Grant adamant Storm have seen the error of their ways

Harry Grant is expecting a fast and physical start when his side hosts the Roosters in their elimination final on Friday night – and this time, the Storm forwards won’t be found wanting on aggression.

Last Friday night, the Broncos were able to dictate terms from the get-go on their way to a dominant qualifying final victory, getting in the face of the Storm as they went on to win 26-0.

Often seen as laidback and a bit of a larrikin, Grant was in the thick of the action, having a ‘moment’ with fellow Maroon Pat Carrigan, as well as with former Storm teammate Billy Walters.

“Being at dummy half, I am always close to the action and the play-the-ball and sometimes you don’t know whether to retaliate and get in there and help your mate or just to let it be,” Grant said.

“So, that was one of those ones, we had a laugh about it after the game … but probably I can get caught up in that stuff, so will take a bit of a learning from that.”

While the Storm suffered a heavy loss – made worse by another long-term injury to the talismanic Ryan Papenhuyzen – Grant was optimistic about his side’s chances of turning things around this week.

“I think everyone’s excited to learn from that performance on Friday night and get on with things,” Grant told NRL.com.

“Our discipline let us down, they got a fair bit of momentum and had some big plays during the game that changed momentum.

“A big one (we can learn from) is our discipline; and our errors really cost us at the back end of that game.

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“For us to go 8-0, we probably didn’t take our opportunities early and I think that was a good position to be in at half-time, but I think it just caught up with us and they ran away with it.

“It’s do-or-die and the beauty is, we have got another opportunity and we can learn from our first final which was a lost opportunity – we let that one slip.

“They are going to be physical and fast and it’s going to be that for the duration of the game, so whether we weren’t mentally prepared for that on Friday night – the Broncs got the jump on us there – that’s probably something for us to learn from.

“In saying that, we just have to simplify things and get back to playing to our strengths."

This year, the Storm once again defied external expectations to finish in the top four, despite turning in some uncharacteristically poor performances which left coach Craig Bellamy lost for words.

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However, throughout the season they have been able to regroup and bounce back, never losing more than two games on the trot.

From the moment Grant got the Storm home in a golden point thriller against the Eels in Round 1, he says 2023 has been a steep learning curve for the club.

“It’s probably been a little bit of learning for us about the Melbourne Storm (this year), and teams want to beat the Storm as it’s been a successful club for a number of years and we have probably lost a fair bit of experience who ... had been at the club for a long time and understood that,” Grant said.

“But this season is not over yet, so we can’t really sum up our year or put a rating on it or where we are at.

"Hopefully we still have a few more games to go, but I think that’s something I have experienced or learnt from the regular season.”