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.”
Walters blasts unacceptable defence
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.
Sizzling skill on display
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.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Cleary will be in the UK next year. Nothing can get close to the "power of the pouch"
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Penrith aren’t as good now as the last few years. Which isn’t really surprising. Yet Cleary will be there next year. Broncos are in Cap Trouble & welcome to the club. A few players more to be picked off each season by other clubs. :thumbup:
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Katoa a NSWelshman, learning from Bennett.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
Exactly.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
I think it was an example of Broncos protecting a lead instead of going for the jugular. Storm were struggling to defend their line at that stage of the game. The extra 2 points resulted in a 4 point buffer, which was unlikely to be sufficient given the context of the game.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I agree. Winning games against good teams when you’re not playing great is unreal. I’d take any win at that moment no matter how ugly I’m just not getting carried away that these are title winning performances or that it was a great game I don’t mean to be a jerk about it…
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
DCE good enough to repel the cockroaches plenty of times! Katoa, at 20 and only 2nd year, looks a class above
NQR
Roar Rookie
Parallax error but hey I’m just guessing.
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
It's good to not be happy and always strive to be better. It's part of why Bellamy is a great coach. But it's also good when you can play ugly and win against good teams. They've played the best 3 teams from last year and found a way to win against each of them. Wishart and Pezet learned a lot against the Knights and I'd be a lot more confident if they had to combine without Hughes and Munster again. They loaded up on difficult matches early and over the next few weeks they should have some easier matches to tune up with. Think they are in a good place all things considered
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Probably have to play without Cleary next year
The Barry
Roar Guru
Sorry - thought I was replying to NQR - double sorry for the double up.. :laughing:
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Who touched the player on the ground? Didn't see it in the replay. Thought he went to ground after catching the kick on his back, then Munster grabbed the ball and scored. Thought Munster was a bit unlucky myself
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
They have identified that height on the wings for kicks is the way of the future, and that's why they have Coates and Warbrick
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
I was an AFL fan before I was an NRL fan, and I can confirm that the Melbourne Storm make it easy to fall in love with the game :stoked:
The Barry
Roar Guru
I’ve said this above so sorry to repeat but Mam’s first try, which was long range and had a kick at the end, all came about from a simple shift left and the Storm right edge were caught short. There was no set play from the Broncs and the Storm weren’t back pedalling or anything. Their right edge just didn’t number up Same thing for Arthurs bombed try where he dropped it over the line Mam’s second was from Warbrick letting a ball bounce that he should have easily got to Arthurs actual try was after a broncos 5th tackle mistake where they lost 15 metres and had zero attacking shape. They flung the ball left and the Storm right were caught short when they had no right to be Then Te Kura strolled over through the middle of the ruck and through four defenders. He’s a big bloke, it was late in the game and maybe Melbourne clocked off but it was still very preventable These were entertaining, but they weren’t miracle, unstoppable tries. Four of five of Brisbane’s tries plus their bombed try were contributed to by poor defence - mainly by the Storm right edge…
The Barry
Roar Guru
Maybe… Mam’s first try came from a simple spread to the left on the fourth - no set plays - and Melbourne were inexplicably caught short of numbers. There was a kick at the end of it but the opportunity came of poor Storm defence Mam’s second was from Warbrick letting the ball bounce. Arthurs try was from a fifth tackle Bronco’s fumble where they lost 15 metres. They flung the ball left and the Storm didn’t number up Arthurs should have had a second when he dropped the ball over the line, when the Melbourne right edge was again caught short from a simple spread Then the big fella strolled through the middle of the ruck with a couple of minutes to go when the Storm had maybe clocked off Maybe not heaps of missed tackles but I don’t think Bellamy would be happy with any of those…
Cam
Roar Rookie
I hate to say it aloud, but I reckon the Panthers system is so good, they could win the comp with a season-end injury to Cleary.
Cam
Roar Rookie
Agree, the long range tries the Broncos scored last night are almost impossible to defend against. The Broncos just need to be better defensively, 32 points should be plenty to win just about any match. The Bronx weren't great through the middle and were terrible on their line. Mam's one on one miss against Katoa in the 19th minute and and then his horrible read to let Katoa jog through untouched in the 35th minute undoes all his great offensive work.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I said at the time and since that round 1 game, both the panthers and storm attack was pretty ordinary, I don’t think that should be the benchmark In the first half, both teams made errors at their own end and put themselves under pressure I guess it’s potato / potarto. You say excellence in isolating defenders, I say poor goal line defence. Katoa strolled over twice from close range. No coach will be happy with that defence. Good on the Storm for targeting and exploiting an unfamiliar combination, but it was still poor D Mam scored from a winger letting a kick bounce. The big fella barged over from close range. Poor defence contributed to a few tries - it wasn’t all champagne attack Anyway, I don’t really mean to be super negative, just explaining my position. It was an entertaining game, but I don’t think either coach will be stoked about the defence
Cam
Roar Rookie
I have read plenty describing the Storm's defence as poor last night, but I'm not buying that. I thought they defended exceptionally well, with the tries conceded coming against the run of play intercepts or crazy bounce-of-the-ball tries. If you look at the Storm v Panthers match where people were singing their defensive praise, the Storm actually missed a game high 32 tackles. Against the Warriors they missed 28 tackles and against the Knights it was a diabolical 41 tackles. Last night, just the 20 misses, which is a stat that should win you 100% of your games, no matter the opposition. To put it into perspective, the Panthers, who are the defensive benchmark of the comp, are averaging 31.5 missed tackles a match.