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Storm star ignites war of words ahead of Grand Final
Nicholas Quinlan • September 29th, 2025 5:03 pm
Stefano Utoikamanu has fired the first shot at the Brisbane Broncos ahead of Sunday’s NRL Grand Final, calling them stuck-up.
Having joined Melbourne from the Wests Tigers this year, the prop has had a strong season helping provide valuable running metres whilst being a strong tackling force in the defensive line.
And speaking ahead of his first Grand Final, Utoikamanu has already stated that he is looking to make a statement against Brisbane, declaring his dislike for the Broncos.
“I’m going to make sure I set up this week to get that first kick of the game – there are going to be a lot of people I want to run at, a lot of people I don’t like on this team,” he said.
“I’m keen to go out there and run someone over.
“I don’t want to name names, there are a lot of people I think are a bit stuck up. I’m pretty keen just to run out and do a job for our team.”
Later in the day, Brisbane’s Payne Haas would return serve in their media opportunity, saying that he was unbothered by what Utoikamanu and the Storm thought of them.
“They can say what they want, but we’ll be out there on Sunday, and we’ll see if that’s still going to be thrown around,” Haas said.
“We know who we are. They got this certain image of us down there, so it is what it is. We’ll see what happens.”
The Storm are holding their open training session for fans ahead of the Grand Final on Monday as they begin their preparations for Sunday’s clash.
The Broncos will have their open training session at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday.
SEN will have live coverage of the match beginning from 12pm with NRL Crunch Time, which will then be followed by live commentary of the NRLW and NRL Grand Final at Accor Stadium.
The match will kick off from 7:30pm AEDT.
