the Sea Eagles another set of six.

 

The second-half started in much the same vein as the first.

 

After looking like he was about to pass, Cronk decided he’d go himself, barging between Menzies and Anthony Watmough to extend the Storm’s lead to 10-points.

 

But the Sea Eagles weren’t going to let the Storm run away with the game, and five minutes later they drew within a converted try when David Williams crossed in the corner.

 

The game then descended into a real arm-wrestle, and when Cronk failed with a field goal conversion with nine minutes remaining, you just knew Manly were going to lay siege to the Storm’s try-line.

 

And lay siege they did. With five sets in a row in the dying minutes, Manly threw everything they had at Melbourne, but they couldn’t crack the best defence in the NRL, and the Storm left Brookvale with two valuable points in the race for the minor premiership.

 

STORM 16 (Tries: Geyer, Folau, Cronk; Goals: C Smith 2) def. SEA EAGLES 10 (Tries: Hall, Williams; Goals: Matai) at Brookvale Oval

Melbourne Storm Squad Players NRL Round 20

Team players and squad members for the Melbourne Storm NRL Round 20 to face the NZ Warriors in Auckland

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has made one change to the 17-man squad from last night’s game against the Dragons for this Sunday’s Round 20 clash against the New Zealand Warriors. The game will be played at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland from 2.00pm (NZST).

 

Anthony Quinn has been named to start on the wing in place of Brett Anderson. Quinn missed the Dragons game after suffering from concussion sustained in the Round 18 clash against Wests Tigers.

 

Front-rower Jeff Lima comes back into the starting line-up in place of Adam Blair who returns to the interchange bench.

 

NRL squad for Sunday’s game:

 

Starting team:

1. Billy Slater

2. Steve Turner

3. Matt Geyer

4. Israel Folau

5. Anthony Quinn

6. Greg Inglis

7. Cooper Cronk

8. Jeff Lima

9. Cam Smith

10. Brett White

11. Michael Crocker

12. Ryan Hoffman

13. Dallas Johnson

 

Interchange:

14. Jeremy Smith, 15. Adam Blair, 16. Sika Manu, 17. Antonio Kaufusi.

 

Coach: Craig Bellamy.

 

Under-20’s squad for Sunday’s game:

 

Starting team:

 

1. Gareth Widdop

2. Mack Fawcett

3. Sam Joe

4. Michael Faamausili

5. Malo Feterika

6. Luke Kelly

7. Liam Foran

8. Pulou Vaituutuu

9. Jay Aston

10. Louis Fanene

11. Kevin Proctor

12. Zeb Tawha ©

13. Vili Faingaa

 

Interchange:

14. Will Naitoro, 15. Aidan Guerra, 16. Theo Stuart, 17. Matt Croker.

 

Coach: Brad Arthur

Cronulla Sharks a Chance of NRL Top 4 2008

Its oh so close, the Cronulla Sharks under Ricky Stuart are a chance at not only securing a Top 8 berth (already done) but are capable of grabbing a home final or even a top 2 spot as this years NRL finals approach.

Toyota Park would be an ideal launch pad for a Grand Final assault in the weeks following for the solid, gritty Sharks.

In a year with few setbacks, the discipline of Paul Gallen seems to be on the improve and Greg Bird is expected back in the weeks ahead.

Cross your fingers Shire folks, the Cronulla mob could be a real chance after so much pain over their Rugby League lives.

NRL Table

With the NRL competition getting closer each year, it's no surprise that the 2008 NRL Table and Ladder is seriously close.

After 10 Rounds of Rugby League, it's really only South Sydney who are out of touch with the rest of the field, excusing the byes - the Rabbitohs only have 1 single win from the 10 round passed so far.

With St George Illawarra, while they have been slightly off the pace - they have beaten all the major heavy weights in the NRL competition and are still a slim chance of sneaking into the NRL Top 8 if they have hold things together under Nathan Browns final year. Should they get into the finals, 2009 should see big things happen for the Dragons as Wayne Bennett assumes control and should instill at least some confidence in the club that has struggled in recent times.

The other interesting performer in 2008 NRL is the new boys, the Gold Coast Titans. Playing out of the new Skilled Park in Robina, the Titans led well by Scott Prince are playing a nice brand of football under coach John Cartwright and continue to surprise many as they sit atop the NRL Table and remain in front of the hot Melbourne Storm who have been heavily affected by State of Origin duties this year.

As the year rolls on we should see a packed ladder situation continue, with even Canberra continuing to impress at home with several key injury woes also making their lives hard. Led well by the youngster Todd Carney, the Raiders could be real contenders in the next 5 years with quality coaches and players at last lining up to head to the ACT to get involved in what was once a huge club that performed well every single Rugby League year.

Can Penrith get up the NRL Ladder

The Penrith Panthers have tried everything in the search of better NRL Results. Their coach Matt Elliott has employed Rugby League referee's, wrestling coaches and NRL Toyota cup kids to try and get his team winning.

But training and on-field Rugby League success are two different things. The Panthers have trouble with discipline and this has continued in 2008. Will they leaving their winning run too long? Can they get it together before the season slips away? Coach Matt Elliott has plenty on his hands and the signing of Petero Civoniceva alone won't get the Panthers on top of the ladder. They need a hell of a lot more, nobody's sure what though!

NRL Table Turned on Head

The NRL Table is getting hard to pick for the 2008 season, as Round 2 got underway last night, the South Sydney Rabbitohs who last year snuck into the Top 8 - were forced to an 0-2 record - their NRL Results taking a beating at the hands of the Bulldogs who played some nice footy to get their Rugby League year back on track and keep coach Steve Folkes safe for another week at least.