The Melbourne Storm have once again shown their ruthlessness and class, dismantling the Knights by 28 points last night in Melbourne.
The Storm were utterly dominant here, scoring in the early minutes of the match before sprinting to a 16-6 lead. It only got worse for Newcastle who, despite a spirited performance, couldn’t stop the Storm marching to 28-point victory, 40-12.
Melbourne struck early in the first half, with Suliasi Vunivalu scoring in the right-hand corner to give the Storm the early advantage.
By the 14th minute Melbourne had their second with some brilliant play helping Josh Addo-Carr to score down the left with Cooper Cronk and Brandon Smith stealing the show thus far.
Within minutes they had a third when Felise Kaufusi scored in the 18th minute, concluding a dominant opening 20 minutes for the Storm. Ken Sio earned one back late in the half for Newcastle, but the Storm were well on top at half-time.
The second half started perfectly for the Storm when Billy Slater scored, Melbourne wasting no time pressing in attack as soon as the game resumed after the break. Within minutes Vunivalu scored his second after flying high in the 50th minute.
Three minutes later and Slater had scored again, some woeful Newcastle defending allowing the score line head out to 32-6. Smith earned himself a try for his effort tonight before Lachlan Fitzgibbon scored a consolation for Newcastle. Cheyse Blair, however, finished off a perfect evening for Melbourne, with the Storm winning 40-12
The eye
Guest
Winners can grin and losers can please themselves I suppose.. Robert Dillon writes a biting article in todays Newcastle Herald..one of the most pertinent points being the Tigers with its train wreck of a front office can still attract decent talent for next year..no one except Ponga wants to go to the coalfields..and the only genuine marquis they had...walked..starting to agree,after one capitulation after another on field and off,its the coach..
Joe
Roar Rookie
Good to see the youngsters get a run and what the hooker future looks like in Brandon Smith and Griffin. Good decision to leave out Cam Smith who looked really out of it after Origin. Billy Slater was outstanding especially in combination with Cronk. Good to see Munster building into the 6 jersey, had my doubts early in the season but he has been awesome playing 6. Its round 13 and the Melbourne Storm still have not had their best team on the park with key players always out with injury, suspension and now Origin. Can't wait for the Origin period to be over as everyone is now injury free (touching wood) and hopefully they get the best team out on the park fully fit and non-origin affected.
BigJ
Roar Guru
Really disappointed there was no live call for this game but still a get game for the storm but its only against the knights so an expected win. Still very much premiership contenders just have to bump of the Sharks