Game 696 – S27E10 Review

Melbourne Storm 18–25 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

May 13, 2024

A frustrating night at AAMI Park for the Melbourne Storm, but sometimes you just have to take the loss and learn from it.

Melbourne – 18 (Katoa 18', Smith 32', Wishart 69' tries; Meaney 3/4 goals)

Cronulla – 25 (Tapuha 24', Kaufusi 37', Ramien 51', Talakai 75' tries; Atkinson 4/4 goals; Atkinson 74' field goal)

Ever since the NRL YouTube account stopped embeds, I’ve been using the Nine highlights packages… if this was “one of the [Sharks] greatest wins” then that doesn’t say much about the other 670 odd:

The sin bin of Harry Grant

Okay. Let’s not bury the lede this week. There’s a little bit to unpack with this without getting into ref chat areas.

There are many things that are true in rugby league. Accidental things happen that can cause serious injuries.1 There are deliberate actions that can either cause injury,2 or have the potential to cause serious injury.3 Then there are foul play actions that are beyond the pale and should result in swift action on field, as well as further punishment after the match.4

Harry Grant’s pressure on Daniel Atkinson’s kick just four minutes from half time in this match falls roughly into the “deliberate actions that can cause serious injury” category. As soon as I saw it I knew it was a silly thing to have done. Atkinson’s kicking wasn’t hurting Melbourne5 and putting pressure on a kicker without using your arms to either attempt a smother/charge down or a tackle is asking for trouble. Grant got that trouble in spades from referee Grant Atkins with a penalty and sin bin.

Was the sin bin (and subsequent grade one dangerous contact charge) justified?

I’m comfortable with it being a penalty and sin bin provided that this is the baseline standard going forward. We are in danger of kickers being able to get away with anything,6 but defenders need to know that any contact with the kicking leg or plant leg comes with the risk of a sin bin. Now if the sin bin was ice hockey power play rules…7

Before I move on from this, I do hope that someone gets into the ear of Sua Fa’alogo about his possible dissent at this decision. From where I sat, it looked awfully close to Atkins sitting both him and Grant down.

The one in which both teams have no halves pairing

As I mentioned in the preview, I headed to AAMI Park on Saturday thinking that Melbourne would lose. It was more than just an inkling with Ryan Papenhuyzen, Xavier Coates and Jahrome Hughes all in the stands, meaning Fa’alogo, Wishart and Grant Anderson would be in three key positions for Melbourne. A couple of hours before kickoff when it was first rumoured then confirmed that Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes would be a late scratching with either hamstring awareness or a calf muscle injury, a glimmer of hope sprouted within me. But as always, it’s the hope that kills you.

Watching live this game just meandered through much of the first half. Watching it back8 Melbourne looked in control for periods, but keep finding ways to make silly mistakes to ease the pressure off the visitors. Whether it was Cameron Munster kicking the ball dead, Will Warbrick lacking confidence under the high ball, or Fa’alogo passing in a tackle, it just felt like Melbourne lacked patience and guidance. Similar things could be said of the Sharks, with only Daniel Atkinson and Blayke Brailey offering much in creative enterprise.

Harry Grant’s 40/20 kick in the 10th minute looked to have given Melbourne the impetus for an attacking set on the Cronulla line, and it was only a poor forward pass from Reimis Smith that stopped the Storm short of scoring the opening try. Instead Melbourne would have to settle for a #RyanTandyMemorialSpecial™ in the 15th minute after a string of Sharks penalties and set restarts.

To go for two seemed like a negative move at the time, but Melbourne’s lead would be extended to six points when the thinking man’s edge forward Eli Katoa took the ball from the ruck to power past three defenders to score down the right edge. It was a great solo effort from Katoa to reach out and score, but unfortunately Nick Meaney sprayed the conversion attempt.

Cronulla would hit back and level the scores a few minutes later on the back of some hard work in the middle of the field. That Tuku Hai Tapuha scored on a crash play was irritating, with an ineffective tackle from Trent Loiero and Eli Katoa seeing the big Sharks forward get the ball down over the line. Guessing that it was Loiero that copped a spray given he was substituted for Nelson Asofa-Solomona right after the try was scored.

When Harry Grant was held up in the 28th minute, Melbourne had just completed an impressive set, but the interminable delay9 from the Bunker in confirming that Grant hadn’t got the ball down but maintained possession gave the visitors time to refresh and reset their defence after scrambling to keep up with the Storm. Melbourne were looking the team more likely to score, with Munster and Grant offering more than Atkinson and Brailey. In the positional battle between makeshift halfbacks Tyran Wishart and Cameron McInnes, it was Melbourne’s jack of all trades ahead with his impact on the match.

