Game 709 – S27E25 Review
Melbourne Storm 48–6 Dolphins
The J. J. Giltinan Shield is coming back to Melbourne as the Storm run riot against a Wayne Bennett coached team. It was a vibe.
Melbourne – 48 (Fa’alogo 20', 42', Grant 28', MacDonald 36', Howarth 39', Hughes 47', Katoa 61', Asofa-Solomona 70', King 75' tries; Meaney 6/9 goals)
Dolphins – 6 (Averillo 67' try; Isaako 1/1 goal)
These highlights skip the first 20 minutes. A reasonable thing to do.
As this season enters the final phase, the way that a team starts a match comes into sharper focus. In front of a good crowd at AAMI Park, Melbourne started brightly with the ball, getting good metres and attacking hard at the visitors. An early raid down the right channel almost provided points, but despite some good defensive attitude it was almost the visitors who opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Felise Kaufusi was put into space with only Ryan Papenhuyzen to beat.
That moment was quickly forgotten when the Storm were able to counterattack immediately, a lovely Shaun Blore offload put Cameron Munster into space with Sua Fa’alogo in support on the left wing. The Bunker’s ruling that Fa’alogo wasn’t tackled after he kicked ahead was curious, but if they’re going to be consistent1 then I’m okay with that ruling. That the referee then gave away a piggyback penalty to get the Dolphins out of trouble was more annoying to be honest, but such are the ways of NRL referees.
Defence
What I was liking in the first half was Melbourne’s defence. There were genuine efforts to cover the more dangerous aspects of the Dolphins attacking players. From Paps bringing down Kaufusi, to Jahrome Hughes and Paps stopping Jack Bostock as the winger thought he was going to score. If defence is an attitude, the Storm wanted to defend, and defend well against the Red Fish.
In attack, Melbourne straightened their attack as the half progressed, but there was a definite lack of a finishing touch. It wasn’t until the Storm had an extended run of possession following a Trent Loiero penalty that saw the Dolphins fail to find touch. Getting to work, Harry Grant forced a line dropout and the resultant set saw Melbourne able to set up a try to Fa’alogo in the left corner. The assist from Paps was perfect to exploit an overlap, with Melbourne able to put together a nice set in attack.
At the same time, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Jesse Bromwich and Kodi Nikorima would all head up the tunnel. Only Big NAS would return, with the two Dolphins players unable to pass their head injury assessments.
All out attack
Playing straighter, Melbourne started to dominate. Melbourne’s forwards were able to gain metres in the middle and edges that allowed Hughes and Cameron Munster to do their work with space and time. Chiming in too was Paps who looked very sharp, even if his legspeed is still not back to his peak. That momentum gave Grant the option of a quick dive over from dummy half to extend Melbourne’s lead.
The pressure that Melbourne were able to apply broke this match open before half time. Grant burst into open space from the restart, and it was only a pass from Jack Howarth that went into touch that stopped Fa’alogo from scoring again. It wouldn’t matter though when Kaufusi was sent to the naughty corner for his professional foul on Alec MacDonald six minutes out from half time. Kaufusi was off following a spectacular offload from Tui Kamikamica to Hughes.
On the powerplay, Melbourne wasted no time, MacDonald getting over for his first try of the season, crashing over in the right channel. From the restart it was sparkling rugby league from Howarth who split open the Dolphins from the second run of the set. It was seven linebreaks to one for the Storm and another try before halftime was on the cards when Howarth finished the set on the end of a slick passing move against a short defensive line.
Coming back from the break with a 22–0 lead, Melbourne scored one more try on the powerplay, Fa’alogo scoring his second, keeping the ball in play when it looked like it was on Swan Street. Hughes was brilliant in the lead-up, as was Fa’alogo in showing perseverance to chase down a ball that looked to be going dead.2
Hughes was next to score with Grant dinking through a kick for the halfback to score and Melbourne were 32–0 up and looking ominous. The Red Fish were struggling for answers and with 30 minutes remaining could only hope to keep Melbourne from putting 50 on the scoreboard.
It would be 10 minutes before Melbourne scored again though as the intensity started to fade. Eli Katoa didn’t want to leave without a try, bustling over the line out wide for his 11th try of the season. Hughes and Paps again with the assists, but it was a monstering by Katoa on Herbie Farnworth.
The sting well and truly out, the remaining interest was whether Melbourne could make the coach happy by keeping the Dolphins scoreless. Unfortunately a dropped bomb by Fa’alogo bounced kindly for Jake Averillo to dive over and score. Oh well, c’est la vie.
