Game 697 – S27E11 Review

Melbourne Storm 48–16 Parramatta Eels

May 20, 2024

A second half points explosion from Melbourne without Cameron Munster? Sign me up!

Melbourne – 48 (Grant 27', 49', Smith 52', 54', Kamikamica 9', Warbrick 25', Coates 65', Katoa 75' tries; Meaney 8/9 goals)

Parramatta – 16 (Simonsson 17', Talagi 34', Sivo 79' tries; Asi 2/2, Russell 0/1 goals)

Of course the Nine thumbnail for the highlights this week focuses on Cameron Munster rather than the Storm’s demolition of the Eels:

The images of Munster flailing around reminded me of something:

Magikarp used avoid surgery… it’s not very effective.

Munster’s injury looked excruciating, aggravating the injury he’s carried since preseason.1 Although Harry Grant, tongue firmly in cheek, didn’t have much sympathy in the post match:

You never know with him. He’s a bit of a carry on.

Going off just before half time, Munster limping off was the negative of a first half that saw Melbourne up 16–10.

I’m not sure we needed to see Munster putting ice in his shorts though Nine.

Playing simple

When Melbourne’s final team was announced on Sunday, it was curious to say the least. Tui Kamikamica started in place of Trent Loiero who moved back to the bench. Jack Howarth dropped out of the team for… Grant Anderson?

With the benefit of Tyran Wishart training another week at halfback, Melbourne’s game plan to start looked simple but proved to be somewhat effective. Wishart linking on the right with Eli Katoa, Munster roaming through the middle and left, while Grant tied everything together from the ruck. Melbourne’s left edge had come close to scoring as early as the second minute, with Parramatta only just keeping out attacking raids from Sua Fa’alogo and Xavier Coates. Fa’alogo’s speed with the ball in hand always looks super dangerous, and it was apparent as the match went on that he had more confidence to pass the ball.

Starting Tui Kamikamica paid dividends with the big Fijian spotting a massive gap in the Eels defence to crash over in the left channel to start the scoring in the ninth minute. It was smart play from Kamikamica to angle his run to target the line off the back of a bullet pass from Grant.2

Melbourne looked good for their lead, but an error from Will Warbrick from a Daejarn Asi bomb gave the Eels a scrum feed that put Parramatta in prime field position to attack the Melbourne line. Some passive defence from the Melbourne left edge giving the Eels time and space to get around Coates.

After levelling the scores Parramatta looked to aim up in defence, and for a moment Melbourne looked to be on the back foot. A steal from Munster gave the Storm the ball and from there it was Melbourne’s right side that went to work. A break from Fa’alogo and Katoa didn’t result in points through Grant, but the next break in that right side channel through Will Warbrick put Melbourne in front 10–4. Confidence is a funny thing in sports. Melbourne’s two wingers have it in spades. If they make an error, they absorb it, learn from it and then move on. It’s a mindset that allows them to go for it and almost damn the consequences. If only that confidence could be contagious to the team members that may struggle with that mindset.

From the restart Melbourne went left on third tackle and through a combination of passing from Grant, Munster and Fa’alogo sending Coates down the sideline. Coates kicking back for Grant to latch on to the bouncing ball to score. Dylan Brown playing for an obstruction rightly ignored by the Bunker.

Melbourne looked dangerous with the ball and good for their lead after 30 minutes, even winning a captain’s challenge. There were issues though — Coates left the field for a HIA after a head clash; and an error from Fa’alogo in trying to clean up a kick gave the Eels field position again to attack the Storm line. The ensuing scrum gave the Eels a chance for a set play and Melbourne missed out on a four-on-three formation on the right flank, with Nick Meaney exposed badly in defence. Blaize Talagi accelerating through to score in a similar fashion to the set play Melbourne threw out against the Titans a fortnight ago.

The comedy football of the Melbourne Storm

Up by six points at half time, missing their mercurial five-eighth, Melbourne were again contractually obliged to play the second half. On their last trip to Queensland, Melbourne eventually grinding out a win against the Titans after Ryan Papenhuyzen went down. This time Melbourne decided to channel their best comedy football routine3 and smash Parramatta on the scoreboard.

