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Sport Nation
Why the Sharks can upset the Storm in Melbourne
Nicholas Quinlan • September 25th, 2025 9:21 pm
Jimmy Smith thinks that the Melbourne Storm are right for the taking should the Sharks make the most of it in Friday night’s preliminary final.
Coming into this clash, the Storm will be gearing up for their 10th preliminary final in 11 years and come into the game as heavy favourites compared to the Sharks, who will be in their first since 2018.
But while there might be a vast difference in experience between the two sides, Cronulla appears to be the more in-form side in recent weeks.
Since these two teams last clashed back in Round 17 when the Storm won by 24 at AAMI Park, the Sharks have used that loss and the bye in the next round to set up the back end of the season.
They have won every game bar one since in convincing fashion with an average margin of 16 points to see them through to the preliminary final.
While for the Storm, whilst managing to win every game bar three in the same period, they have only averaged a win margin of 9 points, helping demonstrate the form that the two sides are in.
This has the former 120-game player for South Sydney, Western Suburbs and the Sydney Roosters to believe that the Sharks could cause a boilover in their clash with Melbourne, no longer being feared as they have been in previous years.
“This has not been the Melbourne Storm that we have known previously,” Smith explained on SEN 1170’s Afternoons.
“There’s some effort data that is of greatest concern, that is very un-Melbourne Storm-like.
“Like, not mid-pack, worst in the league.
“So we go, “ahhh, we need more evidence.
“We get it. Round 26, up ten-nil against the Roosters (at half-time), they concede 40 in a half at AAMI Park.
“That was his 600th game, it was a resignation, wasn’t it?
“And if I am Craig Fitzgibbon, I am showing a lot of that game. Not necessarily a blueprint because the Roosters play a lot differently to the Sharks, (and) how they perceive themselves to be playing.
“And Steve Price told us exactly that. Kick the door down, and then you can go to the edges.
“But what it shows you is these guys are fallible.
“They are not unbeatable at home. They are not the Melbourne Storm of yesteryear.”
The Storm will host the Sharks at AAMI Park on Friday night for the first spot in the 2025 NRL Grand Final.
Kick off will take place at 7:50pm AEST, with SEN’s coverage of the match beginning from 7pm through the SEN App and its radio network.
