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If Melbourne sports fans in AFL heartland aren’t convinced that rugby league is a sport of skill and athleticism by Thursday night’s showpiece clash against Brisbane, they’ll never see the light.
More to the point, this match proved that while Penrith are favourites to win a fourth straight title, these two teams are more than capable of denying them in their hunt for history.
In a match which featured a string of top-quality tries, the Storm prevailed 34-32 after bench utility Tyran Wishart plunged over to for the match-winning try, just the third of his NRL career – he only needs another 76 to overtake his famous father Rod, who was a prolific scorer for the Steelers, NSW and Australia in the 1990s.
For the vanquished Brisbane side, they shouldn’t be too bothered despite missing out on two crucial competition points because even without Payne Haas, Reece Walsh and Brendan Piakura, they are still putting up five-star displays.
If they are at full strength in the finals, they are also capable of going all the way.
Their main concern was the sight of Adam Reynolds suffering a hamstring strain above his ongoing right knee injury late in the first half. He was visibly upset on the field, punching the turf, and also in the sheds after being ruled out.
“It just tightened up in the first half, it didn’t feel too good at half-time. I’ll get back to Brisbane, get a scan and go from there,” he said. “I felt it early on in the game and it gradually got worse.”
Kevin Walters said his Broncos “probably didn’t deserve to win” after letting in a couple of soft tries.
“You can’t expect to win a game of footy when they score that many points. Not acceptable,” he said.
“There’s plenty of effort and I can’t fault them there. We just weren’t quite there defensively tonight and that’s the most annoying thing.
“Some of the tries we scored were absolutely amazing and that’s great for the crowd but we’ve got to be better defensively.
“We need to learn from this.”
Walters said the Storm wrestled well in the ruck and appeared to be a second quicker than his side at each tackle.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy found it difficult to put into words how his team escaped with victory.
“I’m sort of babbling on here about nothing actually. I don’t know how you’d describe that game but I think most people would have enjoyed watching,” he said.
The Storm looked on track to score the opening try but Ezra Mam plucked an intercept before finding Selwyn Cobbo in support with the Steeden then flung back to the right edge on the next play for Deine Mariner to dive over.
Melbourne levelled at 6-6 midway through the first half when second-rower Eliesa Katoa barrelled through Mam’s attempted tackle close to the line and they hit the front a few minutes later via another Xavier Coates acrobatic feat.
The Storm winger, who sunk the Warriors in Round 2 with a sensational last-gasp try, gave the local AFL fans a reminder that high leaping marks are not confined to one code when he reeled in a speccie off a Jahrome Hughes bomb, launching off Mariner’s shoulders into the night sky.
Brisbane responded in the 27th minute when Tristan Sailor spun the ball wide to Jesse Arthars and the left winger sprinted down his flank before unfurling a right-footed kick infield for Mam to touch down at top speed.
And they were up by eight when Mariner was cornered on the right, reversed the attack back the other way for Reynolds to drop the ball onto his left boot so that Arthars could get in on the action with another superb four-pointer.
Melbourne cut Brisbane’s lead to 18-16 at the break when Katoa again targeted Mam close to the line before the Broncos’ fortunes took a further nosedive when Reynolds limped off at half-time and did not return.
He clutched at his hamstring just above his strapped knee after a relatively tame collision with Cameron Munster and after carrying a medial ligament problem for several weeks, the compounding factor of the hamstring damage means he is unlikely to be available for next Friday’s derby with the Dolphins.
The on-field brilliance kept coming from the Broncos despite missing their creative captain with a Billy Walters clearing kick bouncing away from the Storm back three so Mam could steam straight onto the ball and under the posts from 40 metres out.
“When they realised they were in trouble it was too late,” said Panthers legend Greg Alexander on Fox League commentary.
Will Warbrick, who was the main contributor to Melbourne conceding the Mam try, made up for his blunder when he accepted a pass from Ryan Papenhuyzen just before the hour mark to make it a two-point deficit again.
Arthars had his own moment to forget when he spilled the pill a metre out from the line while unmarked as Cobbo’s pass went straight through his grasp.
Broncos forward Jordan Riki could be in strife with the match review committee for a high shot on Jahrome Hughes but his team went 26-22 up after a penalty of their own for the Storm’s repeated offside infringements to set up a nail-biting final 10 minutes.
Cameron Munster is tackled. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Wishart emerged as the unlikely game-breaker off the bench, wrestling his way over the line with three tacklers trying to deny him but somehow managing to sneak the ball onto the turf which the Bunker eventually confirmed after examining several angles.
“He’s a small ruck player but he’s got the ability to find space when you wouldn’t think there’s space there,” Bellamy said. “He’s come up with a really important play.”
Hughes ensured the Storm would get home with a late try which turned out to be extra valuable after Brisbane’s biggest ever bopper, towering forward Ben Te Kura, crashed over in his NRL debut in the dying stages but their final attacking set fell short when a Sailor bomb was defused by Warbrick.
Lots of exceptional marks, great kicks and hard-ball gets – even the most ardent AFL fan in the deep south should have been thoroughly entertained.