They cheered. They cried. They are now building a statue.
It was a try the country, nay, the world, had been waiting for.
After playing 116 games in the NRL, and with the vocal Campbelltown crowd behind him, Wests Tigers favourite Alex Twal finally crossed for his first-ever four-pointer. on Saturday night.
And it was only fitting that one of Twal’s biggest supporters, Fox League’s Andrew Voss was the one to call the moment.
“Alex Twal has ended up with the ball! Unbelievable!” screamed Vossy from the commentary box.
“One small step for man, one giant leap for Alex Twal.”
Unfortunately for the home side, a winning scoreline wasn’t in the stars to line up with the memorable moment, with the Melbourne Storm taking out a 22-6 victory. And while Twal’s try will deservedly steal most of the headlines from the game, it was also a night to remember for Storm winger William Warbrick who crossed for four tries in just his 13th appearance in the top grade.
With both sides having some huge wins and embarrassing losses so far this season, it was hard to call just how this game would go. There was also a long list of stars missing, with the visitors without Cameron Munster, Harry Grant and Xavier Coates to Origin duties, a suspended Christian Welch and wrecking ball Justin Olam still out with a head knock. The Tigers were without Stefano Utoikamanu also in Orign camp, as well as Api Korosiau with a broken jaw and Luke Brooks sidelined with a hamstring injury.
“It wasn’t a polished win but it was a win, and we will take that every day of the week,” said Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
“Obviously with Origin and then Christian Welch getting suspended……but in saying that the Tigers have had an unlucky run with Koroisau and Brooks getting hurt last week, and big Stefao in the Origin side, they were missing some people as well.”
“For both sides, it was probably a stop-start game with many combinations that were new. But I was really happy with how our guys played, especially how they defended.”
While Jahrome Hughes stood up to lead the Storm and steer them around, it was also a night for the young guns to stand up, with Warbrick along with Nick Meaney, Jonah Pezet and Tyrone Wishart stamping their names on the game with brilliant performances in their early careers.
“He’s been outstanding, such a great competitor,” said Fox League caller Micahel Ennis of Wishart.
“He’s been everywhere tonight, a real Craig Bellamy-type performance. He will be wrapped with Tyrone Wishart. And so he should be, he’s been excellent.”
The Storm scored the opening try during just their first stint in the Tigers’half, with the ball being spread wide for winger William Warbrick to cross in the corner in the third minute. The home side hit back mid-way through the first half through the new Mayor of Campbelltown wal, with Melbourne grabbing the next two tries to head to the sheds with a 14-6 lead.
The Strom began the second 40 minutes clunky with some uncharacteristic errors, but they found their rhythm again when Warbrick crossed for his third halfway through the second half. The young winger thought he had picked up his fourth for the night just minutes later, but the bunker picked up a knock-on during grounding.
They couldn’t deny Warbrick when he made his way for the corner in the 64th minute, joining the four-try club and giving the Storm a 16-point lead.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Warbrick said after the match. “I’m just going to take it all in my stride.”
The game was well and truly out of the Tigers’ reach when Kane Bradley scored in the final stanza, and with Meaney adding the extras the Storm walked away with a 28-6 win.
While most teams struggle with injury throughout the year, the Tigers have been hit with two of their main playmakers stranded on the sideline. The side were starting to click when they took a huge hit losing Koroisau and Brooks last round.
“Obviously our spine disintegrated after the last game and that had something to do with it (losing) but the big moments, we’d drop the ball, make a mistake of they’d defuse a kick,” said Tigers coach Tim Sheens.
“One thing’s for sure is we haven’t got a lot of options at the moment, but we didn’t get any further injury tonight so that’ll help. Our main issue was trying to put together a new combination in a handful of days.”
With Brooks announcing that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season, as well as the news earlier on Saturday that Dragons star halfback Ben Hunt, Sheen put a top to any stories linking the start halfback with the Tigers just yet.
“He’s a quality player, but I’m not going to start a rumour that we are chasing him,” said Sheens.
“He is on contract with St George, he’s got no clause to say he can get out of that contract. At the moment we cannot deal with anyone in that situation.”
Questions have been raised this season with the Storm and if they are still the same title contenders of seasons gone by. With some narrow wins that should have been easier, losses to the Bulldogs and Titans, along with a thumping at the hands of the Cowboys, many wondered if Melbourne were still a force to be reckoned with.
They came back from their loss to the Cowboys with a 54-10 thrashing of the Sharks last round, and now this win over the Tigers puts them back on the right track.
“They are steady. They will be playing finals footy,” said Cronk.
“For a team that had a really bad performance two weeks ago against the Cowboys…..they have bounced back through their defence.
“As long as they get through their Origin period healthy, I think they are there about again.”
After 116 games with no meat pies, Alex Twal is finally off the nudie run list.
It’s been a huge talking point throughout the season, and with the weight of the world finally off his shoulders we move on to the next and wait and see which next player will get finally get his first four-pointer.
The Broncos are hoping it’s their workhorse, Patrick Carrigan.
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