The Melbourne Storm continued their excellent start to the 2017 NRL season with a hard-earned victory over the Brisbane Broncos.
Despite the Storm’s dominance of territory and possession, a fiercely determined Broncos defence held a slender lead with minutes to play.
A true smash-and-grab away victory was at hand, but a knock on in the Broncos’ penultimate set gave the Storm the opportunity they needed.
Several penalties later, Melbourne finally found a way over the tryline, albeit with an ounce of luck, with a ricochet ending up in the gleeful arms of Josh Addo-Carr, who squared the scores. Cameron Smith then showed nerves of steel to put through the conversion and give Melbourne the lead with a minute to play.
Here are three thoughts from a gripping match.
1. The recovery men
After a prolonged period out of the game following shoulder surgery, Billy Slater made his long-awaited return, midway through the first half, to a standing ovation.
He did not miss a beat, proving safe under the high ball and showing glimpses of his trademark speed and acceleration. It was great to have one the superstars of the game back in action.
Jesse Bromwich made a mockery of his finger injury from a fortnight ago to again lead the Melbourne forward pack. Showing no ill effects, he bashed and crashed for 132 metres.
2. The impediment of attacking players looking to attack the high ball needs to stop
This is nothing new but the NRL needs to take a look at infringements against attacking players trying to catch high, attacking kicks anywhere on the field.
Time and time again, both teams would position a player to impede an attacking player (often a winger) thus preventing them from having a fair chance to jump and catch the kick.
The Broncos were more guilty of this last night, given the pressure they were under in their own 20, but most teams employ this tactic, which needs to be policed better by the on-field referees.
3. The Broncos will take plenty of heart from this loss
Despite two losses on the trot, the Broncos should return to Brisbane with plenty of positives. If they play desperate defence like this on a regular basis, then the wins will surely come.
Despite the Storm’s territorial dominance, they often found it difficult to convert this into points against a determined goal-line defence.
Brisbane shot themselves in the foot with skill errors in possession and conceded too many penalties, but if they can rectify this, they have the attacking arsenal and defensive grit to be a force.
Stormtrooper2
Guest
A lot of hype leading up to the game - wish that would stop ... so pleased Slater came off the bench ... Bellamy and Smith did say in their post match interview that the game was anyone's ... Best pic was Slater and Boyd walking arms around each other heading into the tunnel - respect, and the shear glee shared between Billy and his wife Nicole - love.
Rob
Guest
I remember the Ref's penalising Kane Linnett shepherding Topou off the ball in the Cowboys semi final loss 30-31 to the Rooster back 2014. The same touch judge ran in shouting "knock on" which prevented a try in the final minutes. My point is they let the blocking and indiscretions happen until they want to fix a result? By picking and choosing their interpretations of the rules from week to week they infuriate the players and fans. Annoying indiscretions also included players running forward off the mark, placing the ball on the ground before getting to your feet, players holding or charging the markers, defenders taking out support players behind the ball, placing the hand between the legs and lifting(grabbing one leg in a gang tackle like M. Prior).
db
Guest
Whilst reviewing a try in the Titans/Eels match, the bunker official referred to a Parramatta player 'giving an escort'. He then proceeded to review the ensuing play. The escort was Takairangi illeggally running a Titan's player off the ball as he pursued a high kick. So, the officials now have a term to describe an illegal play they are prepared to ignore.
Dj01
Guest
I'm glad Hunt is gone next year. Goes missing during matches, poor kicking game. Doesn't take control during important periods. Average Halfback at best. This season is a write off, Milford can't do everything himself. Too be honest I wouldn't mind seeing what Kodi Nikorima can do in the halves. We better sign Foran or get Taylor back for next year,.
Minefield
Guest
They don't use the bin or send anyone off as a shorthanded usually means a lopsided game and the TV lads don't want that. They do like a close finish though and through a myriad of penalties and ball stripping (apparently legal now) got the right result in the end.
Zedman
Roar Rookie
No you don't expect these actions to occur, what a stupid statement. If you get suspended for a shoulder charge the penalty for this grubbiness must be a lot more.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Favourable penalty count? What game were you watching?
steve
Guest
The only thing I can come up with for failure to use the sin bin, is that referee's have been given an edict from the NRL not to use it unless its an absolute last resort. There were a number of times last night that the bin should have been used, especially the Thaiday push and repeated infringements when the Broncos were defending the line. repeated on field warnings to the captain of the team, any team that does it, is farcical. Just bin them straight away.
