Brad Fittler Dismisses Melbourne’s Premiership Hopes, While Billy Slater Urges Caution

Although it’s only round seven, Brad Fittler has already dismissed the Melbourne Storm’s chances, asserting that Craig Bellamy’s side is out of contention for the NRL premiership this season.

Storm icon Billy Slater responded to the Roosters and Panthers great, cautioning his co-commentator to “be careful”.

The Storm suffered a 26-22 defeat to the Raiders in Canberra on Friday night, marking their fifth consecutive loss.

During Nine’s coverage of the Panthers-Dolphins match on Friday, Slater noted it was the last time the Storm faced five straight defeats was in 2012—a year they went on to claim the premiership.

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However, after recent losses to the Broncos, Cowboys, Panthers, Warriors, and Raiders, Fittler described their performance against Canberra as “flimsy” and feels their premiership hopes are effectively over.

“Be careful, be careful,” Slater said to Fittler with a grin.

“They can’t win it from here,” Fittler asserted.

“Some of the defence on the edges has been lacking, and it’s uncertain how many outside backs they’ll have returning.

“I understand they’re missing several forwards.

“Losing [Xavier] Coates is a significant blow, I must say.

“They lack that thrust up the middle—no Nelson [Asofa-Solomona]—and the fact that departure was unannounced and so late meant they couldn’t find a bigger replacement, plus losing Tui [Kamikamica].

“They’re really missing those big guys driving forward, and the decision-making on the edges was off tonight.

“I’ve never seen Melbourne look quite as flimsy as that.”

Except for the 2010 season when Melbourne received the wooden spoon after being found guilty of salary cap breaches, the Storm have reached the finals every year under Bellamy since he took over in 2003.

Now, after their fifth straight loss in round seven, Melbourne find themselves languishing in 14th place on the ladder. They could potentially fall to 17th by the end of the round.

“At the moment, the Melbourne Storm aren’t quite getting it together. They’re slightly out of sync, with individuals missing their assignments at crucial moments,” Slater commented.

“They had a chance to snatch victory right at the end, but the Raiders were simply too strong and desperate for a home win after a couple of losses.

“Five losses in a row isn’t good for the Melbourne Storm.”

“The last time we lost five in a row was in 2012, and we all recall what happened that season.”

So I suggest taking a wait-and-see approach.”

Addressing the media post-match, Bellamy was asked to summarise the performance against Canberra.

“Honestly, I’m getting a bit tired of summing it up,” Bellamy remarked.

“We did a lot of things well out there, but we also made crucial mistakes that cost us.

“Inconsistent is probably the best word to describe it right now. We just can’t find any consistency in our attack or defence.

“Last week, we wanted to improve our defence close to our line. Canberra scored tries in the first two sets when they got near our line, but for the next 30 minutes, we defended admirably. That inconsistency is frustrating for me at present.”

Having been grand finalists in the last two seasons, Melbourne started this campaign brightly with victories over Parramatta and St George Illawarra, but have since lost their way.

Next up, they face a pivotal home game against South Sydney on Saturday night.

“We’re a bit lost at the moment,” Bellamy admitted.

“We’re all scratching our heads, so hopefully when we come together again tomorrow, someone will have some fresh ideas, and we can move forward from there.”