Manly won the 2011 NRL premiership playing mistake-free, clinical football and surrendered it 12 months later doing the complete opposite as Melbourne cruised to a 40-12 win in Friday’s preliminary final at AAMI Park.
The Storm deserved to book their place in the grand final for the first time since the salary cap scandal saw them stripped of their 2007 and 2009 premierships.
But their job was made so much easier by the sloppy Sea Eagles, who made 16 errors and missed 34 tackles in Melbourne – much to the chagrin of coach Geoff Toovey who was blowing a gasket in the coaching box.
Anthony Watmough, just two days after he revealed he had issues with Stillnox seven years ago, started the nightmare, losing the ball on the second tackle of the game.
A last-ditch tackle from Brett Stewart prevented a try to Mahe Fanua, but the Storm made no mistake soon after when Tony Williams dropped the ball cold and Cooper Cronk ran it home for the opening four points of the game.
In-form winger Jorge Taufua continued the horror show when a harmless-looking Cameron Smith kick bounced off his knee, over his hands and into touch.
From the subsequent scrum, Billy Slater darted over from dummy-half and appeared to have dropped the ball over the line, only for the try to be awarded the benefit of the doubt by the video referees.
A third Storm try came on the halfway-mark of the opening stanza from Will Chambers, but Smith’s poor kicking game kept the score at a manageable 12-0.
And when Sea Eagles skipper Jamie Lyon rose highest to pluck the ball out of the air, AFL-style, from a Daly Cherry-Evans kick, there was hope of a miracle as his side trailed 12-6 at the break.
But any hope of an improvement in the second half was short-lived.
Chambers brushed aside a weak Steve Matai tackle, and set up Cronk for a fourth Storm try just after the restart.
And the errors kept coming and coming.
Even the usually brilliant Glenn Stewart, got in on the act, knocking-on at the base of the scrum allowing prop Jesse Bromwich to score.
Slater added his second on the hour mark to blow out the scoreline, and to add insult to injury, Jason King joined in the Comedy of Errors, spilling the ball in his own half.
And the ruthless Storm spread the ball wide for Kevin Proctor to score his side’s seventh try.
Razza
Guest
GO THE EAGLES Well 2013 anyway ??. Last Fridaynight i watched the Storm bundle the Eagles out of the game and grandfinal contention, WHAT TH................. I have been following the Eagles for more then 40 years and that game was the worst i have seen them play and the first time i have seen the ball after kickoff not go the 10 metres, pathetic, pathetic, pathetic, back yard stuff. The Storm beat the Eagles and are the first team in 2012 to go into the grandfinal and the Storm are the 2012 grandfinalist in my books, i laughed when i heard the term - THE BIG THREE - but i am not laughing now, they turned it on again . Take away the Eagles mistakes and the Storm still won, forget the Slater try that had ?????? about it, the Eagles were well gone before that, what happened to Foran and Cherry - Evans magic ??, to tell you the truth i think there were alot of injured players on the field for the Eagles, but thats no excuse. And thank god i dont have to watch Williams in the Eagles colours anymore, the big loaf did nothing, but i did see him pass the ball once, apart from that he should have been booked for trespass. Poor Jorge Faufua, hero one day, villan the next, how often does that happen in this crazy game we call Rugby League ????. Also did i see two senior forwards in the name of King and Kite off the field for a rest at the sametime ??????. GO THE EAGLES See yawl in 2013.
Smile
Guest
CM - seriously? Really? You're happy for that to be a try? You are in the 1% of the population. You should send your resume to Mr Harrigan and Raper. Manly were terrible. That was one of the worst performances of the season - for any team in the comp. Melbourne are starting to find that early season form again. The winner of todays game will need to be at their best next week.
Red Rooster
Guest
Good to see Manly get the rough end of the pineapple for a change!
Paul
Guest
Yeah manly man u were probably hard done by there. Fortunately it had no bearing on the outcome unlike last weeks game...
Chris morrison
Guest
Steve I know ur a Melbourne hater but u look at it again champ and just like last week foran gets a touch on it. This time he pays for it. Tough call but correct.
Chris morrison
Guest
Steve I know ur a Melbourne hater but u look at it again champ and just like last week foran gets a touch on it. This time he pays for it. Tough call but correct.
Chrisco
Guest
Great, now Manly can go back and practice their rugby league, instead of the thuggery they have played this season (and possibly previous).The thing is if they played the way the Storm did and ignored the in your face or hand in your face ... or elbow in your face tactics, they would be a great team. When all this didn't work for them they realized they actually had to play rugby league but hadn't practiced.
steve b
Roar Guru
C.M Slater dropped the ball ,,full stop FFS LOOK AT IT AGAIN ,we did on frame by frame NO TRY .NEVER EVER !!!!
Manly Man
Guest
No it wasn't a try
Chris morrison
Guest
Video ref call was correct. As u can see when u watch the video kieran foran knocks the ball out of slaters hand slater then lands on the ball. TRY
Manly Man
Guest
This probably the worst I've seen manly Perform in a long time the storm deserved the win despite that video ref call although they have got to do something about the video refs. Maybe next year Manly