The Renegades ran hard, tackled hard, had some fun and pushed the Cowboys hard in a defeat that doesn’t matter all that much.
North Queensland – 38 (Feldt 11', 38', Taulagi 17', Holmes 45', Robson 60', Nanai 69' tries; Holmes 7/7 goals)
Melbourne – 30 (Wishart 35', 56', Vaalepu 4', MacDonald 27', Lisati 79' tries; Wishart 5/6 goals)
68 points providing a few highlights including five Melbourne tries.
Run hard, tackle hard
Missing 11 players from the team that played last week, Melbourne’s game plan was fairly simple going in to this one. Cameron Munster was going to have to run the show with Tyran Wishart from a playmaking perspective and everyone else needed to run hard and tackle hard. The weakness for the Storm was going to be out wide. There’s valid reasons why Young Tonumaipea, Marion Seve and Dean Ieremia haven’t featured much recently and it’s not just injury. The Cowboys would have looked at the pairing of Tonumaipea and Ieremia especially on Melbourne’s left side up against Kyle Feldt with some kind of perverse pleasure. All the home team really needed to do was tire out the Melbourne middle defence and then look to go around them on the flanks.
Capitalise on errors
Two Cowboys errors in the humid conditions and two set restarts gave Melbourne an immediate opportunity to take the lead and it was Lazarus Vaalepu running hard off a Munster pass that had Origin forward Jeremiah Nanai chasing shadows. It was a perfect start for Melbourne and Wishart’s 40/20 kick in the next set had Melbourne firmly on top.
That didn’t last long when the home team got a decision from a line dropout to go there way, coupled with a penalty to give them field position to attack the Melbourne line. North Queensland’s shift to their right catching out Tonumaipea who’s reckless rush out from the line provided too much space for Scott Drinkwater to throw the last pass to Kyle Feldt. Holmes levelled the score with his sideline conversion and Melbourne needed to start again and settle back into a rhythm.
Injuries. Sigh
It was probably inevitable that someone was going to get hurt for Melbourne. It’s just been that kind of season. Marion Seve’s syndesmosis injury means the 15 or so minutes he played here will be his only action for 2024 in Storm colours. That Papenhuyzen left the field second before Seve went down is a lot more problematic. His injury looks to only be a lower leg contusion, which hopefully should see him back in a couple of weeks — I doubt he was in line to play the Broncos next week in any event.
I saw a lot of chat about why he didn’t get this match off with everyone else and it got me thinking about whether Melbourne had any other players left who could have played against the Cowboys. Since the departure of Reimis Smith, Melbourne haven’t had a full top-30 squad and the only players who were eligible to play without further dispensation from the NRL were AJ Gudgeon and Coby Williamson who were the travelling reserves. The plan probably was always for Paps and Munster to play this week to have the next match off. It’s unfortunate that it was Paps getting hurt again late in the season, but hopefully the prognosis is correct and he will be back and ready to go in a couple of weeks.
Seve was injured while trying to score. If Grant Atkins had sent his effort to put the ball on the line up as a try, it would have been interesting to see how Adam Gee could have denied it was a try.1
I heard you like points
With that escape from the home team and with Melbourne having to shuffle players to new positions, the Cowboys went straight down the field and again went around Melbourne, the time on their left edge through Murray Taulagi. A defensive edge of Keagan Russell-Smith, Kane Bradley and Grant Anderson struggling against three three representative level players coming at them.
Struggling in defence seemed contagious. The Cowboys couldn’t contain Fa’alogo on a couple of occasions, with Melbourne playing fast with the ball. That speed creating opportunities, and Munster was in everything, sending Alec MacDonald through the line to score, even if Grant Atkins didn’t believe. Not even Adam Gee could deny the Chin from scoring. Pity Wishy clanked his conversion attempt to leave the Storm two points in arrears.
With ten minutes left in the half, Melbourne burned their challenge on an error from Ieremia, with both teams guilty of being messy with the ball in the conditions.
🚨 SCRUM TRY ALERT 🚨
Love all of this. Cowboys falling for a Wishy dummy and powering through Drinkwater to score. Again build the man a statue.
Melbourne couldn’t hold on to the lead until half time though, Feldt crossing for his second try after Fa’alogo couldn’t handle a bomb, the home team immediately spreading right where the Storm had yet to set up their defensive line. That was now a couple of bombs mishandled by Fa’alogo in a couple of weeks that has directly led to tries. An obvious area for improvement.
But down two points at the half, that was a fun first half of rugby league. Melbourne had scored three tries and been denied another. Only the obvious defensive deficiencies of the Storm out wide had the Cowboys in front.
In the initial exchanges of the second half, the Cowboys had certainly lifted their intensity. There was a strong sniff about this match that it could get ugly for Melbourne. The effort was there for Melbourne, but the execution was slightly lacking. The Cowboys capitalised on an error and field position, to throw a couple of clearly forward passes to score down their left flank. Hard to blame Melbourne’s right edge defenders who had been caught by a shift from Tom Dearden.
A few minutes later Melbourne received a dodgy decision in their favour when Reuben Cotter caught Tepai Moeroa in a high tackle that Tep slipped into. Wishy took the easy two points to get the Storm back within six points, which seemed to settle Melbourne back into some kind of measured rhythm.2
The harder you work, the luckier you get.
That gave Melbourne a patch of possession which through pressure resulted in Wishy’s second comedic try of the match. Cue the laughter, because who doesn’t enjoy a comedy try. Seriously, Wishy deserves his moments because of how hard he works.3
Back on level terms, it was errors that let the Cowboys edge ahead again. An errant kick from Munster and an unfortunate bobble from Ativalu Lisati when the ball was thrown to him by the opposition, gifting Reece Robson a try.
