Usually Melbourne’s Mad Monday seems to be spent flying home from Sydney with a premiership trophy won the night before, then sharing it with supporters at a fan day, sunglass-clad after a few thousand celebratory drinks.
The Storm’s biggest mistake in the past eight seasons has been that much-talked about off-field one.
On-field, errors have been rare.
But the danger signs were there early for the competition’s most resilient recent benchmark.
Uncharacteristic mistakes by the Storm – witness both superstar fullback Billy Slater and Sisa Waqa dropping kicks which resulted in Newcastle tries – were contagious. For so long, the Storm’s so-called “big three” – Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk – have served them well.
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Rarely do all three have an off-night.
So Saturday night was another rarity, though it doesn’t do Newcastle’s outstanding performance justice.
The Knights were brilliant.
A sure first half was followed by standing up to everything the Storm could throw at them in the second.
Trailing 18-4 as Matt Hilder crossed early in the second half was always going to be hard for Melbourne to peg back, especially when they hadn’t brought their A-game.
Even when the Storm got close when Jesse Bromwich crossed with 15 minutes left to go, the Knights looked solid and capable of laying to rest a seven-match losing streak against Melbourne.
For Knights coach Wayne Bennett, it was a rare recent one-up on his former protege at the Broncos Craig Bellamy.
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Storm forward Jason Ryles departs the NRL without the premiership he craved.
Knights veteran Danny Buderus fights another day – his long kiss goodbye to the NRL delayed at least until a preliminary final showdown with the Roosters next weekend that whets the appetite.