Scott Sattler believes the Melbourne Storm are primed to again contend this season.
The Storm lost to eventual premiers Penrith in the preliminary final last year, but are well placed to bounce back in 2022.
In recent years, the club has lost a swathe of star players, which again occurred last off-season when Josh Addo-Carr departed for the Canterbury Bulldogs.
But Sattler says Craig Bellamy’s club have offset that loss by bringing in a player who he believes will be the signing of the season in Xavier Coates.
The youngster joined the Storm from the Brisbane Broncos and according to Sattler will help push them towards the top four once again.
“We’ve written so many eulogies for the Melbourne Storm when they lose Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman, Greg Inglis left their club at one stage and they thought they’d never recover,” the former Panther said on Sportsday WA.
“For some reason, Craig Bellamy just has this innate ability to be able to make people believe, to buy in and just believe that they should be and need to be the best team in the competition.
“They’re the hardest working team off the field. They train the hardest, they’ve got the greatest work ethic and you know when you go to the Melbourne Storm that you are not going to coast. There will never be an easy training session and you’re going to play at the best of your ability.
“They’ve still got a really impressive playing group led by Ryan Papenhuyzen, the young number one, their fullback who took over from Billy Slater and has just set the competition on fire.
“Josh Addo-Carr leaves and they sign who I believe will be the best signing by the end of the year and his name is Xavier Coates.
“He’s played plenty of Origin matches for Queensland, he’s still only 20, but the kid’s a superstar. He’s 6 foot 4 and is a tremendous athlete.
“The Melbourne Storm, I believe, will be in the top four again and getting through to the final stages of the season.”
The Storm kick off their 2022 campaign against the Wests Tigers at Commbank Stadium on Saturday night.
