Game 711 – S27E27 Review

Brisbane Broncos 12–50 Melbourne Storm

Sep 08, 2024

Melbourne put the Brisbane Broncos to the sword in an opposed training session to tuneup for the finals ahead of the quest for seven.

Brisbane – 12 (Rogers 31', Arthars 63' tries; Reynolds 2/2 goals)

Melbourne – 50 (Hughes 17', 48', 57', Warbrick 10', 13', 70', Katoa 22', Grant 38', Coates 51' tries; Meaney 7/9 goals)

It’s only champagne rugby à treize if it's from the Champagne region of France, otherwise it's just sparkling rugby league.

Ruthless and relentless

There was an intent about Melbourne in this match. To get over halfway with the ball in the opening set, that’s not been the norm for the Storm in 2024. That was backed up by some ferocity in defence. Melbourne had come to play against Brisbane.

Melbourne looked finals ready, while Brisbane plodded. Sua Fa’alogo threatened to score an audacious try off a kick return in the 7th minute, breaking the line with ease. While that set ended in an error, another line break from a rampaging Will Warbrick minutes later had the Storm on the scoreboard in some style.

Melbourne’s dangerous right edge of Eli Katoa, Nick Meaney and Warbrick have benefited from the insanely good form of Jahrome Hughes all season, and Warbrick had a double on Melbourne’s next trip inside the Broncos half, with Fa’alogo chiming in perfectly to put the Olympian into space. Fa’alogo celebrating even before Warbrick had scored the try. Meaney converted again and it was Melbourne versus the clock.

The attacking moves were slick and everyone seemed dialed in. Warbrick could have had a natural hat-trick when Hughes sent him in the clear down the sideline, the winger instead offloading back to Meaney who passed for Hughes to score. The try set up inside Melbourne’s half by the halfback and finished in style. Melbourne were on, and Brisbane were unable to stem the tide.

Yet another line break down the right edge saw Katoa crash through two defenders to score his 12th try of the season, with Hughes again the provider. Melbourne racing the clock to a 22–0 lead in the 24th minute. Hughes was in everything for the Storm. His ability to break the line saw two almost tries, the second only being denied by the bounce of the ball through Meaney’s hands. That opportunity lost, Brisbane were gifted some possession following the arrival of Blake Mozer. The non-nepo baby setting up Josh Rogers to score from a good old-fashioned run around play.

Melbourne’s defence needed a to reset once a better hooker entered the field, but once the ball shifted back to the Storm, another try was inevitable. Harry Grant ducking through some shambolic Broncos defence to score his eighth try of the season. The speed at which Melbourne was playing, no match for a Broncos team with nothing to play for.

Consternation

Melbourne picked up in the second half from where they left off in the first. Hughes scored his second try, reaching out to score despite his own doubts about getting the ball down. Perhaps he needs to trust himself a little more.

With much of Melbourne’s play orientated to the right flank, Xavier Coates in his return from injury didn’t get many opportunities, however his patience was rewarded when a clever little kick from Fa’alogo sat nicely for Coates to score in the corner. It was lovely skill from Fa’alogo, definitely something new from the little guy. Coates was given an early mark from the coaches after his try, which was a little mistimed when something bad happened.

Sua got hurt. He went down with a hamstring injury and will likely be out for a couple of weeks. Hopefully Ryan Papenhuyzen is right to slot back in after his latest injury next week. Still that caused some consternation, which was only temporarily relieved when Hughes backed up his own kick, receiving a pass from Warbrick that was knocked down by the Broncos.

The anxiety over the departure of Fa’alogo was then doubled when Katoa was put on report and sent to the naughty corner for… hmm… a hard tackle on Tristan Sailor that may or may not have hit him in the head. In any even Katoa was only handed a fine (his second for the season from a high tackle), and Brisbane scored while on the power play. I guess Melbourne getting match practice of playing with 12-men was something that could be useful, with the Storm scoring a shorty through Warbrick to complete his hat-trick. Hughes again threw the last pass, with the Storm getting around the Broncos on the right flank yet again.

That was the last scoring action of the night with the final ten minutes something resembling junk time. Brisbane were shot and Melbourne looked to be ready to head back to AAMI Park. Even Tyran Wishart made an uncharacteristic error.

Stat offloads

Melbourne scored 50 points or more for the third time against Brisbane, and the final margin of 38 points was the eighth time the Storm had beaten the Broncos by that margin or more.
Melbourne has now scored 50 points or more in 35 matches, which means the Storm hits that mark at least once every 20 matches.
After not scoring in his first three matches against his old club, Xavier Coates has scored tries in consecutive matches against Brisbane.
Via Fox Sports Lab, Melbourne had 14 line breaks (to three) and missed only 17 tackles (compared to 52).
There were no referee challenges made during this match.
As was widely reported, this was Craig Bellamy’s 400th NRL win in charge of the Melbourne Storm.

Was it worth it?

The vibes were high.

Chelsea fucking Dagger was only heard twice.

9/10

Storm Machine Player of the Year

A masterclass from Jahrome Hughes. Scored three tries, set up two more and a stack of line breaks. His performance might just be enough to win the Dally M Medal in the final round, but who can ever be sure of that. He’s won this award in a canter. Will Warbrick deserves his points too this week. Three tries were great, but he is also back in top form.

Melbourne’s forwards all did their jobs running hard and tackling hard. I though Eli Katoa was one of the Storm’s best in this area, even with ten minutes in the naughty corner.

Round 27 points:

4 – Jahrome Hughes
3 – Will Warbrick
1 – Eliesa Katoa
1 – Harry Grant

Leaderboard:

32 – Jahrome Hughes
16 – Harry Grant
14 – Eliesa Katoa
12 – Tyran Wishart
8 – Xavier Coates, Ryan Papenhuyzen
7 – Cameron Munster
6 – Grant Anderson, Jack Howarth, Josh King, Christian Welch, Will Warbrick
5 – Trent Loeiro, Nelson Asofa-Solomona
4 – Shawn Blore, Tui Kamikamica, Sualauvi Fa’alogo
3 – Nick Meaney, Joe Chan
2 – Alec MacDonald
1 – Jonah Pezet, Reimis Smith, Bronson Garlick, Lazarus Vaalepu

Around the grounds

Queensland Cup — Sunshine Coast Falcons 10–24 PNG Hunters

Big oof from the Falcons. Down 10–0 at half time, two tries early in the second half, including one to Young Tonumaipea saw the Sunshine Coast level things up, but they then conceded two tries in the next ten minutes and couldn’t come back again. Defence was the main issue for the Falcons, with a straight sets exit the final result.

Next up

Qualifying final vs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks – Saturday 14 September 2024, 4:05pm @ AAMI Park

Melbourne’s 24th finals series and the quest for seven starts with the visit of Nicho Hynes and the Cronulla Sharks. Fresh off a big win over Manly, it’s not going to be pretty.1

Just like this BLACK t-shirt. C’mon team. We have four official colours in the palette and NONE of them is black. At $60 surely you can print these on a navy blue or purple shirt.

Preview post out Thursday morning.