When I wrote in the preview that Melbourne needed to score more than 26 points to beat the Sharks, I didn’t mean that they should do it before half time, but it was very nice of them to do it and go on with it in the second half.
Melbourne – 54 (Grant 24', 31', Coates 38', 40', Kamikamica 4', Warbrick 17', King 51', Smith 65', Hughes 75' tries; Meaney 9/10 goals)
Cronulla – 10 (Wilton 8', Mulitalo 77' tries; Hynes 1/2 goals)
The highlights make for much better viewing for Storm fans this week.
Before getting into the review, just want to give a shout out to the Melbourne Storm Banner Crew who do a great job every home game and had some very difficult and interesting conditions to deal with on Sunday. I hope that someone out there was able to snap a picture of the banner that had a message for Nick Meaney’s 100th NRL game, especially as he never actually ran through the banner!
Also kudos to the 20,253 who went to AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon. The general admission areas looked packed, and it was great to see the NRL Victoria junior teams do a lap before the game.1
A fast start
With no errors in the first couple of sets, it looked like both teams were eager to attack, Cronulla on their dangerous left flank, and Melbourne countering on the same side where the Sharks leak most of their points in defence. The first try would come through a Harry Grant kick off the post which was scooped up by Tui Kamikamica to score his ninth try in his 80th NRL appearance. I’m not sure what the nuffies on Nine were seeing when they thought Kamikamica had dropped the ball over the line, perhaps they also think that Cameron Green’s catch off Shubman Gill wasn’t out.2
That Cronulla was able to march down the field on the back of a Klein penalty to score was disappointing from Melbourne, but I guess it was to be expected after last week. The kick from Matt Moylan that found Ronaldo Mulitalo was pinpoint though in isolating Will Warbrick, so there’s not much that Melbourne could have done on the last tackle, but it was the roll-on that the Sharks got in the lead up that was causing alarm.
With scores level at 6–all after 10 minutes, Eliesa Katoa would leave the field with a nasty eye injury,3 and Cronulla would be awarded a couple of penalties, with Nicho Hynes electing to take the second as a shot on goal, only to hit the post.4
Sharks errors
To put it bluntly, Cronulla were their own worst enemies during the first half. Constant errors coming out of their own half just gave Melbourne great field position. Munster couldn’t capitalise on one error by kicking on the first tackle, but the next error was punished with Melbourne immediately spreading the ball to the right for Will Warbrick to score untouched.
It would be interesting to know how much of the NSW Origin chat got to Nicho Hynes in the lead up to this game. It’s fascinating how much the Blues like to tear down their own instead of building their confidence.
Playing with confidence, Melbourne’s forwards were able to make metres at will, giving Hughes, Munster and Meaney space and time to weave their magic. More errors from the visitors would put the Sharks on the back foot time and time again, and they would crack on the back of more Melbourne attacking possession, with Grant pouncing on a Kamikamica offload close to the line to burrow over.
Points explosion
From there until half time, Melbourne were in cruise control. They should have scored after Xavier Coates caught a Munster bomb, with Coates able to get an offload only for Trent Loiero and Munster to spoil each other with the line wide open. Every Melbourne player was able to get over the advantage line and the Sharks were unable to slow down the play the ball speed. With fatigue already showing from the visitors, Melbourne’s lead would be extended through Grant’s second try, with the hooker exposing some flimsy defence.
In the final five minutes of the first half, Melbourne were able to put on a pair of tries, taking the lead from 22–6 to 34-6 effectively ending the game as a contest. The first was a spectacular leaping effort from Coates who was again able to cleanly catch the ball above his opposing winger to fall over the line.5
Coates would join Grant with a double, scoring just on half time from a magical Munster flick pass. Melbourne were tearing the Sharks to threads on the edges and the middle forwards were also in on the action. That ten minute burst from Melbourne some of their best football for the season.
This week’s moment of zen
It’s not Cronulla failing to field the ball from the second half kick off, or Melbourne getting the ball back from the short restart off a knock-on — this week has to be Melbourne forgetting to have a dummy half when Grant fielded the ball from that restart. If the score wasn’t 34–6 it wouldn’t have been amusing, but it’s hard not to see the funny side of it.
While that moment didn’t cost Melbourne on the scoreboard, it was left to a great covering tackle by Nick Meaney to stop William Kennedy from scoring in the corner a few minutes later. Meaney has been great in defence this season, and this tackle is just another example of why his best position is at fullback while Ryan Papenhuyzen is still sidelined.
King’s Birthday weekend
Ah Josh King. Most weeks he just does his job in the middle without fuss. There’s not many mistakes in his game, and no real flashy moments to hit the highlight reel. This week he got his moment when he was fed into a massive hole on the right edge by Munster. King would sprint clear 35 metres to the corner to score Melbourne’s seventh try for the game. Certainly was a great moment for one of Melbourne’s hard workers. His reward too was not having to play 80 minutes, going off for a well-earned rest not long after.
