Storm winger Xavier Coates picked up where he left off in his return from a hamstring injury, scoring his 10th try of the season as Melbourne overpowered the Broncos 50-12.
Coates – who last played in Round 17 – was officially named in the line-up an hour from kick-off and played 52 minutes in his return game to help manage his way back into playing full games again after such a long lay-off.
“I was stoked to be out there, it's been a long process getting a hamstring right and being out for so long, it makes me so grateful to pull on the jersey and be back out there with the boys,” Coates told NRL.com.
“It was a great win here at Suncorp. It's one of the best stadiums in the world to play and going up against a tough opposition in the Broncos and I thought we did really well tonight and put a step forward leading into the finals, so looking forward to that.
Xavier Coates Try
“(It was good to) just to get a bit of game fitness and get a feel for it. I am just making sure to take precaution with it, being smart.
“Obviously I want to play the whole final series, so I didn't want to go out tonight and do too much and it's a plane trip up here, so you add that into it.
“I was just happy to be out there and get 50 minutes under my belt and then we head down to Melbourne to prepare for our final series, am looking forward to it.”
While he was out, the Storm have had a number of players thrust into playing different positions as they juggle their injuries, with Coates saying he was “extremely proud” of the resilience of his team and the way they were able to perform, including wrapping up the minor premiership.
“It was tough for me to even get my position back; you look at people like Grant Anderson, Sua (Fa’alongo) who filled in on the left wing and those boys are just so versatile, they can play many positions.
Blink and you'll miss him
“The depth of our squad was really tested and I felt like we came out with a win in that aspect and in previous years, I felt like we sort of lacked with that.
“But this year, our squad and the depth of our squad, everyone's performing really well and everyone's keeping each other to high standards and that's what we want going into the final series.”
The Storm wrapped up the minor premiership with two games to spare and will now look at making sure their home ground advantage pays off in the opening week of finals.
While their opponent is yet to be locked in, Coates said the side were looking forward to counting on their home support.
“It's very exciting, our fans are so loyal down in Melbourne,” Coates said.
“It's an AFL town, but everyone shows up in numbers and they support the Storm and we've got a lot of the AFL boys who watch the NRL and because we're a one-team city, they, all the AFL boys, back us.
“They're always watching us, supporting us and that same with all the locals down there in Melbourne, so I'm just really looking forward to getting out there and playing in front of all our loyal fans.”