Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes has warned he is still a work in progress despite coach Craig Bellamy lauding his performance in the win over Brisbane as one of his “best games ever.”
Hughes, by his own admission, has had a patchy start to the season but reminded his critics he is one the game’s most deadly No.7’s with two try assists, 135 run metres, five tackle breaks and 187 kick metres in the win over the Broncos.
“I just wanted to personally play a little bit better than I have been,” Hughes said post-game.
“I probably started the year a bit slow and just not really playing the way I can play, and I felt like I went out there and made a few steps forward on my own game tonight.
“But I still have a lot of work and I think it’s just getting used to the boys around me and working with our edge and getting the combinations right and also backing myself on plays.
“Hopefully I can keep working on that week by week.”
A powerful Warbrick performance
Bellamy said his players looked disjointed like “they’d never met each other” in last week’s disappointing loss to South Sydney during Magic Round.
They were back on the same page at AAMI Park on Thursday night, with Hughes and superstar Cameron Munster steering the Storm to victory.
“It was probably one of his best games nearly ever, not the best game ever, but one of his best games, he was outstanding tonight,” Bellamy said of Hughes after the win over Brisbane.
“He really stepped up to the plate, much more intent in all his actions tonight on both sides of the ball.
“I thought he was tremendous for us.”
Storm v Broncos - Round 11, 2023
Melbourne faces a potential grudge match next Saturday night against a Dolphins side that poached three of its stars last year in Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi.
“It’s going to be really weird playing against those boys and especially because there’s so many of them in that team,” Hughes said.
“It should be good and we’re looking forward to the challenge and focusing on ourselves first and foremost, and building on what we’ve got going and what we’ve done tonight.”
Are there any hard feelings?
“It was hard to lose them but nothing personal or against them because they did what they needed to do for their families,” Hughes said.
“They went up there and they’re enjoying it up there and they’re all good mates of mine.”
The much needed 24-16 win over Brisbane off a five-day turnaround moved Storm up to third on the ladder with a 6-4 win-loss record.
“I just think we were disappointed in how we played last week and we really wanted to turn it around, so it was good we only had a short turnaround so we didn’t have to dwell too much,” Hughes said.
“There’s probably still a few things we want to fix up but the energy and the effort was good tonight, so I’m hoping we can build on that.
“We knew they were going to be tough. We knew we had to be up and particularly after our poor performance last week. Coming back home too we wanted to put on a good performance for our fans and protect our house, and I think we did that.”
