Game 725 – S28E13 Review
Gold Coast Titans 16–28 Melbourne Storm
Melbourne won a match in the rain away from home — it’s a May miracle.
Gold Coast – 16 (Sami 49', 68', Campbell 6' tries; Campbell 2/3 goals)
Melbourne – 28 (Fa’alogo 16', 36', Anderson 59', 65', Wishart 40' tries; Papenhuyzen 4/5 goals)
Rain, tries from kicks, tries from intercepts and a disallowed try…
As predicted, Melbourne’s selected team was a furphy. Harry Grant and Xavier Coates had the day off, with Coates barely limping around signing autographs during the warm up. In came Jack Howarth for his first match since round 7, while Bronson Garlick and Nelson Asofa-Solomona both started.
After a fairly expansive opening given the conditions, it was Howarth put under the microscope by the Titans right edge in the sixth minute. Back in his left centre role, he was found wanting by Jojo Fifita, grasping air instead of the Titans number four. Jayden Campbell crossing the line untouched from a move that started deep inside their half. Alarm bells were ringing for the Storm with the home team looking sharp.
The Titans were on top for the next few minutes as Melbourne’s discipline wasn’t calibrated. Backing up from Origin, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui had put his team on his back and looked like he wanted to smash this game wide open, the only issue was a lack of ball control by his halves.
A penalty against Reagan Campbell-Gillard finally saw Melbourne on the attack in Titans territory, and on the final tackle of the set an expansive left to right play had the Storm on the scoreboard. It’s almost a simple passing play in the way it was executed, but there’s a nuance to the lines being run by the right edge that caused confusion in the Titans defence. Cameron Munster cutting out Nelson Asofa-Solomona by passing deep to Jahrome Hughes whose pass found Ryan Papenhuyzen with space and a retreating line due to a perfect line ran by Eli Katoa. Papenhuyzen’s flick pass under pressure was brilliant to Sua Fa’alogo to cross out wide. Simple, but with just enough nuance to pierce through the line.
The next phase of the match suited the conditions. There were sloppy errors, good (but not great) defence, a successful (!) captain’s challenge by Melbourne,1 and poor discipline from both teams. I’m going to ignore the pumpkin brain moment by Ryan Papenhuyzen to attempt a long pass on his own line in those conditions. I’m certain he and Jahrome Hughes will be discussing that on their podcast this week.
It wasn’t until Tyran Wishart replaced Bronson Garlick five minutes from half time that Melbourne looked settled and focused in attack. While the second try for Fa’alogo came from a Titans error for the winger to swoop on a loose ball, Melbourne went to the break with a 10 point lead thanks to Wishart. He had earned a penalty from a high tackle on a scoot from dummy half at midfield, then just before the break summed up the situation perfectly to power to the line to reach out and score despite being fouled by Chris Randall in the act of scoring the try.
To start the second half, Melbourne were a little guilty of trying a little too hard to score, putting themselves under pressure with their positioning and options. Two errors coming out of their own half by the Titans resulted in unsatisfactory ends to sets from the Storm. Things just weren’t clicking. Can that be blamed on the conditions? Look, maybe. But it’s not the best excuse.
After his defensive error early in the match, Jack Howarth definitely improved as the match wore on especially with the ball in hand, but his defence was a little rusty. Unable to wrap up Jayden Cambell, the Titans playmaker was able to offload to Phil Sami to score out wide to bring the margin back to six points with half an hour to play.
The Titans were asking questions on almost every set and it felt inevitable that they would bring the scores back level. Melbourne seemed to huff and puff a little in comparison. Hughes came close at one stage, while Munster’s kicks occasionally looked dangerous. Indeed it was a Munster kick that led to Melbourne’s fourth try for the afternoon, Grant Anderson latching on to a grubber just inside the dead-ball line.
A 12-point lead with 20 minutes to play… surely Melbourne could put the foot down from there and take a comfortable win right? Right? Don’t give away silly penalties and set restarts… right?
Controversy confusion
Sigh. Of course there was always going to be a controversial Bunker decision in this match. I get the process and how the decision was made, but it just doesn’t feel right does it? If the decision had been no try, sin bin Melbourne for repeated infringements in the play-the-ball… would that have been a fairer result that just a penalty for the Titans? Should the try to Sam Verrills just have been awarded and Melbourne punished for not playing to the whistle?2 Were the Melbourne defenders actually impeded by Tino? I think that Des Hasler had every right to blow up at this decision, especially as it effectively was a 12-point turnaround when…
Grant Anderson is speed.
An intercept try running almost the length of the field after the perfect read in defence. What’s even better, he was 100% onside at the play the ball.
Out by 18 with 15 minutes to go this game still didn’t feel comfortable for the Storm. Especially so when the Titans scored almost immediately when Campbell’s bouncy grubber kick was well positioned to force an error from Anderson which saw Sami score his second.
