Game 719 – S28E06 Review
Melbourne Storm 42–14 New Zealand Warriors
The Michael Moore Trophy stays in Melbourne for the 17th consecutive occasion marking a full decade since the Warriors last defeated the Storm. It was a first half carve-up, but a sloppy second on a sunny Sunday at AAMI Park.
Melbourne – 42 (Coates 3', 59', King 15', Blore 21', Loiero 24', Grant 28', Anderson 31' tries; Papenhuyzen 7/7 goals)
Warriors – 14 (Halasima 55', Berry 74', Metcalf 80' tries; Metcalf 1/3 goals)
Seven more tries this week — if you like tries, in 2025 Melbourne have you covered.
Looking like you could score off every set
A mistake from the kickoff? Well that’s one way to start the match from Cameron Munster. A penalty for a high tackle in the opening minute? Well that’s one way to ensure the visitors had attacking possession in the opening minute. But this Melbourne team love to attack from deep inside their own half. A Warriors fumble had Grant Anderson sending Moses Leo to sprint over halfway, the counterattack settled on three tackles before whoosh! A passing play that went through the hands found Shawn Blore who got the offload to Ryan Papenhuyzen in the left channel, from there it was all too easy, but absolutely glorious to see Jack Howarth and Xavier Coates in space for the winger to score.
Despite those couple of errors to start the match Melbourne were up and about. Players in motion, all wanting the ball to put the opposition under pressure. The Warriors were able to defend a couple of sets against the Storm, one ending in an errant kick from Jahrome Hughes felt a little wasted by Melbourne.
The departure of the Warriors captain James Fisher-Harris turned this match. JFH is the boogeyman and as soon as he left the field Melbourne went to work… except Hughes also looked to be in immense pain from what looked to be a shoulder injury. The halfback remained on the field, but did look impaired for a good while during the first half, although he did put in a big 40/20 kick a few minutes after his injury scare.
The resulting field position put Melbourne in attacking position and straight away Melbourne’s middle forwards targeted the Warriors line. Stefano Utoikamanu was stopped, but Josh King wouldn’t be denied, running the perfect line to spot up Luke Metcalf to score his second try of the season.
It would take five minutes of footy before the Storm scored again, those five minutes saw Melbourne start to wear down the Warriors, especially in the middle. In the end it was a big Munster kick into the sunshine that was reeled in by Coates over Taine Tuaupiki, whose lineball offload put Blore over the line. Was the offload forward? Yeah probably, but Kleined was right there I guess.
From the restart the Storm exploded through the Warriors line. A passing move from inside Melbourne’s half saw the ball move at speed to the right edge through Papenhuyzen and Eli Katoa with Anderson sprinting away. He would pass inside to Moses Leo who went looking for the corner. He didn’t get there but in back play Jackson Ford had impeded Paps for the most obvious professional foul sin bin of the season so far. It was a pity that Leo didn’t score, but it was essentially a free play.
Of course the commentators in Sydney had literally no idea what was going on, and neither did the Warriors defending with 12 men. The Wahs were powerless to stop a King offload for Trent Loiero to score. The visitors did get one possession during their penalty kill when Grant was pulled up for a forward pass at midfield, but that only gave the Storm space to attack from their own half.
The sequence of passing started on Melbourne’s 40m on tackle four. Paps was involved twice, the second time his offload to Blore had him in space with Coates out wide. Coates had a plethora of inside passing options, finding the skipper to score. Just like that it was 30–0 and the contest was over inside the opening 30 minutes.
Before Ford could return, Melbourne had one more try in their attacking arsenal. Anderson getting on the end of another sweeping attacking move that started on the other side of the field, with Paps this time providing the right final pass.
Surprisingly that was the end of the scoring for the first half. Melbourne’s final few minutes before the break turned a little bit error-ridden as they tried a little bit too hard to break the Warriors once more.1 Indeed the Warriors came close to scoring just before half time on the back of some extended time with the ball, but close enough wasn’t good enough for the visitors.
More junk time
An entire second half of junk time this week. Hughes was given an early mark — hopefully that shoulder comes up okay. Anderson was also struggling with a leg injury — hopefully that’s nothing too serious either.
