The Melbourne Storm have provided a positive injury update on a host of players ahead of their final pre-season challenge match against the North Queensland Cowboys.
A number of players were left out of the game against the Cowboys, raising concern among fans, but the Storm have now revealed they expect key names to be fit for their season-opening clash against the Parramatta Eels in the Victorian capital in a fortnight's time.
Both Xavier Coates and Jahrome Hughes were the two biggest surprise outs for the trial, but Frank Ponissi, speaking to club media, said both are expected to be fit for Round 1.
โXavier is going really well. He's not training with the team just yet, but he's been running close to full speed with our rehab staff," Ponissi said.
โWe're confident he'll be ready to go and play Round 1 against Parramatta.
โJahrome had a minor calf issue over the last week and he's just getting back to full training.
โSunday is probably a bit too early for him to play, so like Xavier we expect Jahrome to be fully fit for the Parramatta (Round 1) game.โ
The Storm have also confirmed winger Will Warbrick is fit, but being rested from this week's game after playing big minutes for the Maori All Stars last weekend in the annual clash against the Australian Indigenous side.
Melbourne do welcome back Cameron Munster and Nick Meaney this weekend, with both players ahead of schedule after previously being suggested as unlikely to play during the pre-season challenge.
โRound 1 was the expected return date for Cameron and Nick. Both guys have recovered very well and trained fully with the team for a number of weeks," Ponsissi said on the duo.
โThey are both ready to go and will get a decent hit-out on Sunday. They won't play the full 80 minutes, but they'll get some good game time under their belt ahead of Round 1.โ
Elsewhere in the squad, Moses Leo, Jonah Pezet are also on track to be fit for the start of the season, where they will likely run out in reserve grade.