With conditions worsening that was to be the end of the scoring. Which was a surprise sitting in the stands. There were some solid runs during the final ten minutes that were much needed for Melbourne, but it was a nervy finale until time expired.
Post match quotes
There was an odd question to start off the press conference this week, and it was nice to see Jahrome in attendance too with Belsa:
Whoever handled those conditions best were probably going to win the game. Our completions were better than the Gold Coast. We probably did a couple of things that we wouldn’t normally do, so that hurt us a little bit. [But] In these conditions, away from home, we’re really happy to get the win. There’s some things we can improve in.
We just need to get back being consistent with preparation and training. I haven’t been hard enough with our consistency.
Stat offloads
This was Melbourne’s first round 13 match since 2021. Melbourne last lost a round 13 match in 2014.
Melbourne have now won three matches with a 28–16 scoreline.
Grant Anderson’s 195 metres gained3 was his most since round 27 2023 against the Broncos when he also scored two tries.
Sua Fa’alogo has five career doubles in 20 NRL matches.
Was it worth it?
Queensland. Something, something one day; something, something the next.
Rain seems to be following Melbourne around on their travels in 2025, and from the time I made a bumpy descent into Coolangatta on Friday the weather didn’t improve much. C’est la vie.
At least on this away trip for your correspondent, the result went Melbourne’s way. It was a little sloppy, but sometimes winning ugly is enough.
As for Cbus Super Stadium, it’s not perfect (the roof line is worse than AAMI Park in wet conditions), but it’s easily better than what half the NRL teams call a stadium. I haven’t been here since 2018 due to schedule conflicts, so it was nice to finally have this trip back on the agenda.
6/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
Saw that the two double tryscorers and Ryan Papenhuyzen were getting the plaudits,4 but I thought there were a lot of good contributors across the park this week. Loved the effort of Eli Katoa most though. He might not have scored a try, but he got through a mountain of work. Same goes for Trent Loiero coming off the bench backing up from Origin.
Shout out too this week to Josh King. There was nothing flashy about his work, but 65 minutes for 30 tackles without a miss, and 124m on 18 runs was just what the team needed in those conditions.
Round 13 points:
2 – Eliesa Katoa
1 – Tyran Wishart
1 – Josh King
1 – Trent Loiero
1 – Grant Anderson
1 – Sualauvi Fa’alogo
Leaderboard
12 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
10 – Cameron Munster, Eliesa Katoa
6 – Trent Loiero
5 – Xavier Coates
4 – Shawn Blore
3 – Stefano Utoikamanu, Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes, Josh King, Grant Anderson
2 – Jack Howarth, Sualauvi Fa’alogo
1 – Nick Meaney, Kane Bradley, Joe Chan, Alec MacDonald, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Bronson Garlick, Tyran Wishart
Around the grounds
Jersey Flegg Cup — Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 12–52 Melbourne Storm
10 tries for the Storm under-21s against Manly saw them back on top of the Jersey Flegg Cup ladder. Hugo Peel scored a double, as did Eli Morris with the team dominating Manly. The squad will be the curtain-raiser at AAMI Park on Friday afternoon from 3:30pm.
Queensland Cup — Sunshine Coast Falcons 32–8 Mackay Cutters
Big win for the Falcons at home with Zion Johnson the star scoring the first four tries of the match. He had a hat-trick by half time, adding a fourth just after the break. Lazarus Vaalepu also scored a try, putting in 52 minutes of work.
The Tigers had the bye this weekend.
NSW Cup — Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 20–24 North Sydney Bears
The Bears came from behind to win at Fortress Shithole on Saturday after trailing 18–4 at the break, Norths scored four tries to take the win over their rivals. Marion Seve played 80 minutes, while Gabriel Satrick came off the bench in his third match of the season, playing 48 minutes in his best performance so far.
Super Netball — Sunshine Coast Lightning 67–60 Melbourne Mavericks
The Lightning held off a surging Mavericks to take second spot on the Super Netball ladder. Leading comfortably through the first three quarters with Steph Fretwell draining super shots with ease, the Lightning were well clear at three quarter time thanks to a 19–11 quater. The Mavericks mounted a comeback in the last quarter, whittling down the lead from 18 goals to just seven, but they ran out of time.
Next up
Round 14 vs North Queensland Cowboys – Friday 6 June 2025, 6:00pm @ AAMI Park
The Cowboys visit Melbourne for the first time since 2019 so of course this match is in the stupid time slot. Makes perfect sense. The Cowboys scored one of their six tries against the Tigers on the weekend at even strength, so there’s a lesson for the Storm to come of that game before their video session.
Preview post on Thursday.
One of two even!
Which was my immediate reaction.
Fox Sports Stats.
I was more impressed by Fa’alogo’s defence than his two tries.