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Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk did what stand-in captains do – and then some – as he propelled the defending premiers into a third straight NRL grand final in a 28-0 preliminary final shutout of a disappointing Cronulla tonight.
It was a case of Cameron who as the Storm shrugged off the soap opera surrounding the midweek suspension of their talismanic leader Cameron Smith to book an October 5 clash against the winner of tomorrow night’s Manly-Warriors clash.
Those thinking the loss of Smith would lead to the end of the Storm empire were forced to reassess as Cronk stepped into the breach with a sublime display.
But it could be another week of judiciary drama for the Storm with Cronk involved in a lifting tackle and prop Brett White put on report for elbowing rival prop Ben Ross.
Cronk’s efforts were aided by a Sharks performance which would have to go down as their most lacklustre of the season, the still premiership-less club suffering a poorly timed bout of stagefright.
By the time they regained their composure to put some pressure on the Storm early in the second half, it was already 16-0, and when they were unable to find a path through the Melbourne wall despite numerous repeat sets, their challenge was done.
The Storm then rubbed salt into into the Sharks’ gaping wound with two late tries to Steve Turner and Matt Geyer, Turner finishing the night with a personal tally of 16 points.
It was a disappointing farewell for Sharks trio Isaac de Gois, Brett Kimmorley and Danny Nutley, who all played their final game in the sky blue.
The Sharks fumbled the game away inside the opening half hour, their poor ball control allowing the Melbourne to establish a lead they didn’t really deserve.
In recent weeks rival coaches have claimed the Storm are there to be beaten and over the opening stanza there were indications they were, only for the Sharks to fritter away every opportunity.
The Storm on the other hand took theirs, Cronk getting them going when he stepped through a yawning gap inside his own half before landing a pin-point kick for Turner to score his first after just three minutes.
The report on White didn’t effect the Storm’s momentum as Cronk fired a flat short ball for Israel Folau to make it 10-0.
Dropped balls continued to plague Cronulla before the Storm landed the killer blow just five minutes from the break when replacement forward Adam Blair picked a good time to score his first ever NRL try as he crashed through four defenders for a 16-0 halftime lead.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy heaped praise on his undermanned squad for coming up with the goods, but saved most of his energy in the post-match press conference for a scathing attack on the integrity of the NRL over the handling of Smith’s suspension.
“Cameron Smith ten minutes after the game last week was hung out to dry,” Bellamy said.
“The press conference after probably one the best games we’ve seen for a long time … got hijacked by some of you guys in the media that had him hung out to dry straight away and then it continued for four or five days.
“There’s some sections of the media that seem to have an agenda against Melbourne and certainly the grapple tackle.
“Why is it Cameron Smith that pays the price?”
Bellamy also attacked the betting market set up on whether Smith would be banned, going as far as to claim bookmakers knew the result of the case before the hearing, comments the coach later backed away from.
“The other thing that was very smelly about the whole lot was when I saw in the paper on Wednesday morning and there’s a betting market – $1.18 he’s going to be found guilty, $4.25 he’ll be found innocent.
“That’s a fair spread in a two-horse race.
“Bookmakers and betting agencies, they don’t guess, they’ve got good information – take that as you may. As soon as I saw that on Wednesday morning … he was thousands.”
The NRL’s chief operating officer Graham Annesley was present during the press conference but declined to comment on Bellamy’s remarks.
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