It was Munster setting up Melbourne’s second try, his pass sending Smith into a yawning gap in the left channel. Munster had at least three different options to choose from and it was likely that all three options would have led to a try for the Storm. It was the perfect pass to Smith though that was the right choice for the mercurial one.

The curiosity of Grant Atkins, rugby league referee

There’s some referees who I don’t rate, there’s some I loathe, there’s others that are inconsequential and largely nondescript. Under V’Landysball Melbourne’s sequence of matches under Grant Atkins:

LWWWWLWWWWLLLLWWWWLLL

Curious. Nine losses, three streaks of four straight wins.

Harry Grant is the first Melbourne player to be sin binned by Atkins since he was the sole whistle-blower — the last Melbourne player to be sin binned in a game where he was one of the referees was the 2019 semi final at AAMI Park, when Cameron Smith was given 10 minutes for rightfully slapping Reed Mahoney.

Defending with 12 men

Melbourne conceded two tries in round 6 when Ryan Papenhuyzen was in the sin bin against the Bulldogs, and no tries in round 7 when Cameron Munster was off against the Roosters. This time down a middle defender, the Sharks took an almost immediate advantage with Harry Grant out of the defensive line.

Watching live my initial thought was that Oregon Kaufusi had lost the ball, and when Atkins sent it up as a no try, I thought that Melbourne had escaped. However, I agree there is an angle where Adam Gee in the Bunker10 could overturn the referee who was literally right there…

I know refereeing is a hard job, but have you been to Specsavers recently?

Melbourne regrouped following the try, making it to half time as the Sharks didn’t have any real opportunity to attack the Storm line. Coming back from the break, Melbourne were able to grind out the remaining time that Grant was off the field, with the Sharks only able to force just one line dropout.

I suppose this was first versus second after all

Grinding football. Sometimes it’s compelling. Sometimes there’s beauty in the ebb and flow as two teams throw their best at each other. This wasn’t either team’s best, nor was it compelling.

An error from NAS gave the visitors field position, Atkinson forced a line dropout (something Melbourne were unable to do) and the short dropout wasn’t the right option from Munster. The Sharks moving the ball right with Will Kennedy against a disorganised Melbourne left edge to score through their centre Jesse Ramien.

In front for the first time, it felt like Cronulla was content to hold their lead for as long as possible, forcing Melbourne to continue to grind up against their defensive shell.11

It ended up being 15 plus minutes of the grind before Melbourne finally cracked the Sharks line. It took a few tackles inside the red zone, but it was the warm body of Wishart throwing the dummy to a three-man sweeping overlap to score. Thankfully Wishart crossing over on the last tackle after yet another Loiero settler on the fourth tackle.

The final ten minutes

Hey look, Melbourne weren’t in front at the 70th minute. Again.

Oh Atkins has awarded a penalty (justified) and set restart (meh) and Cronulla had more than enough field position for Atkinson to slot the field goal. Then one of the dumbest plays in rugby league ended the game. Short restarts look spectacular when you have the right personnel to execute the kick to hit a spot to grab the ball; but when you don’t, well stupid things happen. Full credit to Ronaldo Mulitano and Siosifa Talakai who took advantage.

There was time left for Melbourne to win a captain’s challenge,12 but not enough skill, space or energy for a big finish this week.

Stat offloads

Melbourne are 0-2 without Jahrome Hughes in 2024, having gone 3-1 last year (excluding the round 27 Queensland Cup match); 1-3 in 2022; and 2-0 in 2021.
Daniel Atkinson has a perfect winning record from his five NRL appearances (one with Melbourne, four with Cronulla).
Jack Howarth made his third appearance for Melbourne. He’s now played 88 minutes of NRL, with 65 of those coming in the round 27 match against Brisbane last year.
The only player on the field over the age of 30 was Sharks captain Cameron McInnes who celebrated his 30th birthday back in February.
The Grant Anderson Experience report: 11 runs for 84 metres; five tackles, two kicks defused without error, one kick lucky to escape a captain’s challenge after he lost the ball. Was caught out for the Sharks third try, rushing up and leaving a two-man overlap for Reimis Smith to try and stop. Hopefully Xavier Coates is back next week.

Post match quotes

Can we say Bellyache was a bit terse this week:

[on what went wrong]: well they scored more points than us to start with.
I just thought our starts to the halves were poor.
I don't like saying this, but at different stages it looked like the game was more important to them than it was to us. Usually when that happens you get away with [the win], which they did. I was really disappointed in how we started both halves.

He wouldn’t be dragged into a potential fine by commenting on the sin bin:

If that’s what they want to do, then eh.
Having your captain off and your dummy half off [in the sin bin] doesn't make it any easier for us. I think with any rules all we want is consistency. That's the mark now — you touch the kicker's leg, doesn't matter how hard, you go to the bin.

