Scoring nine tries is enough to make any captain smile but Melbourne’s Cameron Smith is more pleased with his team only conceding one in their 48-6 demolition of the Sharks.
The Storm put their NRL premiership campaign back on track at AAMI Park on Saturday night after a surprise loss to Newcastle in which they let a 10-point lead slip in the dying minutes.
Six tries in the opening half for a 30-0 lead against their injury-ravaged opponents reaffirmed their status as one of the competition’s danger sides.
Smith said he sensed a change in attitude from his team at training this week and was pleased to see it transfer to the field.
“I was mostly pleased with our defence,” Smith said.
“The attitude was different and you could feel it before the game and that’s where we let ourselves down last week, so it was good that the boys responded well.”
Smith said there was no point in racking up points if their defence wasn’t at its best.
“Defence is what wins big games and matches against good sides and we’re playing three of them in our last three games in Penrith, Roosters and the Broncos and that’s got to be our mindset.”
While key trio Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk gave their opponents headaches all match, the Storm had plenty of other stars.
Prop Jesse Bromwich was almost unstoppable through the middle, making a game-high 207 metres.
He collected a first-half try and then offloaded a silky pass for reserve forward Tim Glasby to open the scoring in the second half.
Centre Mahe Fonua also collected a double, showing his brute strength to carry four Sharks defenders across the line for his first.
The Sharks could have laid down after going into halftime with such a monster deficit but they toiled hard and promising young winger Valentine Holmes was rewarded with his first NRL try.
Cronulla coach James Shepherd said the poor start meant his team were never in the hunt, a disappointment after last round’s close tussle with the Warriors.
“It was a poor performance from us, no doubt,” Shepherd said.
“On the back of what we did last week, we defended really well then, and that wasn’t there tonight.”
The win meant Melbourne moved up to fifth on the ladder, with the Panthers expected to present a far greater challenge in Penrith on Monday week.
The Sharks next host Canberra in a tussle that could help decide the wooden spoon.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Calling a forward pass "lateral" doesn't mean it's not forward, though. I don't watch much league nowadays, but it is rare not to see a player hand the ball to a team-mate who is in front of him. There's virtually no air for the ball to travel through, so it must be forward.
Frosty Sabu
Guest
Apparently johnnno1 lacks the understanding of lateral pass and forward pass because he didn't finish his elementary school.
Paul
Guest
Really? Well the must have missed the memo in the knights v storm game last week. 11-3 (7-0) against the storm and a definite no try warded to Newcastle in the dieing moments, pretty much handed the game to the knights? Seems to go against your well thought and educated comment.
johnnno1
Guest
Of course! Its cam smith throwing them and the nrl needs it's melbourne rep to make the top 4
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Sending kids out to do a man's job is a hard task.That should not excuse the poor efforts of Robson,Wright ,Prior and Gordon experienced players who were brushed off like flies by the storm attackers.. There is only one worse defender than Wright and that is Ayshford. Fifita,Lewis,Gagan Tagatese on the sidelines did not help. Roll on 2015 and the ASADA end game.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
I only saw the highlights but it was my impression that there were even more forward passes than usual, several leading to tries -- anybody else notice this or do we just keep quiet about that rule?
The eye
Guest
It's getting a little more than frustrating to see such glaring deficiencies in the shark roster not being addressed..in what world is Jeff Robson a first grade halfback..what skill does Johno Wright have ? Ricky Stuart was bawling his eyes out about his lack of quality players..well,we'll exchange Milford,Lee ,Croker and Jack W.for our backline just say the word...the signing of Mitch Brown absolutely beggars belief and compounds the pain of the Ennis purchase...almost looks like the club loves struggle street too much to leave it..
djcooper
Roar Guru
Improved performance from the storm but that period after halftime was a bit of a concern. They did well to hold the sharks to just one try because the amount of ball they turned over wouldn't have impressed coach Bellamy all too much.