At times the second half reminded me of the first Magic Round meeting back in 2019 when Melbourne racked up 40 points in the second half sushiing to thrash the Eels 64–10.

After a first half cameo on the wing when Coates was off for a HIA, it was time for The Grant Anderson Experience to take a wild new direction:

Yep, Anderson was at five-eighth. The first time an Anderson had played that position for the Melbourne Storm since S2E26. Not sure why Meaney didn’t move into the middle of the field, but in Bellyache we trust.

An early penalty goal gave Melbourne an 8-point lead, as the Storm looked to consolidate things on the scoreboard. You could see the Storm back their defence as a unit first, then work hard through the middle of the field to wear down the Parramatta forwards. Full credit to Eli Katoa, Alec MacDonald and Trent Loiero through the first ten minutes after half time for their intensity. Katoa especially was a beast with the ball, a big run earning a six again that put Melbourne over half way, setting up the set where Grant scored his second try of the day. Grant crashed over on the back of the regular brilliance we see from Coates, this time a powering angled run and offload setting up a try.

Grant’s second half was a captain’s knock. He stepped up, backed up and showed why he is the best hooker in the game at the moment. It’s always great to see when Grant just puts in. He’s an effort player and when he is focused on eyes forward football, there’s none better.

In the space of five minutes, Melbourne took the score from 24–10 to 36–10 with back-to-back tries to Reimis Smith. It was Melbourne’s comedy football at its best. The passing move for Smith’s first try came from midfield, with the ball zinging through the hands of Loiero, Anderson, Fa’alogo and a judicious choice not to pass from Smith. Absolute scenes. From the restart Melbourne going the length of the field on the second tackle with Grant and Anderson combining to put Blore into open space down the left channel. Blore’s offload to MacDonald who was backing up in the style of Ryan Papenhuyzen in the middle of the park, had the Chin sprinting towards the line, but he knew he didn’t quite have the pace. Another offload to Smith and Melbourne were in again.4

With 25 minutes left, it was game over and it was mostly just a matter of how much more comedy Melbourne could provide, inflicting more pain upon Parramatta. The Storm scored two more tries, and probably could have scored a couple more. Coates scored his seventh try for the season in the 65th minute on a 90m intercept run.5

Melbourne’s final try of the afternoon was another entry in the effort category with Eli Katoa capping off a fine performance by catching a Nick Meaney bomb, outjumping Maika Sivo to score his fifth try of the season. There was enough time for Parramatta to score a consolation try, but meh. The only disappointment from the second half was not racking up 50 points.

Stat offloads

Reimis Smith’s second try was his 25th try for Melbourne, the 50th of his NRL career after scoring 25 tries in 49 appearances for the Bulldogs. He’s now scored a try in each of his last four matches played at Suncorp Stadium.
Harry Grant has scored in four straight matches against Parramatta.
The Grant Anderson Experience report: 50 minutes, 51 metres gained; two offloads, 12 tackles, 4 missed tackles, one error. Being a warm body in the middle of the park: priceless.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona was placed on report by referee Wyatt Raymond and later charged by the MRC with a grade one dangerous contact charge for a terrible looking tackle late in the first half. NAS will likely take the early guilty plea and a $1,000 fine. It’s his 19th career charge, with the big man not missing a match through suspension since 2021.
Melbourne’s match was the only match at Magic Round not to feature a player sent to the sin bin, with 11 players getting sent to the naughty corner to think about what they did across the other seven matches.

Post match quotes

A solo press conference for Bellsa this week:

There was a fair bit I liked about the performance. I am just really happy with the way we attacked and defended in the second half. We had a lot of changes with injuries, obviously with [Cameron] Munster going off and Xavier [Coates] went off for a bit, so there were a few guys playing out of position there. It was all a bit mixed up, but I though they really gelled well.
We scored tries really quickly — I think that’s a sign of what we can do when we’re playing our best footy and we just need to keep remembering that.
The other older guys in the team have really stepped up. The experienced ones are giving a bit of direction and aware of playing their roles and how it fits in with the bigger picture.