It certainly didn’t faze Fa’alogo who was stepping like a madlad with the ball on the next set, which eventually set up an opportunity for Tyran Wishart to send big NAS over for a try in his milestone match. How bloody good was the Gronk spike from the big man. It was party time at AAMI Park and the big man tries kept on coming with Josh King crossing from a super pass from Hughes that fooled Kaufusi.
That was enough points for the day (even if there were a couple of late opportunities for 50+) with Melbourne celebrating yet another minor premiership, the sixth time since 2011.
Stat offloads
Melbourne have now won five games by the score of 48–6 — including three times against Wayne Bennett coached teams (1999, 2016, 2024).
The NRL.com play-by-play timings had Felise Kaufusi in the sin bin for 9:12. Curious.
The Storm had 15 line breaks, forcing 57 missed tackles from the Dolphins Melbourne had double the run metres (1876 vs 920) controlling the ball for 61% possession.
Was it worth it?
Big crowd in at AAMI Park for this one and the vibes were high for Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s milestone match. Indeed this was the highest crowd figure posted for the season.
It certainly was nice to have a low pressure match even if the first 20 minutes felt frustrating at the time. But the next 30 minutes was fantastic rugby league from the home team.
9.5/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
Jahrome Hughes put another exclamation point on his fantastic season with another fantastic performance. Harry Grant was also great in his 65 minutes. It was a fairly even full team effort otherwise, with a number of players unlucky not to snag a point.
All three of the big interchange forwards played great this week. It was nice to see Christian Welch back in Storm colours, and Alec MacDonald grab a try.
Round 25 points:
3 – Jahrome Hughes
2 – Harry Grant
1 – Jack Howarth
1 – Sualauvi Fa’alogo
1 – Trent Loiero
1 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona
1 – Tui Kamikamica
Leaderboard:
28 – Jahrome Hughes
15 – Harry Grant
13 – Eliesa Katoa
9 – Tyran Wishart
8 – Xavier Coates, Ryan Papenhuyzen
7 – Cameron Munster
6 – Grant Anderson, Jack Howarth, Josh King
5 – Trent Loeiro, Nelson Asofa-Solomona
4 – Christian Welch, Shawn Blore, Tui Kamikamica, Sualauvi Fa’alogo
3 – Nick Meaney, Will Warbrick
2 – Joe Chan
1 – Jonah Pezet, Alec MacDonald, Reimis Smith, Bronson Garlick
Around the grounds
Jersey Flegg Cup — Sydney Roosters 24–22 Melbourne Storm
Down 12–6 at half time, Melbourne were able to jump out to a 22–18 lead, after scoring three straight tries in a ten minute spell during the second half. But the Roosters took back the lead and wouldn’t be headed in the final 10 minutes.
Queensland Cup — Norths Devils 16–42 Sunshine Coast Falcons
A carve up on Saturday afternoon for the Falcons, jumping out to a 36–0 half time lead, scoring six tries including one to Chris Lewis. The Devils made the scoreline a little respectable with a couple of late tries. It wasn’t all good news though with Lewis leaving the field with an injury and not returning, while Young Tonumaipea also didn’t finish the match. Lazarus Vaalepu did get in some solid minutes again. The win saw the Falcons finish fourth for the season.
Queensland Cup — Wynnum Manly Seagulls 28–32 Brisbane Tigers
In the final match of the Queensland Cup season, the Tigers ended their season on a high with a gutsy win over the finals-bound Seagulls. Behind 22–12 at half time and with no Storm players available, the Tigers roared back in the second half, with a late try to Tom Rafter sealing the win.
NSW Cup — Sydney Roosters 24–20 North Sydney Bears
Another loss for the Bears, that’s five weeks now without a win. North Sydney did lead 14–8 at half time, but the Roosters levelled and then took the lead at Wentworth Park, with the Bears only points of the second half coming in the final minute. Joe Chan was the only Storm player in action for the Bears, who stay second on the NSW Cup ladder.
Next up
Round 26 vs North Queensland Cowboys – Thursday 29 August 2024, 7:50pm @ Queensland Country Bank Stadium
Minor premiership sealed, Melbourne have consecutive Thursday night matches in the Sunshine State to round out the regular season. Expect some players to miss one match of the two as the team gets ready for the big games on the horizon.
Preview post out Thursday morning.
I make myself laugh.
It’s funny that this was given a try given the number of nearly-run things on the try line in recent weeks.