The slump that’s seen Melbourne suffer two defeats in succession and concede more than 30 points in consecutive games has led to Paul Gallen raising a huge question.
“Are we finally starting to see them come back to the pack?” the former Sharks captain said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
The Storm were without megastar fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen and top-rate halfback Jahrome Hughes for their last two games, as well as gun prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona in their most recent outing.
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The NRL powerhouse is also being hampered by long-term injuries to co-captain Christian Welch, centre George Jennings and winger Reimis Smith.
But the spate of injuries didn’t stop Gallen from revealing his doubts about Melbourne’s premiership credentials following losses to Penrith and North Queensland.
“When (Cooper) Cronk left then (Billy) Slater left then (Cameron) Smith left, we thought, ‘Well, they’re going to come back to the pack’. They’ve just kept going, to be honest. They’ve been fantastic,” Gallen said.
“But are they finally starting to hit the wall?
“That was very un-Melbourne-like (against the Cowboys).
“Normally they have no excuses. Whoever comes into that side – they have tremendous resilience. Doesn’t matter who’s out; they come in and perform.
“To have 30-odd points put on you two weeks in a row is un-Melbourne-like. Very, very un-Melbourne-like.”
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The Storm completed at 65 per cent and had 51 missed tackles in their 32-6 defeat to the Panthers in Magic Round, before completing at 64 per cent and missing 32 tackles in a 36-6 loss to the Cowboys.
Mystery surrounded how the reborn Cowboys would fare against the Storm but, led by Chad Townsend and buoyed by exceptional young talent in their forwards and backs, North Queensland dispatched of Melbourne with ease.
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The Storm were weakened at the end of last season by the departures of Josh Addo-Carr, who left for the Bulldogs, and Nicho Hynes and Dale Finucane, who joined the Sharks.
“No matter who steps into that jersey they have that next-player-up mentality,” Gallen said.
“He just comes in, does his job, performs to the best of his ability, does his job for the team and doesn’t let anyone down. That’s not happening at the moment. We’re not seeing that in the Melbourne side at the moment, which is un-Melbourne-like.”
The Storm will meet the Sea Eagles in Melbourne on Thursday night.
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