NRL Round 15 Preview and Prediction - Melbourne Storm v North Queensland Cowboys @ AAMI Park

 Melbourne Storm v North Queensland Cowboys @ AAMI Park
 
Preview - Both the Storm and the Cowboys will be missing their Origin stars as they clash at AAMI Park on Saturday night. The Storm continue to lead the competition after 14 Rounds after they got a huge 18-13 victory at the home of the defending Premiers last week, without the services of star halfback Cooper Cronk. The Storm have now won 11 from 13 and are conceding just 14 points per game as they look to go one step further than last season and win another Premiership under Craig Bellamy. The Cowboys are in 7th spot, but just 1 game outside of the Top 4, after they hammered the Eels 32-6 in Darwin last Saturday night. 
 
History - Melbourne have won their last 3 encounters against the Cowboys since they were hammered by them in the 2015 Preliminary Final at home. However, the Cowboys last regular season win at AAMI Park was back in 2012. Overall the Storm has a commanding advantage over the Cowboys with 23 wins to just 10 losses. 
 
Melbourne Storm Scouting Report - The Storm has a host of changes with Young Tonumaipea replacing Billy Slater at fullback, and youngster Curtis Scott coming in for Will Chambers in the centres. The halves pairing will be Cameron Munster and Rylie Jacks with Slade Griffin replacing Cameron Smith at hooker. 
 
North Queensland Cowboys’ Scouting Report - The Cowboys back 5 remains intact from last week, with Justin O'Neill having been dropped from the Queensland Origin side. With Morgan and Thurston both unavailable, the Cowboys pair Kyle Laybutt with Ray Thompson in the halves. Laybutt will be making his NRL debut, while Thompson has played plenty of First Grade this year and already led the side to a couple of wins. Ben Hampton will play the utility role from the interchange bench.
 
Verdict - Cowboys by 1-8 in a low scoring game

Both these sides have learnt to win while missing some of their stars this season so, despite the lack of Origin players, I'm still expecting a very willing and competitive game. The make shift spine of both sides will probably determine this game and I have slightly more confidence in the Cowboys one given they have played together a few more times this year and had a chance to build up some of their combinations. Both these teams have relied on some gritty defensive displays this year, so I'm expecting this game to be low scoring and both sides to play more conservatively than they normally do. I just fancy the Cowboys as I think they have more points in them.