The Warriors are not only going to be the big improvers of 2023, they could end up in the finals the way they’re going.
And the Storm will undoubtedly be in the playoffs for the 13th straight year after overcoming the gallant Warriors despite the home side being well below their best in a 30-22 win that can only be described as ugly.
A year after they were towelled up 70-10 in the corresponding traditional Anzac Day fixture, the Warriors showed they are the real deal by pushing the Storm all the way at AAMI Park. Both teams now have a 5-3 record after the elongated Anzac Round.
The Warriors were down to no players on their bench by the end of the contest but were arguably the better side for much of the match before fatigue set in with Melbourne scoring three converted tries in the second half to overturn a 10-point deficit.
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It was the cornerstone of their three premierships in the space of nine seasons but Melbourne’s defence was flimsy and downright embarrassing at times against the Warriors.
Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak is tackled by the Melbourne defence. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
The Warriors’ attack was too much for them on several occasions.
They were slick with their backline sweeps as they first went left to edge forward Jackson Ford and then right to the wing of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to open up a 12-0 lead in as many minutes.
It took a Cameron Munster moment of brilliance, a booming 40-20 kick, to get the hosts on the scoreboard via Justin Olam a couple of minutes later.
However, Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake carved through a couple of uncharacteristically feeble tackle attempts from Tariq Sims and Christian Welch to make it 18-6 at the mid-point of the first half.
Fox League expert Michael Ennis couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“It was unMelbournelike. I’ve not seen an easier try ever through the middle of the Melbourne Storm defensive line than what we’ve just seen,” he said. “Boy, that’s soft from Melbourne. And I say that respectfully because I’ve admired their defensive line for so long.
“For well over a decade they’ve set the benchmark defensively. You just do not see moments like that from Melbourne.”
Munster cut the deficit to six before Warriors veteran five-eighth Dylan Walker was sin-binned for a head slam in the 39th minute.
Despite being a player down, the Warriors made it 22-12 when Watene-Zelezniak again benefitted from an attacking raid through several sets of hands with even more bodies in motion.
A Nick Meaney try brought the home side within four with half an hour to play and Walker returning to the fray.
They hit the front when they were awarded the benefit of the doubt when Reimis Smith appeared to possibly get a finger on the ball to propel it forward during an aerial contest before Meaney scooped up the crumbs.
After many anxious moments, Melbourne finally sealed the victory with five minutes on the clock when Harry Grant darted over from close range.
“It was a really strange game. I’m not quite sure what happened,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said. “And I don’t think like that too often. It was just a real different game.
“Their improvement this year has been enormous.”
The fatigue of being down on troops was too much in the end for the visitors. “You could see how hard the boys were trying to hang in there,” Warriors coach Andrew Webster said. “There was a period there if we actually got a call or something went our way we were probably still a fighting chance and they would have found a bit of belief. They just kept trying all the way to the end.
“I’ve seen those situations blow out and put three tries on a team late, even four tries, but the boys hung in there and I’m really proud of that.
“We weren’t playing fancy footy. We didn’t have the bodies or the energy to move the ball around.
“I just don’t want us to get confused between being proud and kind of making excuses for moments. We had enough moments we needed to own and execute. The players themselves are coming up to me and saying they need to be smarter.
“I knew it before tonight and I think you can tell the boys know it, that they’re a good football team. We look like a great team when we get it right.”
Warriors skipper Tohu Harris limped off late in the first half with what looked like a serious knee injury.
For a player who has previously suffered an ACL tear and who is so crucial to his team’s fortunes, the Warriors will be sweating on a positive diagnosis once he undergoes scans on Wednesday back in Auckland.
“I’m hoping that it’s not that bad, that it’s pretty positive news and I don’t miss any or too many games,” he said, clarifying that it was an MCL not an dreaded ACL problem.
He was joined late in the contest by fellow veteran forward Jazz Tevaga, who was helped into the sheds with what Webster said was Achilles and calf problems “and he will miss some time”, while fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad also failed to finish the match due to a failed HIA.
Bayley Sironen was also taken off for an HIA (which he then passed) in the closing stages so the Warriors were down to no subs on the bench for the final 10 minutes. Sironen will be able to suit up for the short turnaround into Sunday’s home clash with the Roosters but CNK is ineligible.
The Warriors will also be anxious to learn the fate of Walker with the match review committee.
He was sin-binned just before the break for a head slam tackle on Storm forward Eliesa Katoa, who appeared heavily concussed after the incident and was ruled out for the rest of the match.
Walker protested his innocence before being marched and replays showed that he wasn’t holding Katoa’s head as it thudded to the turf with his grasp more around the second-rower’s shoulder as he became the third defender into the tackle.
“Dyl was taking him to the ground and unfortunately his head slammed and Dyl came over the top,” Webster said before adding that he watched the replay straight away and thought his player was sweet.
The Dally M award for coaches is Andrew Webster’s to lose after eight rounds.
He’s transformed the Warriors from the ultimate hot-and-cold model of inconsistency to a committed machine in attack and defence.
If you weren’t sure of the jerseys in this era of ever-changing designs when you first set eyes on this match at AAMI Park, you could have been forgiven for thinkng the Storm were in the white strip and the Warriors had gone for the dark blue uniform.
The Warriors are playing an unrelenting style like the clinical Storm sides which have dominated the NRL in the modern era.
Webster’s signing was given little fanfare when it was announced late last season but the former Panthers assistant has certainly made a name for himself in a short space of time with the way he’s given the Warriors the steely edge they’ve lacked for a long time.
His closest rival for the Dally M gong would be someone at the other end of the experience spectrum, the premiership’s longest serving coach in Wayne Bennett, who has done a similarly unexpected job in getting the Dolphins off to a flying start in their foundation season.
Bellamy said the best example of Webster’s impact has been the form of veteran halfback Shaun Johnson, labelling him in the best form he’s be in “since six or seven years ago when he was dominating the competition”.
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