A tough, hard slog at Allianz Stadium saw Melbourne escape from The Bad Place with the two points in another dumb and dramatic game of rugby league.
Sydney – 12 (Jennings 18', Manu 68' tries; Sua'ali'i 2/2 goals)
Melbourne – 18 (Hughes 13', Katoa 31', Coates 74' tries; Meaney 3/3 goals)
There’s a theme emerging here…
Melbourne not leading at the 70th minute ✅
Xavier Coates does something extraordinary and Melbourne score ✅
One team1 makes a foolish decision to challenge that defies logic ✅
Ashley Klein2 does something inexplicably stupid ✅
I don’t like it
There’s a few matches each season which I don’t look forward to. High on the list has to be Melbourne’s regular stressfests against the Sydney Roosters. It seems like I can just keep trotting this line out again, and again…
The match moved as so often Storm versus Roosters matches do into a grinding phase…
This one wasn’t helped by the commentary of Andrew Voss and Greg Alexander on Fox League. Together they host a morning programme on SEN Sydney, continually coming near the bottom in the ratings,3 and I do wonder if the SEN brainslug has latched on to them both.
Brandy hasn’t had a good word to say about Melbourne since the mid-2000s, while Vossy has a severe case of old man syndrome and seems to have lost his capacity to think outside of the content mill narrative.
Thankfully the replay (via the Nine broadcast) wasn’t so painful.
Setting a tone
The Roosters start looked so much brighter and direct than Melbourne. They got over the advantage line, while Melbourne looked passive in defence and clunky in attack. For a team that has beaten the other three preliminary finalists from 2023 in the opening month, it almost felt like Melbourne were a team down on confidence and in a Freaky Friday style role-reversal with the Roosters.
That lack of confidence manifesting in Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant electing to burn a captain’s challenge in one of the worst challenges seen this season. I might have to start tracking these soon if this keeps up. Like yes the ball brushed the melon of Lindsay Collins off the boot of Hughes, but it wasn’t played at in any way. Chalk that up as a negative point for both Hughes and Grant for not knowing the rules.
There were two other themes from the opening minutes that became apparent. The first was that neither team could catch the ball cleanly from high kicks. Will Warbrick came up without the ball in his first defensive catch attempt, but was saved by Nick Meaney. The Roosters also struggled to catch the ball cleanly with Daniel Tupou spilling one. Only Xavier Coates able to catch an odd little attacking kick from the boot of Cameron Munster.
The second theme was ill-discipline. Melbourne especially couldn’t get the little things right. Soft penalties and being generally messy in defence were giving the home team an impetus that they weren’t quite able to capitalise upon. Indeed the Roosters was guilty of ill-discipline in attack, making a few errors in good field position.
It would be Melbourne that broke the deadlock, a midfield bomb from Hughes was tapped back by Warbrick to Eli Katoa to fire a pass to a flying Hughes to rocket pass defenders to score with his shorts being pulled down by James Tedesco.4
It felt like the try came against the run of play, but the brilliance of Hughes to get over the line was very impressive. From the kick off Melbourne made a massive bust down that right flank through Katoa, Hughes and Meaney; but the opportunity was lost through a combination of good cover defence and impatience from Melbourne.
That impatience saw the Roosters level the game when a Luke Keary kick couldn’t be caught by Warbrick5 or cleaned up by Meaney, allowing Michael Jennings to swoop on the ball and score. It was gross all around.
An aside: Nick Meaney looks like he’s playing with a lack of confidence at the moment, especially in defence. I know in the past Bellamy has tried to address this with Means. It might be time for that the happen again, especially if the Brick and Meaney partnership is to continue on that edge.
The confidence to move on from your mistakes
I love most of what Eli Katoa brings on the field. He exudes confidence in his ability with the ball and seems to love nothing better than bringing a big hit to change the tone in defence. What he does lack is that little attention to detail sometimes. He’ll throw the offload when it wasn’t on (say in the 21st and 24th minutes), but he’ll just move on and keep trying to make things happen. He came close to scoring in the 26th minute, then smashed Keary in the 30th minute (just after this play…)
Hello old friend…
Oh this play! The old outside-inside. How good is it to see it still being used by Melbourne in 2024. While the last pass didn’t come off from Paps this time around, its very nice to see this particular play back in the Melbourne arsenal. With the right personnel it is almost unstoppable and something Storm fans have seen many times before.
Effort
Back to Katoa and after legally smashing Keary, Katoa would be rewarded for his effort in the 31st minute, catching a Munster high kick and dragging three defenders over the line to get the ball down. It was a lesson in determination and effort. Katoa keeps trying things and it’s great that his skills are embraced in the Melbourne system.
Of course the Katoa try did have an element of controversy, but I’ll put a pin in that for the moment.