The Doc
Roar Guru
Hi Jean, agree with your sentiments about cam smith. He has been helping with the play making for quite a few seasons mainly from dummy half.. The left foot kicking game complements Cronk nicely.
Richard Maybury
Guest
Sam wasn't the only one and there was some blatant deliberate foul play from the broncs. Why refs are frightened of using the bin I cannot understand. It ultimately makes their job easier and the game a better contest.
Richard Maybury
Guest
I thought that the storm were deliberately throwing the ball around in attack to mix it up and confuse the Broncs. That resulted in an increased error rate. They had 17 off loads in that match something you wouldn't normally see from them in an entire season.
jeandetroyes
Guest
Amazed to see Cameron Smith playing 1st or 2nd receiver regularly last night. Virtually a 5/8. Best game I've ever seen him play. I thought it was a good game and the refereeing not as bad as people have been claiming. Agree the tries disallowed to both sides were a mistake, though. Sam Thaiday? Should be ashamed of himself. A disgrace to the game.
kk
Roar Pro
The Storm paid a huge price for the victory with news that Munster may be out for 4-6 weeks with a broken jaw.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Great summary of the game and totally agree. There is a lot of improvement needed in the Melbourne attack and they should only get better.
Mike from tari
Guest
Did I hear & read at the start of the season that the Referees were told to take action on teams giving away deliberate penalties on their tryline, well this game should have had Thaiday in the bin for sure, that incident when he grabbed Bromwich's injured thumb & just kept pulling it downwards when Bromwich was trying to get up to play the ball was sin bin time, perfect opportunity for that Ref to stamp out the problem, but he flunked it & it just kept going on all through the rest of the game, not the injured thumb pulling but the holding down on the try line. The injured thumb incident, well that's part of the game, I expect Bromwich & his team knew he would cop it but what Thaiday did to be stop the play the ball was a binning. The running the attacker off the high ball last night was an absolute farce, the game officials should be sacked, it wasn't a case of positioning players in front of the attackers, it was a case of deliberately running across field & shouldering the attacker out of the way, in one case the Storm winger was hit so hard he hit the deck over the sideline, I'm not a storm fan but something has to be done.
The Doc
Roar Guru
Hi Max. Yep, apologies. Did miss that. Not a good look, usually (at least in the AFL) these sort of incidents escape punishment ala when Mal Michael and Chris Scott attempted to hit Nick Riewoldt just after he dislocated his shoulder. Whilst an act of gamesmanship from Thaiday and certainly not in the spirit of fair play, if you choose to take the field then you must accept that these actions will occur. I think he will escape punishment but lets wait and see
The Doc
Roar Guru
Thanks for the comment Glenn. Sam Thaiday rumbling in as the third man in and not getting penalised was a bit perplexing. A bit contradictory from the refs given all the important being placed on penalising the so called "third man" in.
The Doc
Roar Guru
Thanks for the comment Richard. Yes, it struck me on several occasions a sin bin was perhaps in order for repeated indiscretions. none the less, i thought the Broncos defence was willing given the amount of possession Melbourne had in their opposition 20, Brisbane did well to keep it tight. And yes, the Storm were lacked their usual ruthless when in sight of the try line - a combination of poor decision making and good broncos defence
Glenn
Guest
Max, don't hold your breath on Brisbane players being suspended for that, other teams yes but not the NRL darlings. What happened to the sin bin? 2 blatant professional fouls by Brisbane and nothing, and don't get me started about Thaiday, running in and pushing a player over, another sin bin offence. That was certainly not Sam's first time running in and often a brawl starts because of it! A great defence dominated game and based on that both certainties to make the 8.
Albo
Guest
Whilst I totally agree with your highlighting of Cronk's poor game last night, I can't see how you could possibly say the Broncos were the better team last night ? Despite a favourable 14-7 penalty count , they rarely got into the Storm's half of the field and never looked like scoring but for the two glaring Storm errors that conceded two gift tries. But for Cronk's (and Chambers' ) unusually poor judgement of the options last night, the Storm should have won by 20 +. The Broncos might be ready to string together a run of wins, but they will need to improve heaps on that performance last night.