Melbourne were lucky the opposition aren’t that good this week. Conceding 28 points won’t win many games, but taking the two points here keeps the Storm in the top four.
St. George Illawarra – 28 (Burns 13', 44’, Sloan 18', Amone 25', Ravalawa 74' tries; Hunt 4/5 goals)
Melbourne – 38 (Warbrick 9', 30', 34', Katoa 51', 55', Coates 38', Hughes 78' tries; Meaney 5/8 goals)
The Hat Brick 🎩🧱️ is the thing to watch this week.1
It only took a little under ten minutes for Will Warbrick to score his first try of the evening. Coming off the back of consecutive errors from the Dragons in their own half to give Melbourne possession, with Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes targetting the right edge, with the home team unable to stop what has fast become Melbourne’s key attacking flank.
At 4–0 there was hope that Melbourne would be able to use the breeze behind them to build a good first half lead…
Down 18–4 with 15 minutes to go to half time, Melbourne were in trouble.2 This team has not done well with a little bit of adversity this season. Saints were scoring tries against some feebly ineffective defending, with tackling seemingly optional. Ben Hunt was running the show, Grant was off with a HIA,3 and referee Peter Gough was happy to penalise an undisciplined defensive line.
A couple of changes4 lifted the intensity just enough for Melbourne to start to work their way back into the match. Ably assisted by ill-discipline from the Dragons,5 some slight pressure on the Dragons line saw Warbrick cross for his second try. Again it was the work of Hughes on the inside that picked apart the Dragons line, with Nick Meaney supporting well from fullback to throw the last pass.
Warbrick would complete his hat trick a few minutes later with his most spectacular effort of the evening. Set up after a nice little break from Meaney down the left channel, the final pass from Eliesa Katoa allowing Warbrick to tread the light fantastic 35 metres down the right sideline. Melbourne weren’t done, and Xavier Coates would level the scores after coming infield to get some ball coming out from the back, eventually scoring himself down that right flank after a 60 metre carry.
With the scores tied up at 18–all, there was this moment of zen from Munster just before half time.
Coming out of the break, Melbourne would have been looking to start strongly in defence, but a penalty against Bronson Garlick6 was followed up by a dropped bomb from Warbrick to hand Billy Burns his second try.7
Fortunately for Melbourne, the adages ring true about the Dragons. Their replacement level players not able to cope with the pressure applied from Hughes, with the crafty halfback sending a short pass to Katoa to score in the right channel. Katoa would go back-to-back, scoring his fifth try of the season, this time from a deft little kick from Hughes that found a nice bounce.
Up 30–24 entering the final quarter of the match, the next ten minutes were a frustrating mess to watch. This was the fear entering this match that Melbourne would play down to the level of the Dragons. Given the pattern of how this game went, it wasn’t a surprise that the Dragons would pull to within two points of Melbourne with just over five minutes to go. Thankfully Hunt couldn’t convert Mikaele Ravalawa’s try in the corner. Saints had time to pull off a trick play on their next set with the ball, and but for the efforts of Garlick, the home team could have scored. The Pie Man’s ability to force an error saving the day.
All of a sudden, an earthquake shook WIN Stadium when Katoa put this perfect shot on Ben Hunt.8
Hughes running away to score was the perfect reward for his efforts in setting up Melbourne’s best moments. There was time for a late penalty goal for Meaney to take the final score to 38–28, with the Dragons 28 points the highest losing score against Melbourne since 2018.
Post match quotes
Bellsa seemed just okay this week:
Our completions in the second half, that’s what won us the game. They put a bit of fatigue in us. A couple of their tries I was disappointed with. We went away from our defensive systems, but we fought back and managed to hang on. Last week we conceded two and this week 28 so I'm disappointed we couldn't quite back that up. There’s some things there that we need to look at.
[Eliesa Katoa] came up with some big plays in the second half. He had a bit of a rough start, but we’re really happy with him. He’s been really good for us.
Was it worth it?
This was my first visit to WIN Stadium to watch a Storm match, and only the second time I’ve ever been to Wollongong. Not to go all food blogger, but the hot dog was average at best, and the chips were also subpar.
As for the stadium, it’s better than the suburban shitholes of The Bad Place, but I now see why they haven’t fully committed to playing all their home games down there. The cynic in me would suggest that a certain politician should have funded a proper 21st century community stadium at Wollongong instead of the minor tarting up of Kogarah. Indeed if St Merge are to keep playing home matches in Sydney, surely they should only ever be at the SFS. Also as someone who often drives a very different section of the Princes Highway/Freeway here in the DPRV, Mount Ousley Road on a Saturday night – it’s a no from me.
In any event 8,326 was described as a “modest crowd”, and I had to go back to 2015 to find the last <10,000 people attendance for a Storm game at AAMI Park to compare that against.9
As for the game, well two points were earned eventually, and that’s all that needs to be said about that.10
5/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
A couple of the usual suspects weren’t at their best this week and the stats back that up to a certain extent. Of the players who I haven’t given points, I thought Tom Eisenhuth was Melbourne’s best running forward and his input after the first 25 minutes was important in getting Melbourne back into the match.
Round 25 points:
3 – Eliesa Katoa
3 – Will Warbrick
3 – Jahrome Hughes
Leaderboard
28 – Harry Grant
21 – Jahrome Hughes
19 – Cameron Munster
14 – Nick Meaney
10 – Christian Welch, Trent Loiero
9 – Will Warbrick
8 – Eliesa Katoa
7 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona
6 – Josh King, Xavier Coates
5 – Tui Kamikamica
2 – Alec MacDonald, Jonah Pezet, Marion Seve, Young Tonumaipea
1 – Reimis Smith, Justin Olam, Tom Eisenhuth
Next up
Gold Coast Titans – AAMI Park, Saturday 26 August, 3:00pm
Another team that Melbourne should dispatch. What could possibly go wrong? The final home game of the regular season in the old off-Broadway slot
Preview post later in the week.
Bit late this week with the review. ¡Vamos, España!
Especially as Melbourne haven’t been known to chase down double digit deficits in recent seasons.
Or more likely, blurred vision after an impact injury to his left eye.
Namely NAS and Eisenhuth coming on and the return of Grant.
Also known as three set restarts in less than a minute of play.
Peter Gough may need a lesson on the length of 10 metres.
The delay from the Bunker in confirming that try felt so long at the ground.
He’s actually done something similar a few minutes prior to this tackle that shook Hunt up. The sequel was so much better though.
With modest not being the adjective used.
Notwithstanding the other 1,000 words here.