Low quality football
After the Katoa try with Melbourne leading 12–6 it’s fair to say this match devolved into the type of low quality football usually seen during the #wrongpriorities period of the season. #Kleined blew a justified penalty against Katoa, an unjustified set restart against Melbourne on fifth tackle, then ordered a line drop-out against NAS which was an inconsistent call at best. The players also had moments to forget, the Roosters often slipping over on the Allianz Stadium turf as Melbourne just kept defending.
Coming back from half time and its fair to say the first ten minutes is the chapter of this story that can be skipped. It was pretty dire. There were penalties, handling errors and just clunky dumb football including the Roosters burning their challenge the same way Melbourne did earlier in the match. My only positive note until the 50th minute was that Coates was able to grab a catch from a high kick unlike every other winger in this match.
At one point it felt like neither team could complete a set of six tackles, until Melbourne off the back of a bust down the left flank spun the ball right on the last tackle with Hughes putting a kick through…
The inevitability of Ashley Klein
Sigh. He is inevitable. There is no escaping #Kleined.
Hughes was taken out, Munster complains. Munster6 is rightly sent to the bin for a professional foul. Klein gives a bullshit reason to deny what everybody saw live.7 A butterfly flaps its wings. Florida man is arrested.
Melbourne down to 12-men tackle, tackle, and tackle again. Joey Manu looks like he could rip the Storm to shreds and does only for his pass to Victor Radley to be correctly ruled forward.
That would be as close as the Roosters would get during their power play. Melbourne was mostly able to control possession and the clock for long parts of the ten minutes Munster was off, although the reintroduction of Brandon Smith looked to have refocused the hosts.
Changing gears
With Munster back on the field, the period of low quality football that began in the first half and continued through into the second stanza looked to have abated as the pace of the contest went up a gear. It would be Melbourne that cracked first though, with Keary finding space to kick across for Joseph Sua’ali’i to tap it back to (an offside from the kick)8 Manu to make it to the corner ahead of Smith and Coates.
Sua’ali’i would convert the try and yet again Melbourne would not be in front at the 70th minute of a match in 2024.
Not his go?
James Tedesco isn’t one of the brightest brains in rugby league. His kick/trip on Paps has been widely condemned and he is extremely fortunate to be only copping a nominal fine. That he wasn’t sent to the sin bin should see Klein (and Gee) dropped for next week. But we know that that won’t happen because neither of them are Kasey Badger being scapegoated at the Graham Annesley Comedy Hour on Mondays.
This week’s party trick
With scores level you could see Melbourne were not panicked by the scoreboard. There was a near try on one set that forced an error from the Roosters, and at the end of a probing set of six, Xavier Coates pulled out this week’s party trick.
Coates beats three defenders and somehow stretches out to score. The dangerous second kick worked for Melbourne, but it was all about Coates again, this time with a Inspector Gadget style extendo-arm. Meaney converted the try and the final five minutes were mildly annoying (again blowing a challenge early is dumb football), but Melbourne defended and shut down the Roosters to take the two points.
Stat offloads
Brandon Smith has played in four matches for the Roosters since leaving Melbourne. He is yet to be on the winning side.
Christian Welch has played in nine straight wins for Melbourne against the Roosters, having been on the losing side just twice in 12 matches (the 2018 Grand Final and round 6 2019).9
Melbourne are averaging 19.67 points per game in 2024, which is tracking to be their lowest scoring season since the club low of 2015 (467 points at 19.46 points per game).
Tyran Wishart went unused on the bench for the first time in his career.
Post match quotes
Bellyache actually used the word proud this week:
We made plenty of opportunities for ourselves… but we lacked patience.
I thought in the end we were really lucky to get away with the game even though we created a lot of opportunities, we just seemed to be really impatient. Even the first captain's challenge, five or six minutes in, I'm not sure who made that decision, but it just looked like we were taking the easy option a bit too much.
It’s hard to create opportunities against the Roosters, but I thought we did that okay. As the game wore on our defence was really good and it made up for our lack of patience.
I was really proud of the players’ effort.
On Xavier Coates:
He’s come up with a lot of big plays on both sides of the ball. He’s probably been in our top three or four players every game this year. He keeps working hard.
Cam Munster:
If we can win these little tight games during the year, it’s going to go a long way down the back end [of the season].
It was a tiring game. It was tough at times, just that field position game and at times we dug deep there and got through, but we’ve got to be better with icing certain moments.
We created opportunities tonight, we have just got to execute those passes [better], I think at times we’re throwing them out our arses. For me, I think if we can just execute those we’re going to put a lot of pressure on teams.
Christian Welch:
I love playing against them. It’s always a good contest. I’m really stoked we won.
Trent Robinson (career wins against Melbourne: 8 from 25 matches) had his usual whinges and moans about life, the universe and everything:
Frustrated with a couple of calls.
