NRL: Cronk's surgery means Storm face a tough start

Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk. Photo / Supplied

Melbourne face a tough start to their NRL premiership defence with four players having off-season surgery and the late arrival of eight representative stars seriously disrupting preparations for next year.

Halfback Cooper Cronk, unlucky not to be named Churchill Medallist in October's grand-final win over Parramatta, is expected to miss the first four games after undergoing groin surgery.

Forwards Brett White, Ryan Tandy and former Bulldog John Kite are also expected to be sidelined early in the season after shoulder operations.

The injury setbacks come on top of a heavy player turnover, including the loss of premiership players Dallas Johnson (Les Catalans), Steve Turner (Canterbury) and Will Chambers (Queensland Reds).

And the Storm also have to cope with eight players not starting their pre-seasons until mid-January, having come off international commitments - six with Australia and two with New Zealand - which coach Craig Bellamy said made it harder to integrate new players into their combinations.

Bellamy said Cronk had been hampered by a groin problem for two seasons and the club had decided it was in his long-term interests to fix it.

The club would have preferred the surgery to have been done immediately after the grand final victory, but had to delay it so he could be part of Australia's successful Four Nations tour to Britain and France.

"We're certainly not happy about missing him for the first month or so [of the 2010 season], but at the end of the day it's going to be a lot better for him and a lot better for the team that he's having this procedure done now."

Bellamy said Brett Finch could replace Cronk as a halfback early in the season, or one of the club's promising young players, such as under-20s No 7 Luke Kelly, might step up.

"They're not Cooper Cronk, but ... those young guys are looking for a chance and perhaps they'll get it early in the season," Bellamy said.

The Storm also suffered a front-row crisis this year and Bellamy said the unavailability of White, Tandy and Kite would be a challenge. "They're obviously three of our front-rowers and three of the guys that add a bit of size to our team, so that's not ideal."

- AAP