Game 726 – S28E14 Review

Melbourne Storm 38–14 North Queensland Cowboys

Jun 08, 2025

A chilly Friday evening at AAMI Park turned into a comfortable win for the Storm.

Melbourne – 38 (Hughes 17', 40', Katoa 5', Meaney 43', Asofa-Solomona 59', Wishart 79' tries; Papenhuyzen 7/7 goals)

North Queensland – 14 (Paulo 21', Drinkwater 53', Derby 55 tries; Drinkwater 1/3 goals)

The Jahrome Hughes show returned for 2025.

Cold weather, hot start

The feels like temperature at AAMI Park was in single digits, and after a solid opening couple of sets from both teams, the Melbourne Storm were able to get off to the perfect start. They received the ball in attacking position thanks to an ugly chicken wing tackle from Viliami Vailea on Nelson Asofa-Solomona, which sparked a little melee and will cost the Cowboys centre a week on the sidelines.

The attacking position saw Melbourne run a couple of set plays that had the Cowboys on the back foot and the passing play that originated on the left flank went through the hands of Cameron Munster, Trent Loiero and Jahrome Hughes to Eli Katoa to stand up Tom Dearden to score in the right channel. It looked so simple for the Storm to run one of their favourite plays to open the scoring.

Melbourne seemed to be switched on. Even Harry Grant was able to gain a penalty out of the referee for catching Reece Robson not square at marker. The middle forwards were getting good metres which was affording space to the playmakers.1 Melbourne looked dangerous with the ball, while the Cowboys were seemingly already hanging on.

That’s not to say the visitors didn’t look like they could score, especially when Dearden and Scott Drinkwater had the ball in their hands, but Melbourne’s defensive attitude was tough and menacing, the scramble defence able to cope with everything thrown at them by the Cowboys.

Melbourne’s second try came on the back of that defence, the middle forwards dominating in attack to give Grant space from dummy half, the hooker setting up Hughes to run through a yawning gap in the line to score. The replay doesn’t do Hughes the credit he deserves as it looks like a simple tryscoring run, but there’s a nuance here in the way he adjusted his positioning after reading the play in front of him. It was a great halfback try from the Dally M Medallist.

The visitors were able to return serve a couple of minutes later through a perfect pin-point pass from Deardon to Jaxson Paulo to score against Grant Anderson. It was something of a wake-up call for the Storm though, their lead cut to eight points despite all their good play in the opening 20 minutes.

Errors

Last week Melbourne the stats say Melbourne made six errors with the ball. Between the 20th and 35th minute this week Melbourne made four errors and gave away two penalties. I bet this is the part of the game that Bellyache highlights. That it didn’t cost them any points was good, but it does show that in the chase for perfection, there’s going to be moments when the game gets messy.

Those errors gave the Cowboys more possession, but the defence stood firm. For all their possession the Cowboys couldn’t score, Drinkwater went close but lost the ball short of the line trying to score. Why the Cowboys burnt their challenge on that play was just rugby league things.

Melbourne’s resilience in defence paid dividends in attack. Drinkwater’s error at one end saw him put the ball down at the other from a high kick from Hughes that swirled in the wind. The Storm went on the attack immediately in the final minute of the half, Tui Kamikamica was held up over the line, but on the next play the Storm broke the Cowboys again with Grant and Papenhuyzen significant in the lead up to Hughes scoring his second try. After absorbing the pressure created by errors and Cowboys possession, Melbourne’s attack was dynamic in what attacking possession they had in the first half to take an 18–4 lead.

Simple plays, big results

Another Drinkwater error at the start of the second half gave Melbourne the ball at midfield and after a kick wasn’t handled by Robert Derby, the Storm scored almost immediately. The grubber kick behind the line from Hughes looked simple, but the execution was perfect. Nick Meaney latched onto the ball to score his fourth try of the season and Melbourne’s lead looked comfortable.

That comfort translated into sharp attacking play from the Storm. Hughes could have had his third try but for a desperate tackle from Drinkwater to save the day, only for the Cowboys to give away a penalty when Melbourne successfully challenged that a support player was taken out. The ensuing set didn’t result in points, but rather an angry Bellyache.

Oops x3

His mood wouldn’t have improved when Paps sent a pass high and wide over the sideline in front of The Bai Stand. That error was compounded in the next set when the Storm tacklers forgot to set up at marker leaving Robson with so much space. Robson is too dangerous when afforded that kind of room and his forward offload to Drinkwater sent him over the line to bring the margin back to 14 points.

The visitors then went back to back scoring their third try from a midfield bomb on a scrambling final play that Melbourne failed to shut down on a number of attempts. It brought the margin to ten points, but it did feel like the two tries conceded were more through bad moments from Melbourne rather than good play from North Queensland.

Focus

Were Melbourne stung by those two tries? Their play seemed to suggest so. Munster and Asofa-Solomona lifted immediately, the big man charging past defenders and busting tackles to score. The momentum shifted and it felt like the game was won even if there was still 20 minutes remaining on the clock. Melbourne looked like they could score on every set in Cowboys territory. Stefano Utoikamanu went close and was held up, while a pass from Paps to Xavier Coates didn’t quite find the mark.

Eventually Melbourne settled for a penalty goal, but the game was won because Melbourne focused on getting the things right that they could control and get their processes right. Even if they made some mistakes that can be worked through.

It did feel like the scoreboard didn’t reflect Melbourne’s comfort, so in the final minutes the team sent the fans home happy with a comedy try to Tyran Wishart. It was a kick from Hughes and a catch from Coates that set the try up, Coates trying the little chip kick was audacious, but the smother from Drinkwater to bounce straight to Wishart was comedic timing at its best.

