Melbourne Storm new boy Nick Meaney will fill the boots of Cameron Munster on Saturday and is also ready to take over the goal-kicking duties from Ryan Papenhuyzen.
The Storm are priced at 9/2 to win the 2022 NRL grand final and get their campaign underway when they take on the Wests Tigers on Saturday night.
Key men missing
Melbourne will be missing Munster and Harry Grant through suspension but thankfully for coach Craig Bellamy he has quality players that can step in and fill the void.
Meaney is one such player and the former Bulldogs star will take Munster's No.6 jersey while he serves his suspension. He is also ready to take on the goal-kicking as Papenhuyzen struggles with an ankle injury.
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Papenhuyzen needs to come through training on Thursday and Friday to make the side, but even if he does play, goal-kicking looks to be a no-go.
"I think I might be, depending on how his foot is," Meaney told melbournestorm.com.au when asked if he would be kicking this weekend.
"I know he can run and jump and all those things but I'm not sure whether he's going to be kicking yet. Wait and see. I'll keep practising during the week and see how we go."
Up for the challenge
Filling the boots of Munster is almost an impossible task as he is arguably the best No.6 in the comp, but Meaney is relishing the challenge.
"It's a new challenge for me, I haven't really played there in the NRL competition before so I'm really looking forward to it," Meaney added.
"I think it's more the attack systems I'm getting used to here at the Storm, how they run things differently and building combinations with people around me. I've been training there the last couple of weeks, I'm ready to go."