There was also some nice words for Tyran Wishart.

Was it worth it?

This match probably suffered from poor timing rather than anything as a 1 versus 2 clash. Suspect if this was an August match it would have been more meaningful to both teams. As it was Cronulla took the advantage in what is the only scheduled match-up for 2024.

There were times that AAMI Park was a little muted on Saturday night and the 18,670 fans in attendance were called upon to provide some energy — I think the “need more enegery” gestures of Munster were more aimed at the team though.

Oh and whoever finally updated/fixed the typefaces for the Cameron Smith Stand and Slater Stand signs — I see you and appreciate you.

3/10

Storm Machine Player of the Year

He’s not a winger, he’s probably not a halfback either, but Tyran Wishart certainty tries his hardest in whatever role is thrown his way. His reward was a try, four Dally M points and two points here. With Hughes out for a little bit and #wrongpriorities on the horizon, he’s likely to be in the halves for an extended period over the next few months. Hopefully continuity will bring him confidence to pass and involve his teammates a little more.

After the match I thought Munster was quiet, the replay confirmed that.13 His best moment was the try to Smith, so we’ll chalk this one down to his injury concerns still affecting his play. Grant made 43 tackles in his 70 minutes, but that left him with little energy in attack.

Honourable mention to Tui Kamikamica on his return from injury this week. No doubt he’ll be back in the starting side next week, which should help the forward rotation.

Round 10 points:

2 – Tyran Wishart
1 – Eliesa Katoa

Leaderboard:

12 – Jahrome Hughes
7 – Xavier Coates, Eliesa Katoa
6 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
5 – Harry Grant, Cameron Munster
3 – Tui Kamikamica, Cameron Munster
2 – Shawn Blore, Joe Chan, Josh King, Tyran Wishart
1 – Jonah Pezet, Trent Loiero, Christian Welch, Alec MacDonald

Around the grounds

Jersey Flegg Cup U21s — Melbourne Storm 20–4 Parramatta Eels

Bit of a kit clash in this one! A first half double to Robert Mapa helped the Storm to a 16–0 half time advantage at AAMI Park, with the young Storm squad holding out the Eels in the second half for a 16-point win. The win keeps Melbourne in ninth on the ladder, equal on points though with the sixth placed Roosters. The competition has a bye next weekend, with Melbourne’s next match across the Tasman on 26 May.

Queensland Cup — Norths Devils 62–16 Brisbane Tigers

A day to forget for the Tigers, with the Devils running in 11 tries. The home team had led 46–0 at half time, beating the Tigers for the first time at Bishop Park since 2012.

Sunshine Coast Falcons had the bye.

New South Wales Cup — North Sydney Bears 24–31 Parramatta Eels

After missing out on playing on Saturday in Melbourne, Joe Chan, Bronson Garlick and Dean Ieremia were all on hand for the Bears against the Eels, but it was the visitors leaving North Sydney Oval with a tight victory. Norths lead at the break, but couldn’t hold on with a late field goal to Daejarn Asi making the final margin seven points.

Suncorp Super Netball — GWS Giants 86–80 Sunshine Coast Lightning

When they were establishing competent sporting bodies, Super Netball didn’t have much to choose from, having scraped the bottom of the barrel along with the A-Leagues and the NRL.

Further, Australian netball fans can be divided up into two groups: those that know the super shot is an abomination, and those who are imbeciles.

The Lightning walked off the court at the end of this match thinking they’d won. The umpires called game over. But apparently not.14 The fact that Netball Australia had to put out a statement with this kicker at the end:

“We apologise to our fans – both in stadium and at home – and to both teams for the errors that occurred,” West said.
“These errors should not have occurred and caused significant confusion in venue and also for those watching at home.
“There were failures in our systems, processes and communication that have been addressed to ensure this does not happen again.”
Under World Netball’s Rules of Netball and the SSN Rules of the Game, there is no avenue for appeal of the final score. Further there is no appeal right of any decision within a match.

Just a pure #farceshambles.15

The Lightning are in Victoria next Saturday afternoon (5pm first pass) to play the undefeated Vixens – there’s a discount code available if anyone wants to head along.

Next up

Round 11 vs Parramatta Eels – Sunday 19 May, 4:00pm @ Suncorp Stadium

Magic Round. The law of diminishing returns will hopefully see the revision of this concept soon enough. I’ll be steering clear again, so for those attending on Sunday try and have fun.

This year Parramatta have been spared a trip to Melbourne, which is probably a good thing for the mediocre Eels.

Preview post out Thursday.