Despite the commentators attempts to hype this as a new Battle of Brookvale, this match was a poorly officiated, error-ridden slopfest. As a fan it’s best forgotten,1 for the Melbourne players there’s some harsh lessons to learn.
Manly – 18 (T Trbojevic 11’, Croker 73’ tries; Cherry-Evans 5/6 goals)
Melbourne – 8 (Warbrick 20’ try; Pezet 2/2, Munster 0/1 goals)
I’m not sure the highlights are worth watching this week, but here they are for the sickos.2
In the first ten minutes, I was about to tweet that Melbourne had found the grind, but instead I almost preemptively lamented that it wasn’t a fluent start. Things did not improve from there.
That Manly scored first wasn’t surprising, but the method in which they did was extremely disappointing. Cameron Munster should have known better playing at fullback that DCE has a very good kicking game and that Tom Trbojevic would take advantage of any lapse in concentration. The only saving grace from the try being scored cleanly, was that Munster was saved from a professional foul and sin bin. Reviewing the lead up, there was no reason for Munster to have been so out of position either, having not been involved in defence for the preceding tackles.
From then on though, Melbourne were on the back foot, struggling badly to cope with Manly’s aggressive and swarming defensive style.
The levelling of Justin Olam3 set the tone for the rest of the match. Melbourne looked dazed, confused, rattled, panicked and unable to gain any field position or meaningful possession. It wasn’t through a lack of effort like during the losses to Canterbury and Gold Coast, as there was enough work done in defence. Instead Melbourne just kept making silly errors and displayed poor discipline.4 DCE was carving Melbourne up, which given he was saddled with a non-entity as his five-eighth,5 was quite the performance.
At 8–0 down6 Melbourne surprisingly stemmed the flow by scoring the next try. It was nice:
Targeting Brad Parker and the Manly left edge should have been an easy win for Melbourne. Sending Eliesa Katoa and Reimis Smith down that edge should have been a constant threat. It would have avoided Manly’s strength on the other side of the park, and meant more playmaking through Jahrome Hughes. That Melbourne kept looking to shift the ball left in the first half made no sense to this observer.
The next flashpoint in the game was when Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega was sent to the sin bin just before half time. For mine, this is a send off. It’s deliberate, it’s late, it’s a shoulder charge. If the league was serious about protecting players and enforcing the rules, this is one of those do not pass go, do not collect $200 moments. Especially when the match review recommends a 2-3 match suspension. Adam Gee made a mistake and the game went downhill in the second half as a result.
At 10–6 down, Melbourne needed to be clean in possession with the man advantage after half time. Instead Harry Grant knocked on from the play the ball and Melbourne just couldn’t get the ball back for the next three minutes. When they did, the swarming Manly defence caused Melbourne to enter panic mode, and a combined Munster and Hughes brainfade almost cost a try in similar circumstances to the one conceded to the Gold Coast a few weeks ago. Surprisingly the NRL Bunker rescued Melbourne, calling it a strip and knock on by Manly.7
Manly should have scored another try on the back of another Melbourne turnover and diabolical error by Hughes in the increasingly8 difficult conditions. Fortunately he did ground the ball with the back of his hand, but again Munster was out of position. Again though, how did Adam Gee pay this as a try at first, all the while missing Tui Kamikamica taking out DCE during the set? The Bunker got it right, and Kamikamica was correctly sin binned for the late tackle on DCE.9 Instead of Manly going to a 16–6 lead, they instead had to settle for a penalty shot at goal (which DCE missed) with both teams down to 12 players for two minutes or so.
Then this happened:
How can you have a hip drop when you don’t land on his legs????? You can’t have a head high tackle if you don’t hit him, so you can’t have a hip drop if he doesn’t land on his legs. #jumpingatshadows
Hoffy was proven right when the match review dismissed the report on this tackle. The fact that it was even awarded as a penalty10 was just another example of the poor night Adam Gee had with the whistle.
At 12–6, down a player, it was at least something for Melbourne to not concede a try while Kamikamica was off the field. They even had some possession inside the Manly half, kicking a penalty goal to waste some time when Jake Trbojevic carelessly tipped over Munster.