Despite a couple of attacking opportunities for Melbourne, it was the Cowboys who scored next to put enough of a gap against a fading 15-man Storm lineup. Nanai scoring the try against a fatigued Storm, with Melbourne’s errors under pressure again costly.
The final five minutes were a little sloppy. North Queensland took the two points on offer for a penalty, but the Storm ended the night with a special moment for Ativalu Lisati. His try in the 79th minute after bursting through the line off the back of a Wishy pass had him turning Drinkwater inside out to score. Loved the reaction on the bench from the Storm players.
Stat offloads
North Queensland currently have a three-match winning streak against Melbourne, scoring 119 points in those three matches.
Alec MacDonald started his first NRL match, the 42nd of his career. He played 61 minutes and topped the tackle count for Melbourne with 36, scoring a try for the second match in a row.
Marion Seve and Young Tonumaipea made their first Storm appearances for the season, having last featured in the 2023 NRL finals series.
By scoring a try on his NRL debut, Ativalu Lisati joins Sua Fa’alogo, Jonah Pezet, Grant Anderson, and Scott Drinkwater who each scored for Melbourne on NRL debut in recent(ish) seasons.4
Was it worth it?
There’s sometimes joy in defeat. Lazarus Vaalepu scoring. Wishy’s double. Ativalu Lisati scoring on debut. The things that Sua Fa’alogo does with the ball. Sometimes, especially when the stakes aren’t high, you get to sit back and appreciate the little things. This was one of those weeks.
My other observation this week — after Jahrome Hughes had a shorts malfunction last week, there were a number of occasions this week where Storm players had their pants pulled down this week. Perhaps some new elastic and drawstrings might be needed going forward from O’Neills.
6/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
When I joked earlier in the season that the Bulldogs had signed every utility player this season, they probably thought they had a mythical “Dally M Utility of the Year Award” sown up by default. Enter Tyran Wishart who finishes this game as Melbourne’s leading tryscorer with 12 tries. His extended run at five-eighth has given him the confidence to play at this level and his skillset has greatly expanded in 2024. He’s a lock for the Melbourne bench utility role until he leaves for a starting role somewhere in the future. Clearly best on for the Storm in this match with two tries.
Loved the work of the Melbourne forwards on Thursday night. Christian Welch was the leader in attitude and effort and his example gave impetus to those around him. Thought Alec MacDonald was great in his first start, and despite a couple of errors it was good to see Joe Chan back in the squad.
Honourable mention to the three debutants who all came close to getting a point, with each of them having individual moments to cherish, headlined by Ativalu Lisati’s try. Also trying hard was Cameron Munster who played well, but also acknowledged a few costly mistakes in his post match quotes.
Round 26 points:
3 – Tyran Wishart
2 – Christian Welch
1 – Alec MacDonald
1 – Joe Chan
1 – Lazarus Vaalepu
Leaderboard:
28 – Jahrome Hughes
15 – Harry Grant
13 – Eliesa Katoa
12 – Tyran Wishart
8 – Xavier Coates, Ryan Papenhuyzen
7 – Cameron Munster
6 – Grant Anderson, Jack Howarth, Josh King, Christian Welch
5 – Trent Loeiro, Nelson Asofa-Solomona
4 – Shawn Blore, Tui Kamikamica, Sualauvi Fa’alogo
3 – Nick Meaney, Will Warbrick, Joe Chan
2 – Alec MacDonald
1 – Jonah Pezet, Reimis Smith, Bronson Garlick, Lazarus Vaalepu
Around the grounds
Jersey Flegg Cup — Melbourne Storm 6–16 Newcastle Knights
The conditions and the Knights got the better of the Storm at Broadmeadows on Saturday afternoon. Down 6–0 at half time, the visitors scored straight after the break, with Melbourne’s only try coming from De’Ontae Perese in the 57th minute. The Storm end their campaign in 12th on the ladder with eight wins from their 24 matches.
Queensland Cup — Northern Pride 38–0 Sunshine Coast Falcons
The minor premiers pantsed the Falcons in Cairns on Saturday afternoon, holding the Sunshine Coast boys scoreless in a dominate display. It was 18–0 at the half, and the Pride kept on going from there. The Falcons will now take on the PNG Hunters in a knockout semi-final next weekend.
NSW Cup — North Sydney Bears 30–24 Newcastle Knights
The Bears finally got a win to arrest their worrying slide in the last month, coming from behind to beat the Knights on Saturday night at North Sydney Oval. Behind 14–8 just after half time, three tries in a row had the Bears in front, with a try to Trey Peni sealing the result in the 75th minute.
Next up
Round 27 vs Brisbane Broncos – Thursday 5 September 2024, 7:50pm @ Suncorp Stadium
The Red Fish hammered the nails into the 2024 Brisbane Broncos season on Saturday, now Melbourne get the chance to finish the Broncos off again.
Some players will be back, how many we’ll know soon enough.
Preview post out Thursday morning.
Rugby league physics could be a fertile ground for someone to study one day.
It wasn’t quite The Grind, but a reasonable approximation of it.
Have I seen that Carsales commercial too many times… yes.
My (not yet audited) count has 28 players scoring a try on debut on their Melbourne Storm or NRL debut — from Scott Hill scoring a double in Melbourne’s inaugural match, to Billy Slater’s debut double at Shark Park, through to Matt Duffie’s ANZAC Day 2010 heroics and more.