Hometown hero Tohu Harris had a hand in two tries as the Melbourne Storm’s Napier experiment paid off in style, downing St George Illawarra 22-4 at McLean Park.
A crowd of 14,532 witnessed the first NRL match in the Hawke’s Bay city and were treated to a masterclass by the Storm at their efficient best to condemn the Dragons to their seventh straight loss.
The only negative for Craig Bellamy’s men was the sight of Cooper Cronk leaving the field late on with what appeared to be a quadriceps injury.
After an error-strewn opening on a greasy surface, the desperate Dragons looked to have taken the lead in the 27th minute when a wide cut-out pass from Benji Marshall sent Jason Nightingale over in the corner only for it to be called back for a forward pass.
The Storm made them pay a minute later when Nelson Asofa-Solomona bullocked his way over from short range to chalk up his first NRL try.
When Marshall tried to repeat his earlier pass three minutes before the break, Hawke’s Bay-born Harris was alert to the danger.
Playing in front of his family sitting in the aptly-named Harris Stand, he intercepted the pass to send a flying Marika Koroibete, who had been denied earlier in the half, away on an 80m dash to the line.
The 12-0 halftime deficit was perhaps a little harsh on the Dragons who had matched their pre-game talk of an improved defensive effort in the Storm’s opening set.
Matt Duffie defused a testing bomb for his first touch in a Storm jersey in 847 days before almost being driven back in-goal. The Red V kept up the intensity to force Cronk to kick from inside his own 20m.
They were again to the fore soon after the interval with five tacklers combining to thwart a hard-charging Kevin Proctor from extending the Storm lead.
But they struggled to get anything going on attack and seconds after a chant of “Melbourne, Melbourne” rang out Proctor latched onto a short ball from Cronk to extend the ‘home’ side’s lead 15 minutes after the resumption.
Harris, who designed the one-off jersey worn by the Storm, then had his second assist of the night to retrieve a knockdown from a Cronk bomb and send Mahe Fonua over in the corner to put them up 22-0 and the result beyond doubt.
They still had enough time to have tries to Blake Green and a second to Fonua ruled out for forward passes as the fire went out of the Dragons before they claimed a late consolation to centre Peter Mata’utia.
GTW
Guest
Bromwich showed immensely bad taste in (allegedly) biting Dugan. Supposedly the human mouth harbours bacteria similar to that found in the bottom of a sewer, I think those bacteria have met their match in Duges.... (I don't really mean this, but I am a Raiders fan who is still bitter, obviously).
Brian S
Guest
Haven't the Dragons done the same thing for the last 2 years:)?! i remember Widdop best buy of the season Dragons should make G/F?? etc
Charles NSW
Guest
Woe is me! Dragons have to sit down with the coach and ask where do we go from here? Whatever the answer they have to fix up their problems now so they can still have a chance to make the top eight
CW
Guest
Grunt is what they need. But quality not just size.Doust brought in three big boppers this year in Rory O'Brien, George Rose and another bloke whose name escapes me. Apart from sporadic runs in first grade by Rose and O'Brien,non of the big blokes have been able to bed down a permanent spot. I liked what I saw from O'Brien. Looked to have some ball skills to go with his bulk. But Mary gave him three games only. We also lost another 116 kg monster in Fonau-Blake (spelling?) Got dumped for disciplinary reasons.
CW
Guest
Luke Page? Enliten me @The Koomz.
CW
Guest
Peter Doust must go now!!!! What has happened to the Dragons in less than two months. Before the dreaded SOS the Dragons were sitting high on the ladder after a run of great form. I have followed the Dragons for half a century so I think I know the club pretty well. In my view Doust is the cancer in this Dragon outfit. I posted earlier in the year that if we had a run of injuries we were in trouble as we did not have good enough back up. I have been proven correct. We can now not buy a game. All momentum is dead. So even with most of our regular first graders back on deck. It will be tough as hell to get back into the premiership race from here. The club is now paying the price for Doust given unknowns and second class players a contract. His incompetence has also seen some quality players forced out of the club over recent times. Bring back the OUST DOUST social media campaign!!!
Tricky Ricky
Guest
Peter Doust must go as CEO together with his conga line of football club management cronies. Seven losses on the trot is completely unacceptable to the Dragons faithful. Watch out Tigers here come the Dragons for the spoon.
Jean Smith
Guest
They will they're going strong and they will be there when finals time comes.
The Koomz
Guest
Before the origin, people wonderd which team would suffer because of it. Many thought Brisbane but nobody thought it would be the Dragons. They have never been the same since then. Trent Merrin has been a huge loss. I hope Luke Page gets a start soon they really need some grunt up front.
Muzz
Guest
The Storm have looked very impressive in the last 2 rounds.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Good win by the Storm keeping their finals chances alive. Good to see Duffie back and hopefully once he gets some game fitness he will be back to collecting some tries off the end of Cronks boot. The attack is finally starting to click and is coming off the back of some very strong bench performances. Finucane and Nelson Asofa Solomona were great off the bench, Nelson especially is getting better with each NRL game he plays. Tohu did well at center and looks to be the solution to the leaky left edge and his combination with Koroibete is getting better. Koroibete again with another long distance try is great to watch. Thought Widdop had him covered but Marika's pace is something else. Hopefully they keep up the good performances next week against the Tigers.