Melbourne have hung on to win 30-26 at Brookvale Oval after leading 30-16 at half-time over the Manly Sea Eagles.
An incredible nine tries were scored in an end-to-end first half of action before the game became more of the arm wrestle expected in the second.
The Storm capitalised on a glut of early possession to score four tries in the first 17 minutes of the game. Winger Suliasi Vunivalu crossed twice, with Young Tonumaipea and Josh Addo-Carr also scoring.
Cameron Smith only converted one of those tries, but the Storm were still leading 18-0 and scoring at better than a point a minute.
The possession then evened up and Manly clawed their way back to score two converted tries in the next ten minutes. Both were determined individual efforts. Frank Winterstein crossed first, followed by winger Jorge Taufua, and Manly were back in it at 18-12.
The Storm then scored two more converted tries, both by Felise Kaufusi after running great lines off Billy Slater passes. That made it 30-12 but Brian Kelly crossed for the Sea Eagles on the stroke of half-time to bring them within touching distance again.
Neither side would have been happy with their defensive effort in the first half, especially Manly.
The Sea Eagles needed to score first in the second half and they did that after the Trbojevic brothers combined, with Jake running off an inside ball from Tom and forcing his way over.
Manly centre Brian Kelly then crossed five minutes later for what would have been his second try, but the bunker correctly confirmed that he’d lost the ball over the line in a Billy Slater tackle.
With fifteen minutes to go, Brenton Lawrence scored a Sea Eagles try after Akuila Uate spectacularly fielded a last tackle Daly Cherry Evans cross-field bomb and offloaded.
That made it 30-26 to set up a grandstand finish, but astute last tackle kicking from Cronk and Smith allowed the Storm to control possession with repeat sets in the dying stages and hang on for an important victory.
The win sends them back to the top of the table, for at least the next few hours until the St George Illawarra Dragons play this evening.
Final score
Manly Sea Eagles 26
Melbourne Storm 30
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