The Wahs got on the board almost 15 minutes into the second half, Leko Halasima grabbing the ball from the contest ahead of Anderson, showing strength to get the ball down over the line.
Melbourne’s last try of the afternoon was scintillating rugby league. A passing move again started inside the Storm’s half — Tyran Wishart, Munster, Papenhuyzen all linking up in the middle to bring in Howarth whose tap-on pass to send Coates down the sideline was sublime. The big winger summed up the situation perfectly to just barnstorm over the last defender to get the ball down for his double. When Melbourne play like that, it’s almost unstoppable.
It’s interesting taking a step back and looking at how Melbourne are playing this season. Speed, especially in the ruck is affording Melbourne’s spine so much time and space. Everyone is in constant motion. Watch how MacDonald and Kamikamica move when they come on at the moment, it’s unrelenting. Melbourne’s offload licences at the moment are with players who know how to use it judiciously.
He might not have scored yet, but Moses Leo is so fast. There was a stretch there when he was defending with Anderson, Wishart and Katoa. That quartet aren’t known for their solid defence, but they defend as a singular unit and were all effort.
It’s going to be a long season of expectation and we as fans can’t just skip to the good part because there promises to be much to enjoy along the way… as long as the Storm learn how to play in moist conditions!
The Wahs scored two late tries to make the scoreboard a little bit more respectable, but they have a lot of work to do in 2025 to bridge the gap to the consistently good teams.
Post match quotes
It was good, I don’t know if it was perfect. We got off to a great start. I’m really happy with how the first half went. The boys were ready to go straight away.
Belsa addressed the injury concerns about Hughes:
He was keen to play on, but we just thought with the way the game was, the best option was to take him off. He was in a fair bit of pain early, but it seemed to get a little bit better as it went on, so hopefully there’s nothing too serious there.
Our attack’s been sharp and pretty precise to be honest. We can still improve, especially in our defence. The players are getting into position quickly and it’s been very pleasing the amount of points we’ve scored.
Was also nice to hear from Harry Grant both on field and at the press conference talk about the respect and understanding of the significance of the Michael Moore Trophy, the Moore family, and Mick’s legacy.
Stat offloads
Melbourne has scored 40+ points against the Warriors 11 times in 53 matches, including five times in 15 matches at AAMI Park.
This was the first match involving Melbourne to end with 42–14 scoreline. It was the ninth match during the NRL-era that was the final score.
Xavier Coates now has eight tries in five matches for the Storm against the Warriors.
Trent Loiero scored his first NRL try since round 24 of the 2023 NRL season against Canberra ending a streak of 35 matches without a try.
Melbourne have scored 168 of their 182 points while Jahrome Hughes has been on the field in 2025. He’s played 249 minutes of Melbourne’s total of 400 minutes for the season, missing round 4.
Ryan Papenhuyzen went past 500 career points, the sixth Storm player to reach that mark with the club.
Was it worth it?
The sold out crowd resulted in a final attendance of 26,427 — the most through the gates for a NRL regular season match since 2014.2
It was hot, but thankfully not quite as hot as the opening round match against Parramatta thanks to a nice breeze. Loved the prematch cultural displays and the official Welcome to Country returned just as the club said it would for appropriate occasions.3
Beating up on the Warriors seems to be a regular tradition for Melbourne. Not sure whether the fans who show up in Warriors colours for one week tend to mind too much. Eventually this rivalry will turn in their favour, but for now it’s nice to have this kind of carnival atmosphere at AAMI Park.
8/10
One more thing
There is a suggestion that while there is breathing space in Melbourne during the AFL’s Gather Round that the Storm could play a match at the MCG. It’s not the worst idea, but perhaps a doubleheader with a club hosting the Warriors in the Saturday evening slot ahead of a Storm match might work reasonably well to attract a crowd. Maybe the Fox League commentators could even show up for a change.
