Storm raise the bar as Dragons buckle under it

We all know premierships are not given out in the month of March, but one can safely assume the Melbourne Storm will be the team to beat once again at the business end of the season. And they haven’t even started playing their best football.

In Friday night’s 17-4 victory against the St George Illawarra Dragons, the Storm typified their stance as the toughest team in the NRL, keeping to a game plan that tormented the Dragons forwards.

Prop Michael Weyman will have nightmares of Cameron Smith and Billy Slater working him over around the ruck – a play which eventually yielded Melbourne’s match winning try.

After Smith fed the ball to Cronk, the former Test halfback drew Weyman in and produced a wonderful no look inside ball for Slater to run onto and score his 16th try in just six appearances at Etihad stadium.

It was a play which summed up why the Storm still harvest the most dangerous combination between fullback, halfback and hooker in the NRL, with Smith, Cronk and Slater combining beautifully to wrap up the match.

For all the defensive muscle the Dragons showed in the first half, last week’s offensive plan against the Cowboys was never going to work against a team of Melbourne’s calibre.

Resorting to constant second phase play, the Dragons often found themselves out of room on the edges, where winger Brett Morris was either bundled into touch or forced into an error.

Indeed, it took 55 minutes for the Dragons to finally bring some variety to their attack, when fullback Darius Boyd produced a terrific cut out pass for Jason Nightingale to score in the corner.

Whilst the play looked simple, it proved very effective against the Storm’s left hand defence which has a knack of rushing up and being left flat footed.

On this occasion, it was Greg Inglis and Anthony Quinn who were left dead and buried by Boyd’s cut out ball to Nightingale.

At 12-4, the Dragons had numerous opportunities to really apply pressure on the scoreboard, only to produce unforced errors close to the Storm tryline.

The Red V were a real chance of scoring back to back four pointers after a dangerous chip kick from Jamie Soward forced a Melbourne error and allowed the Dragons to regain possession.

It was no surprise that the Dragons experienced their best passage of play thanks to the added unpredictability in their attack.

The pressure, however, eventually told on the Dragons, as the errors started compounding against a team still to find a plan B when behind.

While they are terrific frontrunners, Wayne Bennett’s men have yet to thrive under real pressure against quality opposition.

At the business end of last season, they buckled against the Parramatta Eels and the Brisbane Broncos, and have done so against Craig Bellamy’s men.

Whilst not many teams will go away from Melbourne with the two competition points, a premiership contender like the Dragons should feel disappointed in the way they were outclassed against a team that, after four seasons, still sets the benchmark in both defence, attack, and the ability to pile on the points when it matters most.

Despite sitting near each other at the top of the NRL table, there is still a lot of catching up to do if the Dragons are to ever wrestle premiership dominance away from the Storm.