Rugby league Immortal, Andrew Johns, has revealed the one change he would make to Melbourne’s line-up as the Storm look ahead to season 2022.
The Victorian club won the minor premiership this year, winning a record-equaling 19 consecutive games, before crashing out of the finals in a shock week three loss to Penrith – the eventual premiers.
It was, though, a remarkable season considering it was the team’s first in a decade and a half without Immortal-in-waiting Cameron Smith.
Smith not only left a leadership void, but a headache for coach Craig Bellamy over who was to inherit the champion hooker’s No.9 jumper.
It came down to a battle between Brandon Smith and Harry Grant. Smith ended up wearing the jumper in 22 of the 24 games he played, while Grant started at hooker only three times in his 15 games.
Grant’s season was interrupted by injury but it was nonetheless a significant selection decision by Bellamy, who benched the 23-year-old many experts consider the NRL’s best current hooker.
Johns, though, disagrees with the Storm supercoach, and he wants to see a change in 2022.
“If I was coaching, it’s very hard to leave Harry Grant on the bench,” Johns told Wide World of Sports.
“I think, you talk about the best dummy halves in the world, (Grant is) up there in the top three.
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“How you continue to have him on the bench… Brandon Smith we know can play as a running forward in the middle of the field.
“So there’s some big decisions to be made for them. But if I was coaching the Storm I’d be starting Harry Grant for sure.”
Smith has been the subject of a number of attempted poaching raids by rival NRL clubs and it’s been suggested he may leave Melbourne if he isn’t awarded the No.9 jumper going forward.
Nevertheless, Johns is confident Storm will “be in the top four again” next year after a 2021 season he describes as “red hot”.
“They went on the winning streak, and their worst performances – Parramatta beat them by four points, Penrith beat them by two points, and then late in the year Parramatta beat them again by 10 or 12 points,” Johns said.
“So in a year when there were big swings and losses for teams… you can see their defence, even though they lost some games… they were red-hot all year.”