Melbourne have hung on to win 30-26 at Brookvale Oval after leading 30-16 at half-time over the Manly Sea Eagles.
An incredible nine tries were scored in an end-to-end first half of action before the game became more of the arm wrestle expected in the second.
The Storm capitalised on a glut of early possession to score four tries in the first 17 minutes of the game. Winger Suliasi Vunivalu crossed twice, with Young Tonumaipea and Josh Addo-Carr also scoring.
Cameron Smith only converted one of those tries, but the Storm were still leading 18-0 and scoring at better than a point a minute.
The possession then evened up and Manly clawed their way back to score two converted tries in the next ten minutes. Both were determined individual efforts. Frank Winterstein crossed first, followed by winger Jorge Taufua, and Manly were back in it at 18-12.
The Storm then scored two more converted tries, both by Felise Kaufusi after running great lines off Billy Slater passes. That made it 30-12 but Brian Kelly crossed for the Sea Eagles on the stroke of half-time to bring them within touching distance again.
Neither side would have been happy with their defensive effort in the first half, especially Manly.
The Sea Eagles needed to score first in the second half and they did that after the Trbojevic brothers combined, with Jake running off an inside ball from Tom and forcing his way over.
Manly centre Brian Kelly then crossed five minutes later for what would have been his second try, but the bunker correctly confirmed that he’d lost the ball over the line in a Billy Slater tackle.
With fifteen minutes to go, Brenton Lawrence scored a Sea Eagles try after Akuila Uate spectacularly fielded a last tackle Daly Cherry Evans cross-field bomb and offloaded.
That made it 30-26 to set up a grandstand finish, but astute last tackle kicking from Cronk and Smith allowed the Storm to control possession with repeat sets in the dying stages and hang on for an important victory.
The win sends them back to the top of the table, for at least the next few hours until the St George Illawarra Dragons play this evening.
Final score
Manly Sea Eagles 26
Melbourne Storm 30
Moonshot
Guest
A great weekend for NRL comebacks which is not surprising - Didn't jesus make the biggest comeback of all this weekend?
Mandrake
Guest
The 67th minute penalty to manly for a Storm below the knees tackle was a perfect example of confection. As commentator mark Gasnier said there has been 50 cases of that tackle this year and no penalties. The fact that manly were behind by more than one score caused the penalty.
Jimmmy
Guest
The turbos are terrific players. Manly can build a team around these two guys for a long , long time. To come back against the Storm is no easy task, Manly will do Alright this year.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Very true. Their decision making affects Kelly's job so they all really need to get their act together. Some of those tries were just soft with Kaufusi breezing through the line twice. I think the Storm played them perfectly after the first try to Vunivalu on the outside of Taufua. Taufua after that kept staying wide causing Kelly to move out leaving the massive hole for Kaufusi to stroll through.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
True. Guys on the inside need to be working much harder. And Taufua can get caught in no man's land at times undecided whether to come in or stay out. But at the end of the day Kelly needs to take responsibility. He was given a massive lesson by Aitken the week before as well. He's only a rookie so will get better. But in the meantime others need to lift their urgency to assist him.
Nambawan
Guest
I think Taufua and Winterstein were just as cul[pable/incapable in defence as Kelly.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
Kelly's job on the left edge doesn't get any easier next week with Leilua/Rapana to terrorise him. Terrific attacking player. But desperately needs help in defence. Let's hope the others step up around him.
Joe
Roar Rookie
High scoring game and Storm were lucky to hang on for the win with Manly coming at them in the 2nd half. That is the most points the Storm have let in for two years. The Storm attacked Kelly's edge and Manly attacked Young Tonumaipaia. Credit to Manly to hang in there after being down 18-0 after as many minutes. It could have gotten really ugly but they came back with tries of their own and also shut out the Storm in the 2nd half. The Turbo brothers were excellent in leading the comeback. Storm will be happy to have a nice long break before their next match.