Billy Slater a doubt for last finals series before retirement due to family illness ROY WARDGETTY IMAGES Billy Slater will miss Melbourne's final-round match due to a serious family illness. Melbourne Storm star Billy Slater is out of the club's final-round clash with Penrith at AAMI Park on Friday night due to a serious family illness. Storm coach Craig Bellamy opened his scheduled pre-game press conference with the news announcing Slater and his family were back home in North Queensland. Bellamy said the Slaters had requested privacy at a difficult time and it was too soon to know if the illness would have any impact on Slater playing in week one of the NRL finals. Bellamy said it was too soon to know if Slater was in doubt for any further games.

Source: Stuff August 30, 2018 01:35 UTC