Perhaps we could theme the entire NRL weekend and have multiple games at oval venues across the country like the three matches played on Saturday in Perth and Darwin.4
Storm Machine Player of the Year
Two tries and two try assists. Just your regular big day out for Xavier Coates against the Warriors. Thought this was a great game overall from the entire forward pack, including Tui Kamikamica and Alec MacDonald. The middle and edges played fast, strong and seemed to love the contest.
Melbourne were firing on all cylinders in the first half and strolled through the second, so the points were mostly decided by half time.
Round 6 points:
2 – Harry Grant
2 – Xavier Coates
1 – Trent Loiero
1 – Shawn Blore
1 – Stefano Utoikamanu
1 – Josh King
1 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
Leaderboard
8 – Cameron Munster
6 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
3 – Eliesa Katoa, Stefano Utoikamanu, Harry Grant
2 – Jack Howarth, Jahrome Hughes, Grant Anderson, Trent Loiero, Josh King, Xavier Coates
1 – Nick Meaney, Shawn Blore
Around the grounds
Jersey Flegg Cup — Melbourne Storm 40–8 South Sydney Rabbitohs
At half time of the curtain raiser at AAMI Park on Sunday it was anyone’s match. The top of the table Storm and the lowly Bunnies went to the sheds locked at 4–all. Melbourne’s under-21s then went on a second half points scoring spree, scoring six tries on the bounce before the Bunnies scored a late consolation. In a 15 minute spell Melbourne piled on five tries and Souths were routed.
S.G. Ball Cup — Illawarra Steelers 16–36 Melbourne Storm
The under-19s live on after scoring the upset win over the Steelers in Wollongong. Three tries in the first 25 minutes set up a handy 20–6 lead at the break, with Melbourne rallying back to take a comfortable win in the end after the home team got to within eight points with just over ten minutes to go.
Queensland Cup — Brisbane Tigers 26–14 Souths Logan Magpies
The Tigers kept the good times rolling after their win against the Falcons last week, this week coming up with a good win against the Magpies. Keagan Russell-Smith scored tries either side of half time, taking on the goalkicking duties too for a personal tally of 12 points.
Queensland Cup — Sunshine Coast Falcons 16–26 Norths Devils
Not such a good weekend for the Falcons who struggled against the high-flying Devils. Sua Fa’alogo and Lazarus Vaalepu both made the trip to Maroochydore, with Fa’alogo looking worst for wear after the match in the photo I saw on social media.
NSW Cup — North Sydney Bears 30–12 South Sydney Rabbitohs
Ativalu Lisati was in action for the Bears in Gosford as Norths ran in five tries up against a hat trick to Max Lehmann for the Bunnies.
Suncorp Super Netball — Sunshine Coast Lightning 45–60 Adelaide Thunderbirds
A sell out at Sippy Downs saw the Lightning start well, but the reigning premiers flexed hard to lead by two goals at half time. A frenetic second half saw the Thunderbirds dominate, eventually powering away in the final quarter.
Next up
Round 7 vs Redcliffe Dolphins – Friday 18 April 2025, 8:10pm @ Suncorp Stadium
Off to Queensland for the first time in 2025 on a very short turnaround to play the Dolphins who have been resting up since their win over the Panthers on Thursday night. Melbourne will be hoping Jahrome Hughes is okay with the Red Fish hunting for their first win against the Storm.
How Harry Grant didn’t score but instead somehow had the ball stolen will be a mystery forevermore.
28,716 attended the 2014 Anzac Day match, the biggest Melbourne Storm home crowd during the regular season at AAMI Park.
The manufactured controversy that erupted last year when the club supposedly dropped the official Welcome to Country before matches was so overblown. There is still an Acknowledgement of Country done as is customary, but I’m happy that the onfield one is done when it is appropriate to do so.
But no games at the #ShitCG please.
Another excellent summary. Yes, wet weather and "suburban sh*tholes' do seem to be a problem for us. A note on Jahrome Hughes. In the Preliminary last year against the Roosters he insisted on running the ball and scoring instead of offoading. Problem was he had Angus Chricton waiting for him who made him pay for his try with a twisted neck and damaged back that he took into the GF. Yesterday he tried to go through two forwards well out and did his shoulder. Also how many hit ups did the fragile Paps take against big forwards. Offload boys, you're too precious!