After the second week in a row in which Melbourne has shut out the opposition, it’s starting to feel as if the Storm are back on track.
Last week it could have been a one-off. Sceptics might have put it down to the power of AAMI Park plus a Warriors unit that are trying to deal with the loss of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck before they’d even figured out what to do with him in the first place.
Sceptics might also argue that Titans aren’t the most intimidating adversaries and that a win over Gold Coast doesn’t have the same heft as a win over Brisbane or North Queensland.
All of that may be true and yet the Storm’s win on the weekend feels like it will come to be seen as a definitive moment in their 2016 season.
With tries spread fairly evenly across the game, it was an indication that Melbourne are
starting to return to their regular professionalism.
At the same time, the Storm’s performance at Cbus demonstrated their most impressive synergy between older and younger players so far this season.
With Billy Slater out for 2016 and Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk facing the last phase of their careers, Melbourne have had their eye on the next generation more than most other teams in the game.
On the weekend, that was exacerbated by an absent backline, with Young Tounamaipea, Richard Kennar and Marika Koroibete all out.
In different ways, these three players have all shone over the last couple of weeks.
In their absence, we got a glimpse of a genuinely new wave of players, with Cheyse Blair debuting on the wing, where he scored the first try of the night, and Christian Welch joining the bench for the first time.
Blair’s opening try seemed to announce this new look Storm outfit as he ran the length of the field in the seventh minute for a rousing and robust start to the game.
Thereafter tries were brought in from Suliasi Vunivalu (27 min), Tohu Harris (32), Cooper Cronk (36), Vunivalu again (46), Cronk again (59) and Blake Green (73).
For my money, Cronk has proven to have the most durability out of the Storm’s Big Three.
Ever since Slater left, Smith has struggled to retain his consistency and last weekend’s match was no exception, as he only converted four out of seven tries, although a penalty goal in the 68th minute went some way to making up for it.
Certainly, he’s still a dominant player, jumping over from dummy half now and then to help with Cronk and Vunivalu in particular.
Still, it’s the Ice Man who continues to really prop up the team, although even Cronk couldn’t do it alone.
His second try took place on the back of a bit of good defence work from substitute prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona, while he felt as if he was shadowing and mentoring Vunivalu for the entire game.
Also scoring two tries, the no.2 may have started off as a rugby union player but already feels like the future of Melbourne rugby league, albeit with a bit of an unusual skill set at wing.
While speculation has abounded as to whether the Storm might have a Fijian flyer on their hands to match Semi Radradra, there’s no question that this young gun is talented.
I was there at Leichhardt Oval when he made his NRL debut against the Tigers, scoring two tries with a panache that made it feel like the Storm had been hiding a top-tier player just for the surprise factor.
On Sunday, Vunivalu more than matched that debut, as well as almost bringing in a third try just before half-time when a perfectly placed grubber from Cronk found its way into his hands.
While he may have knocked it on, he made up for it by planting a Cronk bomb over the line at the 45th minute.
While Cronk is enough of a professional to synergise with anyone it was odd to see him syncing up so perfectly with Vunivalu in Slater’s absence.
Over the last decade, the Storm’s Big Three have been the ultimate “generation” of players – after all, Slater and Smith were born on the same day.
Last weekend, however, showed us a new and improved intergenerational Storm that bodes well for Melbourne as they start to lose some of their big name players for international and Origin commitments.
Even the brief fight at the 53rd minute felt more like an act of reinvigoration rather than an act of desperation, like as Jesse Bromwich’s brainsnap felt vindicated by his appointment to Kiwi captain.
From the rousing reception the boys gave him in the sheds when Stephen Kearney broke the news, you could tell that he’d spoken for the team as a whole in that brief fracas.
This is a outfit that feels ready to fight in a new way after having digested the loss of Slater.
It’s going to be interesting, then, to see how they front up against the Cowboys next weekend.
The fact that they’re hosting them at Suncorp is a nice touch.
Not only will it give us a bit of an Origin taster in the wake of representative round, but it’ll also offer the unique spectacle of Thurston and Smith on opposite sides of the Steeden in the heart of Brisbane.
Here’s hoping that it’s every bit as exciting as last round’s match.
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