Melbourne deserve to be NRL title favourites as they aim to be the first back-to-back premiers in 25 years, according to great Brad Fittler.
The Storm sounded an ominous warning with a Josh Addo-Carr-led 50-10 thumping of fellow top-four contenders the Warriors on Anzac Day.
They scored at nearly a point-a-minute to lead 38-0 at the break and while they took their foot off the pedal in the second stanza, they had already fired a shot across the bow of the rest of the competition.
Not since Brisbane in 1992-93 have a side won consecutive premierships in a united competition.
It has taken time for the Storm to adapt following the loss of halfback Cooper Cronk and a fortnight ago dropped his replacement Brodie Croft following his shocker in their 11-10 loss to the Wests Tigers.
However after stringing together impressive victories over Newcastle, Brisbane and the Warriors, Fittler said Craig Bellamy's side deserved to be considered the competition benchmark.
"Without a doubt, they've just got speed, it's a totally different style of play with Cameron Smith playing a completely different sort of game," Fittler told the Sunday Footy Show.
"Billy Slater looks like he's playing the best footy he's ever played."
Winger Addo-Carr all but locked down a NSW State of Origin debut with a blistering effort against the Warriors which saw him run for 172 metres, score two tries, set up another and make three linebreaks.
Most impressive was his brilliant individual effort nine minutes from halftime in which he took the ball from dummy-half 15 metres out from his own goal line, beat four defenders before easily outpacing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Fittler is known to be a fan of Addo-Carr, having coached him as part of NSW City last year, and suggested he was a front-runner for the Blues left wing spot.
"How he burns (Tuivasa-Sheck) after skipping, falling over, side-stepping blokes," Fittler said.
"He's like a 400 metre runner. He just seems to have that ability to just keep kicking.
"He's so quick, he's awesome to watch."
Share
