NRL Round 6 Preview - Storm v Knights @ AAMI Park

Melbourne Storm v Newcastle Knights @ AAMI Park
 
Preview - The Storm will be looking to bounce back from back-to-back defeats when they host the Knights on Friday night at AAMI Park. The Storm suffered their second loss to the Tigers in the space of a month, going down 11-10 after leading 10-4 with just 20 minutes to go in Auckland. The Knights rebounded from two heavy road losses with a gritty 15-10 victory over the Broncos in what Coach Nathan Brown described as the team’s best performance since he joined the Club in 2015. 
 
Melbourne Storm Scouting Report - Craig Bellamy has made a big change in the halves with Brodie Croft being axed after his poor start to the season in favour of Ryley Jacks. The Storm forward pack has not dominated this season, and Craig Bellamy will be desperate to see a response from his players after two straight losses. 
 
Newcastle Knights’ Scouting Report - The Knights have lost back rower Mitch Barnett who is suspended. Herman Ese’ese switches to lock, with Daniel Saifiti to start at prop and brother Jacob coming on to the bench. Mitchell Pearce has made a great start to life at his new cCub and would love to lead his side to a 4th win from six starts in 2018. 
 
Verdict - Storm by 1-12

There is no doubt the Storm are struggling at the moment, however I expect them to get the job done here against the Knights. The Storm are still devilishly hard to beat at home, and Newcastle have been poor in both their road games this season. Newcastle showed a lot more defensive resolve last week than they have all season, however backing that up two weeks in a row will be the question, and I just see the Storm being too desperate at home and winning by a couple of tries.