Posted
Newcastle Knights five-eighth Jarrod Mullen says the team is confident heading into the weekend's sudden death clash with defending premiers the Melbourne Storm.
The Knights have lost their past seven games against the Storm and have not won in Melbourne since 2004.
But Mullen says the statistics mean little when it comes to finals football.
"No, nothing for us, we've got a game plan going down there," he said.
"We've got some momentum building up, we're coming off three good wins so I'm looking forward to the challenge."
Mullen says the team is not just hopeful, they are feeling confident heading to Melbourne.
"We're going down there confident, we're going down there confident we can win the game," he said.
"We know we've got the team here to win and that's what we want to do.
"It's going to be a challenge no doubt, they're a top grade side no doubt and we're going to have to be on our game for 80 minutes.
"You can't play the Storm for 70 minutes or 75 minutes you have to be on your game for 80 minutes so it's going to be a good test, but we're looking forward to do it."
The Knights have won their past three games, while the Storm have just one win from their past three.
Despite the Storm's recent form, Mullen says he does not see them as vulnerable.
"No not at all, Melbourne are a side that can bounce back pretty quickly," he said.
"They put 70 points on Canberra down there towards the back end of the year when everyone rode them off.
"So we're definitely not riding them off, they're a quality team so it's going to be a good challenge."
The winner of the weekend's game will then take on the Roosters for a chance to play in the grandfinal.
Despite the controversial result in the Cronulla and Cowboys game last weekend Mullen has confidence in the NRL officials this week.
Cronulla beat the Cowboys 20 points to 18 in the elimination final -- but the Sharks scored a try off the seventh tackle.
The two on field referees have been dropped for this weekend for the counting error.
Mullen believes the NRL officials are up to the job.
"Yeah I think so, obviously I wasn't playing that game and I would've been gutted too, but this is our game this week and I'm sure the officials that they put on are going to do a good job," he said.
Topics: nrl, newcastle-2300
No comments:
Post a Comment