There were some interesting comments about the kicking game, which is something to watch for next week.

Was it worth it?

Having to put up with the Fox League commentators on Sunday afternoon had me questioning my decision to skip going to this match, but who needs to go to Magic Round when the only fun thing is posted to social media anyway:

Poor Storm Man. He can probably blame the terrible turf at Lang Park, but do watch for the Sharks mascot…

It was announced that the event will be staying in Brisbane for another three years. Damn. Guess the beer barons will be happiest.

Supreme Chancellor V’Landys even saying the quiet part out loud:

Besides that we own Gambaro (Hotel) and we need the business.

Instead of being a rugby league organisation that owns a profitable media business, the ARLC is just another rent-seeker.

8/10

Storm Machine Player of the Year

A superb effort from Harry Grant this week, especially in the second half. If there’s one issue with him at the moment is that referees are wise to him trying to milk a penalty. There’s a case of the boy who cried wolf with it. It might be best for him to just play what’s in front of him with the ball, and yap at the referee on defence and at breaks in play about any rulings that could have been different.

Thought that Eli Katoa was probably Melbourne’s best though. His improvement over the last two seasons has been super.

A point this week for Sua Fa’alogo. There were no flashy tries this week, just solid fullback play for the most part. He did make a couple of errors, but you could see that he’s getting used to playing at NRL level and to trust his teammates more than what he would at the lower levels.

Few other points spread around — left side, best side featuring, but there could have been points to a number of the middle forwards.

Round 11 points:

3 – Eliesa Katoa
3 – Harry Grant
1 – Xavier Coates
1 – Reimis Smith
1 – Sualauvi Fa’alogo
1 – Grant Anderson

Leaderboard:

12 – Jahrome Hughes
10 – Eliesa Katoa
8 – Xavier Coates, Harry Grant
6 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
5 – 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, Reimis Smith, Sualauvi Fa’alogo, Grant Anderson

Around the grounds

Queensland Cup — Brisbane Tigers 40–34 Souths Logan Magpies

The Tigers won a shootout against the Magpies at Corparoo, with hooker Tristan Hope scoring a first half hat-trick in a 24-point haul. Keagan Russell-Smith made his debut for the Tigers, Coby Williamson scored a try and Kane Bradley topped the metres gained.

Queensland Cup — Wynnum Manly Seagulls 30–22 Sunshine Coast Falcons

Returning to action after a bye, the Falcons led with 10 minutes to play on North Stradbroke Island, but were overrun by the Seagulls who scored two tries to take the win. Young Tonumaipea scored a double, with AJ Gudgeon (on debut) and Lazarus Vaalepu also in action. Chris Lewis started at lock forward, but only played the first 22 minutes and did not return.

New South Wales Cup — North Sydney Bears 30–20 South Sydney Rabbitohs

Joe Chan and Dean Ieremia turned out for the Bears at the “cost of living Magic Round” on Saturday night at North Sydney Oval. Leading 28–12 at half time, Souths scored a couple of tries to reduce the margin, with the home team only scoring a penalty goal late in the match.

Suncorp Super Netball — Melbourne Vixens 57–64 Sunshine Coast Lightning

Fired up after last week’s fuckery, the Lightning jumped the home team early at John Cain Arena, but the Vixens came back hard to lead at the end of the first quarter. It was the story of the night as the Lightning started quarters better, then trying to hold on for the rest of each period. The tide turned in the second half with the Lightning able to get to a strong lead in the final quarter to hold on a for a much needed win over the previously undefeated Vixens.

If you thought my Magic Round rant was unhinged, just ask me about John Cain Arena and Melbourne’s need for a proper indoor sports and entertainment venue not under the control of the MOPT and Tennis Australia.

Next up

Round 12 vs Manly Warringah Sea Eagles – Friday 24 May, 8:00pm @ 4 Pines Park

The special events keep coming with the NRL’s Indigenous Round this weekend. Melbourne travel on short rest to #FortressShithole without Munster6 and Hughes for a match against middling Manly. A win would be nice ahead of the second bye of the season, but as always it will be tough at the venue with Melbourne’s second worst winning percentage.7

Preview post out Thursday.