The rules are really simple and both of them were really clear [Asofa-Solomona lending weight to push Katoa over the line and Reimis Smith disruptor on Manu]. It was really simple these decisions tonight.
I honestly tried to watch his press conference, but it was just blergh, and my brain just had this running on repeat:
Of course the journalists didn’t dare ask Robertson or Tedesco about why he wasn’t sent to the sin bin.
Was it worth it?
If this match was on Friday night or y’know a weekend your correspondent would have made the trek to The Bad Place to check out Allianz Stadium and it’s lack of a roof. Instead we can’t have away trips in 2024 because of #SackThursdayNightFootball.
It’s always nice to beat the Roosters though, especially when it causes Trent Robinson to have his weekly blow up.
5.5/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
Nine curiously gave Harry Grant their POTM award for this one. Grant was his usual solid body in defence (46 tackles, although he did have six missed and one ineffective tackle), but he wasn’t as big a factor with the ball. Instead I’m giving more points to Jahrome Hughes who scored a try and set up line breaks as well as showing up in defence.
He might have played less minutes this week, but Melbourne’s best period of energy in this match coincided with Alec MacDonald being on the field. I’m an unabashed member of the Chin fan club and love what he brings off the bench in energy, enthusiasm and disciplined footy. His handling error just before half time probably would have been overturned had Melbourne not wasted their challenge.
For the 70 minutes he was on I thought Cameron Munster looked to be approaching some good form. He could be ready to explode over the next few weeks. Also came close to giving Joe Chan a point in his return to NRL action off the bench. It’s a nice problem to have now fitting Blore, Katoa, Chan and Loiero into the team in the edge and middle forward roles separate from the rotation of the big boppers.
Round 7 points:
3 – Jahrome Hughes
2 – Xavier Coates
1 – Harry Grant
1 – Alec MacDonald
Leaderboard:
10 – Jahrome Hughes
7 – Xavier Coates
5 – Eliesa Katoa
4 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
3 – Tui Kamikamica, Harry Grant
2 – Shawn Blore
1 – Jonah Pezet, Joe Chan, Trent Loiero, Christian Welch, Josh King, Alec MacDonald
Around the grounds
Jersey Flegg Cup U21s — Melbourne Storm 16–24 Canberra Raiders
Down 12–6 at half time, the Storm scored a couple of tries late in the second half as they looked to stage a grandstand finish, but came up short against the ladder-leaders. Keagan Russell-Smith dropped back from the Bears this week to play in the under-age competition.
Queensland Cup — Sunshine Coast Falcons 28–14 Townsville Blackhawks
In Sam Burns’ 100th match for the Falcons, the Sunshine Coast got the points at home. Grant Anderson and Jack Howarth each scored tries, with Young Tonumaipea and Lazarus Vaalepu also featuring.
Queensland Cup — Brisbane Tigers 12–12 Central Queensland Capras
In wet conditions in Brisbane, the Tigers and Capras played out a draw. Both sides struggled to complete their sets in the conditions, in a match that didn’t have much flow. Kane Bradley, Marion Seve, Jonah Pezet, and Tristan Powell all got match time, with Powell topping the tackle count.
New South Wales Cup — North Sydney Bears 20–12 Canberra Raiders
Dean Ieremia, Bronson Garlick, and after not featuring on Thursday night, Tyran Wishart played his first match for the Bears at North Sydney Oval. The Bears led 14–12 at half time and extended that lead just after the break, but that was the end of the points for the day.
Suncorp Super Netball — West Coast Fever 81–56 Sunshine Coast Lightning
Ooft. After an opening round win over the Swifts, the Lightning crashed back to earth in Perth, with the Green Army cheering their team to a 25-goal win. It was an unpleasant return out west for Lightning GK Courtney Bruce, with Shanice Beckford and Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard dominating the second quarter after a tight first period. Too many unforced errors were costly in the second half as the Lightning chased the game, with the final margin blowing out late.
Next up
Round 8 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs – Thursday 25 April, 8:00pm @ AAMI Park
Another Thursday night game next week. Melbourne looked to have escaped without any further injuries and the embattled Souths had the bye this weekend.
Thankfully they didn’t sack the coach so there won’t be an Arthur Kitinis situation in prospect.
Preview post out on Wednesday.
Sometimes both!
…and Adam Gee
I checked the most recent survey and ABC Classic has a larger audience share.
Can we get some shorts with better waistbands please O’Neills?
In another life where back six get the chicks players are taught to defend this kind of kick by punching the ball clear of the area. Wingers might need to embrace this a bit more when defending high kicks coming straight down on them.
For the sixth time in his NRL career. One behind Billy Slater.
Well except for a couple of particularly biased commentators.
As noted in the commentary Jennings had lost the ball on the tackle that started the Roosters try-scoring play. But I can only assume Adam Gee missed that one in the Bunker ordering food or something.
Aka the first return of Cooper Cronk to AAMI Park