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Parramatta have underlined their premiership credentials and jumped themselves into the top four with a commanding 22-14 win over Melbourne at CommBank Stadium.
The Eels have flattered to decieve at times in 2022, but this was them at their best: they were superb defensively, dominated the ball and profited off the back of it.
Parra have always had points in them – they are third in the league for tries scored – but have massively improved their defence at the right time of year. Through the first hour, they were near perfect.
With ball in hand, they have few doubters. Clint Gutherson was their star, creating tries for Will Penisini and Maika Sivo, while Dylan Brown was at his buzzing best to score one and generally torment the Storm defence with six tackle breaks.
The scoreline was brought in late by two tries in the last five minutes from Melbourne, but on the run of play, it was never that close. Though the teams scored the same number of tries – three apiece – the Eels were always in control.
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“We’ll have a bit to say about the last four minutes, but overall, we’ve got to learn to enjoy it,” said Brad Arthur.
“We’ve done really well to get the opportunity that we had tonight and the boys took it with two hands. The serious part starts now. We know what’s ahead of us next Friday and we’re looking forward to another fantastic opportunity for us.
“For 76 minutes we dominated the game, but we got taught a good lesson because we can’t do that, especially once we come to next week and the finals. It’s a new ball game next week and Penrith are going to be fresh, rested and at home.”
They leapfrog the Storm to earn themselves a second chance in the finals, not to mention a week one blockbuster Battle of the West with Penrith next weekend. Parra have now defeated the Storm twice and the Panthers twice. They will have no fear in the finals.
The Storm, for their part, will likely now face Canberra in week one at AAMI Park. The Raiders have as good a record in Melbourne as any visiting side.
Craig Bellamy’s men were severely weakened by the loss of Jahrome Hughes in the lead up, forcing Cooper Johns into the starting line up. Their attack, naturally, was weakened, but was rarely given the chance to shine anyway given the rate of errors coming from the Storm.
They didn’t give themselves much of a chance, with several poor reads in the defence and four points handed to the Eels via short dropouts that didn’t make it ten metres.
“It’s mixed feelings,” said Bellamy. “We got off to a really good start, it was a good arm wrestle for 15 minutes, but then we lost our way and didn’t touch the ball for ten minutes. That took a bit of gas out of us.
“We started completing in the last 15 minutes and scored a couple of tries. It was three tries all in the end, but they looked like they were on top the whole game. We make it hard on ourselves at different times when we’re not completing.
“It’s been a tough run the last few weeks: we’ve played good teams up the top and three of the four weeks, we’ve travelled. We might be a touch fatigued from that.”
These two are among the most committed to the grind in the NRL, and played very conservatively to start the game. Parramatta blinked first, conceding a penalty, but Melbourne let them off the hook with a simple Jesse Bromwich forward pass on play one.
The Eels didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth. They got into position, ran on the last through Brown and, when the Storm thought they had him held, the tackler fell away and the Kiwi kept going.
Melbourne didn’t help themselves, but Parra failed to capitalise. The kick off was sent out on the full and from the resulting good ball set, Reagan Campbell-Gillard put Marata Niukore over on a crash ball. He thought he had grounded, but referee Ashley Klein disagreed and the bunker was unable to overturn.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Jesse Bromwich then dropped the ball on play one and invited the Eels back in, but Penisini bombed the try, failing to gather a pass with the line wide open.
The Storm did build some attack of their own. Xavier Coates dove for the line and was pushed into touch by Sivo, and on the other side, Justin Olam was able to get David Nofoaluma free with a superb offload, but the Eels scramble denied them the try.
There was time for pantomime villain Nelson Asofa-Solomona to get himself put on report for a late challenge on Moses, and for Tui Kamikamica to collect his teammate Johns and force the stand-in halfback off for a HIA.
Parra did nudge the lead a little via a penalty goal, but on the balance of play, they might have gone to the sheds disappointed that the score was just 8-0.
Parramatta haven’t lost when leading at half time, and started the second half like a team possessed. They finally got their second try, with a slick backline move allowing Penisini to redeem himself for his earlier bomb by touching down after a Gutherson assist.
The confidence was flowing, and it showed up in the strangest of places: Moses stripped the ball from Olam, well out of his weight division, and then laid out Kenny Bromwich with a monster shot that dislodged the ball and forced the Storm forward off for a HIA, from which he did not return.
The magic kept coming. Gutherson threw one of the passes of the season, covering almost 25m in the air as it looped over Coates and into the arms of Sivo, who raced it to the line.
Just when it was looking safe, the Storm struck back. It was so simple, defying the solidity of the Parra defence, as Isaiah Papali’i was caught flat-footed by Harry Grant from dummy half.
The Storm then shot themselves in the foot again, as they gifted another two points via a failed short dropout attempt. Moses gladly took the two, and took his time in kicking them to further wind the clock down.
Melbourne make it interesting though a typically brilliant Cameron Munster break that got Nick Meaney over – again Papali’i the man beaten in defence – and a late try for Nofoaluma, but the deal was done.