Post match quotes

Belsa preached patience this week. Interesting that he wasn’t comfortable with the attack, but praised the goal-line defence.

Stat offloads

This was Melbourne’s first third win with a 38–14 scoreline. There have been 10 NRL matches with that scoreline.
Melbourne’s five wins to start the season at AAMI Park repeats their efforts from last season.
Ryan Papenhuyzen kicked his 150th goal and went past 600 NRL points, he also kicked his 50th goal for the season, the first time he’s done that in his career. Paps has played five matches against the Cowboys without scoring a try, he has scored at least one against all other NRL opponents.2
Ativalu Lisati made his second Storm appearance, playing 12 minutes making five runs with the ball.

Was it worth it?

It was a chilly and windy night at AAMI Park with just over 19,000 through the gates.

If you were in before kickoff3 there was a banner masquerading as a spinnaker blowing around in the middle of the ground. It was quite the workout in keeping the it mostly upright.4

It’s funny sometimes when you go to the footy there are some weeks when you think an 18-point lead is not nearly enough and that defeat feels inevitable even if it’s 99.9% unlikely to happen.5 Then there are other times when matches are seemingly tight on the scoreboard, but the difference between the teams feels much greater and that a comfortable win is almost assured.

This week was one of those later occasions. Even when the Cowboys cut the margin to 10 points with over 25 minutes to play, it never felt like they were going to do enough to trouble Melbourne. Rugby league is a funny game sometimes when it messes with your perception of events.6

7/10

Storm Machine Player of the Year

Dominate performance from Jahrome Hughes. Scored two tries and had a hand in two more. Thought Eli Katoa was Melbourne’s best forward and his try to open proceedings definitely put him in a good head space. Hughes and Katoa were able to do their thing on the back of the two prop forwards though. Loved the work of both Stefano Utoikamanu and Nelson Asofa-Solomona this week. Stef deserved a try for his efforts but couldn’t quite get there, but big NAS did get over to dance about.

The other forwards were also great — the hate one of them is getting is super strange, but alas.

Round 14 points:

3 – Jahrome Hughes
2 – Eliesa Katoa
1 – Stefano Utoikamanu
1 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona
1 – Harry Grant

Leaderboard

12 – Ryan Papenhuyzen, Eliesa Katoa
10 – Cameron Munster
6 – Trent Loiero, Jahrome Hughes
5 – Xavier Coates
4 – Harry Grant, Shawn Blore, Stefano Utoikamanu
3 – Josh King, Grant Anderson
2 – Jack Howarth, Sualauvi Fa’alogo, Nelson Asofa-Solomona
1 – Nick Meaney, Kane Bradley, Joe Chan, Alec MacDonald, Bronson Garlick, Tyran Wishart

Around the grounds

Jersey Flegg Cup — Melbourne Storm 32–16 Penrith Panthers

A big win for the Storm under-21s squad in the curtain-raiser on Friday afternoon. They got off to a perfect start with a somewhat messy try to Mitchell Jennings in the third minute, but the Panthers hit back midway through the first half with two tries to take the lead. Their second try coming off a very fortuitous bounce on a get out of jail kick from one side of the field to the other. Melbourne got back on level terms five minutes from half time after the referee finally woke up and decided that the Storm also deserved some set restarts.7 From the restart the Storm almost split them open again to score a long-range try, but were denied and lost the ball deep in Panthers territory. That gave the visitors a chance just before the break and they went the length of the field to take a 16–10 lead.

After halftime, both teams were in set completion mode, but an error fielding a kick from the Panthers saw the ball spill free for Stanley Huen to score with Dylan Brettle adding the extras to level the scores. From there the Storm dominated. I was very impressed by interchange forward Cooper Clark (who scored a try in the first half), but it was Lockyer-Azile Foliola who crashed over to take the lead with Brettle pulling the right strings at halfback. A well put together set from the restart saw the Storm’s right edge put together a great try, Frank Howarth picking up an offload from Luke Cesari to score.

Melbourne’s defence in the second half was fantastic and the work of the middle forwards was especially noteworthy in both defence and attack. Jennings scored his second try five minutes from time to seal the win to keep the team top of the ladder.

Queensland Cup — Sunshine Coast Falcons 24–10 Central Queensland Capras

Another week, another try for Zion Johnson. He’s now scored seven tries in four matches. The winger opened the scoring for the Falcons as they went to the break leading 18–4 with Flynn Camilleri scoring just before the break. One try each in the second half not enough for the visitors to get close enough. Sua Fa’alogo started at fullback and had the goalkicking duties landing 4/5 attempts, while Lazarus Vaalepu started at prop.

Queensland Cup — Brisbane Tigers v Norths Devils

Sunday 3pm

NSW Cup — North Sydney Bears v Penrith Panthers

Sunday 5pm

Super Netball — Queensland Firebirds 62–72 Sunshine Coast Lightning

The Lightning claimed their seventh straight win over their instate rivals. The Firebirds came out hard early, almost taking the lead into the first break but for a buzzer beater from Steph Fretwell. Cara Koenen was red hot for the Lightning (54 goals from 54 attempts) and by three-quarter time they had surged to an 11-goal lead. The Firebirds won the last quarter by a goal as the Lightning switched things up, but the Sunshine Coast were never threatened as they consolidate their spot in the top four.

Next up

Round 15 bye
Round 16 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs – Saturday 21 June 2025, 7:35pm @ Accor Stadium

Melbourne’s final bye of the season with the Origin players heading over to Perth. At least this time they’re away on the back of a good win. Should everyone back up, a match against Souths awaits… what will the ancient one have planned for Melbourne this time?