Just as Kamikamica was about to come back, Gee 100% lost control of the match. Vaega should have conceded a six again with his actions after tackling Reimis Smith on the fifth tackle, then when the last tackle finally broke down, he initiated the coming together by taunting Will Warbrick. Of course Melbourne’s reaction was to do something dumb, and Olam fulfilled that with a late hit on DCE that sent him to the sin bin. We could argue that DCE exaggerated the contact, but it was lazy and stupid from Olam.
From there, Melbourne’s desperate and brave defending was hard to crack, but playing with 12 men for over 15 minutes was always going to cause problems later on, especially when Melbourne wasted their challenge.
When the Manly try finally came, it was from a Melbourne lost ball as a result of the constant pressure. It looked simple as Lachlan Croker crashed over on the back of a bit of skill.
It was pretty much game over from there, Melbourne were never going to make up a ten point deficit in five minutes, although having the captain’s challenge would have been nice when Grant lost the ball backwards with two minutes left and was incorrectly ruled as a knock on.
Bellyache was pretty blunt post match:
We played dumb at times… and basically we got what we deserved.
Editor’s note: shout out to the fan at #FortressShithole using a rainbow umbrella during the second half. I see you, I appreciate you.
Was it worth it?
No.11
1/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
If I could give out negative points, this would be the week, with a few players especially having [OFF] nights.
The four players who are receiving a point at least played their role well enough to help keep the score low in defence.
Round 7 points:
1 – Christian Welch
1 – Trent Loiero
1 – Reimis Smith
1 – Alec McDonald
Leaderboard
12 – Harry Grant
11 – Cameron Munster
6 – Nick Meaney
5 – Christian Welch
4 – Josh King
3 – Trent Loiero
2 – Xavier Coates, Eliesa Katoa, Alec MacDonald Jonah Pezet, Will Warbrick
1 – Jahrome Hughes, Reimis Smith
Next up
New Zealand Warriors – AAMI Park, Tuesday 25 April, 7:00pm
The Michael Moore Trophy means a lot to the Melbourne Storm, and keeping it at AAMI Park since 2016 has been a source of great pride. The Warriors look [ON] in 2023, so there won’t be a repeat of the ANZAC Day games from the past two seasons. With a big crowd expected,12 hopefully Melbourne lift for the occasion.
Tui Kamikamica will be missing through suspension, which could lead to Tariq Sims having his first start, unless Nelson Asofa-Solomona is fit enough to return.13 Tom Eisenhuth looked to have picked up another injury and will be in some doubt. Tepai Moeroa played 49 minutes for the Sunshine Coast Falcons, so he might be in the frame for a first grade return soon.
Indeed checking through the Queensland Cup reports, it seems like Melbourne’s early season injury crisis might have eased. Nick Meaney will hopefully return at the back too, which should see Munster back to his preferred position.
Full preview (much) later in the week given the game is technically next week.
This post is a little later that I would have liked as I really didn’t want to watch the replay. Indeed I chose against hearing the dire Fox League version, not that the Nine commentators were any better, although hearing the chatter in the commentary box when Nine are on commercial breaks is amusing.
That Olam left the field for a HIA to the incredulities of both sets of commentators show how far we have to go with the management of potential concussions. Sure, he wasn’t hit in the head and the tackle was 100% legal, but the whiplash effect was real.
Here’s where an impartial observer would suggest that it was Manly’s play that was the reason for the scoreboard and the way the game was played, but I’m not an impartial observer and award no credit to the opposition where possible.
That below average kicking game hasn’t improved (thankfully this time).
Short restarts – must we?
I disagree with this one, but I can see why it’s paid the way it was. Although I beg you not to take anything from Mat Thompson’s attempted explanation. He literally posed the question “how can someone knock the ball on if they’re not in possession of it.” I like to think Billy Slater at that point uttered Scar’s line from The Lion King “I’m surrounded by idiots.”
Also typically wet.
I’m torn on this one. If Vaega was sent off, then this would have been a send off in the same game. However, this one isn’t a shoulder charge, just late and dangerous. It’s an easy sin bin (and suspension) though.
Odds on Graham Annesley will say this was officiated correctly as a “high tackle” penalty on Harry Grant, who missed!
Apparently this game was “riveting, remarkable, such good entertainment, a classic, outstanding, epic”. Spare me.
Including every New Zealander living in Melbourne.
Surely NAS doesn’t return until after the bye.