Manly have delivered Melbourne an embarrassing defeat, smashing the Storm by 20 points.
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Final score
Melbourne Storm 4
Manly Sea Eagles 24
Will the Smith-less Melbourne Storm overcome the loss of their influential skipper or will the Manly Sea Eagles build on last week’s confidence-boosting win? Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting at 7:35pm AEST.
It has been a big week for Melbourne Storm hooker Cameron Smith with the acclaimed hooker retiring from representative football and also copping a suspension for just the second time in his career.
While Smith’s shock decision will be invaluable for the Storm during the Origin period, they find themselves without their influential skipper this week after he accepted an early guilty plea for his ‘wishbone’ tackle on Kevin Proctor.
Promising youngster Brandon Smith has been named in the No.9 jersey in his place while Billy Slater will captain the side. Meanwhile, Tim Glasby (thumb) returns in place of Sam Kasiano (suspension) as he attempts to protect his Maroons jersey.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy will be looking for an improved performance after the Storm left it until late to seal an uninspiring 28-14 win over the Titans. The Storm hold a strong recent record over Manly having won 8 of their past 11 against the club from the Northern Beaches.
If the winner of this clash was decider by ladder position alone the Storm would be clear victors. However, the Sea Eagles shape as a dangerous opponent for the Defending Premiers as they would have taken plenty of promise from last week’s 38-24 win over Brisbane.
A firing Tom Trbojevic was integral to the dramatic improvement in attack while a powerful display by brother Jake Trbojevic and Addin Fonua-Blake also contributed.
Halfback Daly Cherry-Evans may also have an established halves partner this week after Manly announced the immediate signing of Trent Hodkinson earlier this week.
Coach Trent Barrett would have been impressed with the effort but will still hope for a stronger defensive display this week.
Tip
Saturday night’s game will give an interesting insight into what life may be like without the traditional ‘Big Three’.
Slater will still be there yet Smith is integral to the composure that the Storm have been so well known for. If Melbourne hold strong in defence they should be able to grind their way to victory.
Storm by 6.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting at 7:35pm AEST.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Its not a 'a stupid, amateur game' its run by 'stupid, amateur' officials that have no common sense and/or business sense! There surely must be something done that this does not happen again! Our Cody Walker spent '10mim' in the bin, why are the Manly players given a 1min 50sec advantage???? But its all good, thanks Manly for making us 'Clear 4th' on the comp ladder. Go Bunnies!
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Dylan Walker has been asking for this for years. He constantly gets under his opponents skin and this time it exploded. Can't say I was that upset to see him cop one - or was that three or four. Didn't know Scott had it in him. Respect,
Concerned Observer
Guest
Didn’tcwatch the game but golly gosh did it sound like a shocker. Well done Manly for picking up the points but it may turn into a game most would rather forget, especially a much overdue needed send-off It would be borderline criminal to even think taking the points off manly. Like the 7 tackle try it’s an absolutely monumental stuff up on the NRL’s end and I feel, indicative of the rot that’s in its systems. If you can’t employ a guy to accurately use a timer on their smartphone, why on earth are you allowed to administrate the game?
The Spectator
Guest
Barret needed to start Trent instead of bench, it was so hard to watch the first half with walker at 6.
The Spectator
Guest
Manly at 13+ was a good little earn if i do say so myself ?
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
F##k of Jimmmy, it's good to see a couple of fired-up blokes punching on, and I'm sure Walker deserved it.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Yes, let's call a spade a spade. Melbourne were sh@t and deserved to lose. And I love the Storm.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Storm were terrible. How can you drop the ball that many times?
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
To be honest, love to see blokes punching on in the middle of a game of football. At least it shows they care.
Peter Phelps
Guest
I made the Smithy comment a little tongue in cheek. As a Storm supporter I was completely disgusted by that display. Don't care about the early returns, that was just a mistake and didn't cost us the game. Pi** poor play cost us the game. Gee Melbourne, how did you get it so wrong so quickly ?
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
Logged into my tipping and found I had tipped Manly and it was too late to change... I got lucky.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Such a stupid, amateur game
Tom
Guest
Yeah, can't see how this is any different to any other refereeing mistake, considering Manly don't control the bin.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Why did I sign up to publish my tips every week?
Joe
Roar Rookie
It can't be all Smith. This same team played during Origin last year and they were way better. Smith had nothing to do with all the errors and dropped ball out there. Definitely some players need to be dropped starting with Scott who really cost the team dearly.
jimmmy
Guest
Yeah , the NRL stuffed up. Put some fail safe check in place and get on with life. Similar to the seven tackle thing . You can’t penalise Manly.
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
MATCH REPORT: In arguably the most controversial and explosive game of the year, the Manly Sea Eagles have overcome the Storm 24-4 at AAMI Park. The contest was incredibly dour in the first forty minutes, with both sides guilty of ill-discipline and poor ball handling. As a result, both sides headed into the sheds locked up at 2-all. For a second, I was considering whether the Royal Wedding would be the more entertaining option, yet thankfully the second half delivered in a completely unexpected way. Melbourne opened the scoring courtesy of a penalty goal before a stunning effort from Matthew Wright saw the Sea Eagles open the try-scoring. A poor pass from dummy-half threatened to derail Manly’s last-tackle option in the 47th minute, with Daly Cherry-Evans rushing in a grubber aimed at the sideline. However, the ball ricocheted off Melbourne legs and trickled towards the dead-ball line. Wright did not give up on the play though, chasing the ball down and grounding it for the first try of the game. What happened next was unprecedented. Curtis Scott was sent off and became the first player to be given marching orders since David Shillington in 2015 after throwing several punches that left Dylan Walker with a severe facial injury. Apisai Koroisau and Dylan Walker were then also sin-binned for their role in the brawl. Melbourne failed to take advantage of the one-man overlap after making several handling errors and Manly made them pay in the 59th minute when Akuila Uate went flying over in the corner. The Storm looked to have struck back in the 64th minute when Will Chambers went over out wide but Uate and Brian Kelly did incredibly well to hold him up and force a mistake from the Melbourne centre. The Sea Eagles went on to secure the victory in the 69th minute when a perfectly executed Cherry-Evans kick was snatched by Tom Trbojevic. Trbojevic then burst through the line in the 75th minute and was pulled down by a speedy Josh Addo-Carr, who held on too long and became the fourth player to be binned in tonight’s game. With a two-man overlap, the Sea Eagles put an exclamation mark on the win when Moses Suli went over in the 80th minute. As a result, Manly ran out 24-4 victors. The win, however, was marred by a controversial early return to the field by Manly’s sin-binned players. It will be interesting to see what comes from the unthinkable mistake from the NRL.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Sure is a lot of talk about starting the clock at the wrong time, nothing's gonna come of it. Out of everything that happened in this game this is by far the least interesting part
Dodgy dragons
Guest
Go the stink!!! Love it. Awesome second half for a neutral fan. These 2 hate each other and it’s great to see a few punches thrown in anger. Scott got a couple of good ones in, closed his eye nicely.
Peter Phelps
Guest
Gee that must be the worst the Storm have played since they joined the NRL. How does a Bellamy coached side, any Bellamy coached side play that badly ? Have I been wrong all these years to fully recognise Smithy's contribution ? That was woeful and I would not be surprised to see Bellamy start swinging the axe.