3 minute read
Melbourne's Lazarus Vaalepu will become the least experienced NRL grand finalist since Steve Price in 1994 when he runs out against Penrith at Accor Stadium.
Melbourne insist rookie forward Lazarus Vaalepu will rise to the occasion when he becomes the least experienced player in 30 years to feature in an NRL grand final.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy named Vaalepu on his original team sheet to face Penrith in Sunday's decider before admitting later in the week he had not yet decided whether the 25-year-old or Joe Chan would come in for the suspended Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
But Vaalepu trained with the first-grade team in Saturday's final session at Accor Stadium, with Chan opposite in the reserves, and will come into the side barring last-minute catastrophe.
"He might get Covid overnight," Bellamy joked.
"He'll be in our team."
It means Vaalepu will become the least-experienced player ever to feature in an NRL-era decider, his six games of prior experience one fewer than previous record-holder Blake Taaffe.
Not since Canterbury's Steve Price in 1994 has a player had fewer games under their belt heading into the decider, with the Bulldogs' loss to Canberra that year marking the prop's sixth.
Vaalepu impressed Storm hierarchy turning out for Queensland Cup side Sunshine Coast this year and firmed as the Storm's next-man up towards the end of the season.
He was named to play in their last seven regular-season games, though did not make it on from the bench in the round-24 win over Penrith.
"He's been the ruck that has played more lately when we've had a few injuries," Bellamy said.
"Since he's played in the NRL, he's gone back to Queensland Cup and really gone well. We need a ruck forward and he's our next one because of what he's been doing in Queensland Cup."
Bellamy was confident Vaalepu would not be overawed by the occasion.
"At the end of the day, it's what players play for, to play in a grand final," he said.
"I think he understands that at the end of the day, how he's feeling doesn't really mean a whole heap, it's what he does and we know he's capable of doing that.
"He's trained well this week. He seems like a fairly relaxed sort of guy so I don't think it's going to worry him too much."
Towering prop Asofa-Solomona has had a resurgent season in the Storm's middle-forward rotation and looms as a big omission from the side to face a muscular Panthers.
The dual premiership-winner spent part of Saturday's training session consulting with Vaalepu.
"Nelson's played a lot of games coming off the bench so hopefully some of the advice he's giving can help Laz play good," Bellamy said.
Australian Test cricket superstar Nathan Lyon was a surprise observer at Storm training on Saturday.
"Apparently he's a bit of a Storm supporter," Bellamy said.
"He knows Harry (Grant, hooker) really well. He was on the bus and I said, 'Gee, I think I know that bloke from somewhere'. He's a really good fella and we all know what he's done in the cricketing world."
Melbourne's reserves imitated triple-reigning premiers Penrith by running out for Saturday's opposed session to AC/DC's 'Hells Bells', Penrith's customary walkout song at home games.
The tune played on the kind of JBL speaker favoured by Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai, with the Storm back-ups spraying water bottles enthusiastically as the Panthers often do at their sessions.
"Oh is it? There you go," Bellamy said of the song's connotations as one of Penrith's favourites.