With the scoreboard at 42–6, the only thing left to see was whether Melbourne could put 50 on the Sharks to invoke the Bailey score. Melbourne’s next try would eventually come through Reimis Smith, with the Storm again exploiting the Sharks left edge defence. The only issue in the play was that Smith would twinge his hamstring scoring the try and would leave the ground.6
The 50 points would come up in the 72nd minute when Munster floated across the middle of the field on the Sharks 20 metre line to find Hughes who fended off some tired defenders to score under the posts. It was all a little too easy for Melbourne against a gassed defensive line, but it was another left-to-right movement from Melbourne that caught the Sharks out.
The 54 points was Melbourne’s highest score against Cronulla, surpassing the 48–6 win in 2014 at AAMI Park. In the end it was one of those days for the visitors, but it was overdue that Melbourne would put in that kind of performance.
Cronulla would score a late try against a 12-man Storm with Ashley Klein sending Christian Welch to the sin bin with four minutes left for a dangerous tackle on Oregon Kaufusi. Welch has since been charged with a grade 2 hip drop. Mulitalo would score the Sharks try, breezing past Tyran Wishart and Will Warbrick.
There was time left for Briton Nikora to be put in the sin bin for a professional foul for a bump on Munster, but by this stage the players had enough for the day with Melbourne unable to put 60 on the scoreboard in the final minute.7
Coach quotes
Bellsa seemed happy:
Yeah I thought we were good. There’s probably a couple of things we can improve in, but we did a whole heap better things, especially with our defence. We really wanted to improve our defence, and we did. They made a lot of mistakes… that came from the pressure of our defence.
Was it worth it?
With the newly laid turf, AAMI Park looked a treat for a rare afternoon game. Conditions were great for footy and Melbourne Storm put on a great show. The only issue with the 4pm starts is that the games do finish after sunset at this time of the year, so it did get a little chilly in the second half.
That Melbourne paired the Indigenous jersey with white shorts and socks was a major aesthetic disappointment, as the navy shorts and socks looked much better when they wore it the first time this season against the Dolphins. It wasn’t the first time Melbourne have worn white shorts at AAMI Park,8 but hopefully it will be the last.
Wasn’t sure what Melbourne team would show up after last week, and I expected something of a shoot out with both teams defence often an issue this season.
8/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
That was a masterclass from Harry Grant. As Jason Oliver writes here, “he’s so good and has set the bar so high that most people have come to accept that he’s going to play well every week.” With a career first double and a try assist, Grant’s running game was on show with 201 metres and two line breaks. He probably wouldn’t have got a Rugby League Week 10, but it was a great game from the hooker.
Cameron Munster was a close second best for Melbourne, with the Money Man electric in attack. Wanted to also pay credit to the big boppers this week, Welch and Kamikamica as the starting props were instrumental in giving Munster and Hughes space to work in, Welch’s six offloads a game high. Both Welch and Kamikamica were great in defence too. Big NAS also gets a point for his 63 minute stint on the right edge in place of Eliesa Katoa.9 The big man targeting Moylan with the ball in hand, and blunting the dangerous Sharks left edge in defence.
Special mentions to Trent Loiero and Josh King who miss out on points, but would have got one in most weeks for their performances, and Tariq Sims had one of his best games for the club in an unbroken 51 minute stint.
Scoring 54 points required a full team effort and this week the players delivered.
Round 15 points:
4 – Harry Grant
2 – Cameron Munster
1 – Jahrome Hughes
1 – Tui Kamikamica
1 – Christian Welch
1 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Leaderboard
18 – Harry Grant
15 – Cameron Munster
13 – Nick Meaney
9 – Christian Welch
6 – Trent Loiero, Jahrome Hughes
4 – Josh King, Eliesa Katoa, Nelson Asofa-Solomona
3 – Will Warbrick, Tui Kamikamica
2 – Xavier Coates, Alec MacDonald Jonah Pezet
1 – Reimis Smith, Justin Olam
Next up
Wests Tigers – Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Saturday 17 June, 7:35pm
Melbourne will be faced with a few personnel changes this week going up against the Tigers without Munster, Grant and Coates on Origin duty, Welch (likely) suspended, and Katoa, Smith and Seve possibly injured. Justin Olam should be back to provide some cover.
Preview post and a look back at a debut performance later in the week.
Carefully not stepping on the newly laid turf.
To be honest, Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns would fit in perfectly with the BCCI’s blowhard commentary team. Mat Thompson describing Melbourne and Cronulla as “arch-rivals” was just as puzzling, but to give him credit he later said the teams shared “a tense history,” which is a more apt description.
Initially diagnosed as a HIA, but seemingly not in hindsight.
Dale Finucane’s high shot on Cameron Munster raising giggles when the Storm players realised it was him and not another Sharks player.
Someone’s been working hard on his hands this week.
“Hamstring awareness” might be the comical injury report designation.
The play by play log has Matt Moylan going off after the Sharks try and former Storm player Daniel Atkinson coming on in which was his Sharks debut for the final two minutes. Not sure how or why the Sharks got the free interchange that allowed this to happen as they’d already replaced Kaufusi. It does mean that Atkinson has now played a total of nine minutes in two NRL games.
I’m not acknowledging the specific jersey worn on that occasion.
His trolling from the line drop out error from the Sharks was top notch too.