Game 731 – S28E20 Review

Melbourne Storm 16–18 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

jonnyforeigner

Jul 21, 2025

Melbourne’s winning streak came to an abrupt halt in an error-ridden and undisciplined display.

Melbourne – 16 (Coates 15', 65', 72' tries; Meaney 2/3 goals)

Manly – 18 (Saab 23', Koula 25', Garrick 33' tries; Garrick 3/5 goals)

A poor first half, a so-so middle and a shameful ending.

14 errors.

Not much more needs to be said about this one match than that one statistic. The errors started on Melbourne’s first set with the ball. Ouch.

In Melbourne’s five losses this season errors and poor discipline are the common thread. Notwithstanding the two points stolen at Magic Round, this one should hurt the playing group because it was their collective fault.

As always, losing brings about lessons to be learned, because like on 23 December each year, the airing of grievances are followed by the feats of strength. The video review of this one isn’t going to be pretty, neither is training this week on short rest.

Manly had a game plan

Surprisingly for an Anthony Seibold coached team, the visitors came to AAMI Park with a clear and coherent game plan. I know. I’m shocked too.

They used their forwards to attack Melbourne’s edges hard. That allowed their middle forwards to gain metres on angled runs firstly from the inside to the outside, then as the match wore on, they ran straighter lines to wear out the defence. They controlled possession and territory, forcing Melbourne to make more tackles. The kicking game of Dally Cherry-Evans and Luke Brooks was mostly on point too which forced Melbourne to come out from deep within their own half. It’s simple rugby league, but it can be super effective.1

The simple things included opening the scoring form a penalty goal earned by the Rikers Island alumnus against Jahrome Hughes for a ball strip.

On the rare occasions Melbourne were able to get inside the Manly quarter, errors were never far away. An offload from Tui Kamikamica was overly ambitious. An untimely slip from Nick Meaney sucked the life out of another opportunity to attack.

It was somewhat surprising that Melbourne were the first to score a try in this one. Tolutau Koula had been marginally unlucky to have a double movement decision go against him, and from the ensuing possession Melbourne, despite some semblance of panic football, Cameron Munster found the right pass to put Xavier Coates over in his corner.

Rikers Island suckering the referee into awarding a penalty against Kamikamica was a cruel joke. That the incident turned into a melee wasn’t surprising given he was involved. Maybe he thought Tui was a Manhattan apartment resident? That penalty gave Manly field position to which they would take advantage. Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic combining to put Jason Saab away to score in the corner, with Melbourne’s defence badly exposed.

Manly were well on top as the half progressed. Jahrome Hughes was forced to give up a line drop-out, and the visitors set up perfectly to attack the weakest point in the Melbourne defensive line: the flank of Joe Chan and Grant Anderson. Was it obvious? Yes. Could the movement have been stopped? Maybe. Is Joe Chan the right option at centre… perhaps not.

Up 12–6 Manly looked like the team in the top four, while Melbourne looked rattled and incredibly mediocre. Everything seemed to be going the visitor’s way in possession. They were also apparently well disciplined in defence.

Melbourne were not. Another simple error from Harry Grant led to another try down Manly’s left edge, Cherry-Evans and Brooks putting Reuben Garrick in to score.2

Oh Nelson.

Never give a sucker an even break. Never give a referee a chance to ~~be a dickhead~~ make a decision.

Especially when they’re 100% correct. Do enjoy a couple of weeks on the sidelines NAS.

To have that action take points off the board though. Uggh. Rugby league is a silly game.3

Melbourne didn’t deserve to be within a try of Manly by half time, even if Grant’s run to get through the defence was very good.

I’ve seen this film before…

Melbourne needed a reset at half time. The spray they got at the break was well deserved. The Storm started the second half playing with speed, but there were still disjointed moments in attack. Despite an extended period of pressure on the Manly line, there wouldn’t be immediate points because of yet another error. The defence of the Sea Eagles was causing Melbourne to play panic footy. It wasn’t great.

That it took 24 minutes for Melbourne to score points in the second half and that it came via an intercept, showed how little Melbourne were able to build pressure through possession because of their errors.

Those 24 minutes included Manly players not being penalised for running the kicking leg of Hughes,4 some otherwise good play from Hughes that should have been capitalised on by Melbourne, but alas errors in possession. Coates made a break too through the middle, only to be put into touch with no supporting players anywhere in the vicinity. It was just looking like one of those nearly nights. Credit though to Melbourne’s defence during the second half — Manly never looked like scoring with the match tilted towards the river end of AAMI Park.

The one try that Melbourne needed to get back into the match came from a Manly error. Koula losing the ball straight to Hughes who sent Anderson away toward a distant tryline. It’s not often you see wingers passing to wingers, but that pass from Anderson to Coates was something special. Of course Coates got the ball down in his usual athletic style, because that’s how he practises it. The missed conversion that hit the post didn’t help.

Adding to my surprise for the evening — why was Kamikamica brought back on for the final 15 minutes replacing Ativalu Lisati who had been out there for less than 20 minutes. Sigh.

Melbourne’s next opportunity with the ball in Manly’s half of the field came in the 72nd minute and Coates wouldn’t be denied his hat trick. The bomb from Hughes had only him in mind and he sailed over the top of Lehi Hopoate to score. Meaney’s conversion tied the scores with little under seven minutes remaining to play.

…and I didn’t like the ending

Just when this match looked destined for golden point, another Kamikamica error gifted Manly the ball to attempt a field goal. The shot from Brooks was never likely to score from just inside the 40m line….

Oh Harry. That’s just lazy. It’s not the first time either. As Warren Smith put it earlier — that’s pedantic, but correct.

That’s all they wrote too.

Consistency

Much is said about Melbourne’s lack of consistency in 2025. Much also is said about the referees lack of consistency. Not much point getting into ref chat territory this week, but it would be nice if that was a focus of their coaching as much as the players.

Post match quotes

Interesting that the journalists started with Harry Grant:

It’s very disappointing the way we performed. The way we started and the way we finished. There’s a lot to be disappointed about. We finished the way we started — very clunky.

Bellamy was rightfully terse:

Not quite sure frustrating is the right word. I was really disappointed in the way we played. We went looking for shortcuts and easy options. Give a lot of credit to Manly, they snuffed out [our chances] really well. It’s just disappointing to play with the lack of effort we played with.
I was confident our preparation was good, hopefully we’ll work it out.

Stat offloads

Melbourne have lost six matches by a scoreline of 18–16, including their previously most recent loss at AAMI Park against the Dragons last August.
In his 99th NRL appearance, Xavier Coates scored his ninth career hat trick, with all nine of those coming for Melbourne. Six of those hat tricks have come at AAMI Park where Coates has scored 38 tries from 35 appearances.
Manly last won in Victoria in S22E19 back in 2019. They now have four wins from 11 visits to AAMI Park.

Was it worth it?

19,011 through the gates and only the travelling contingent of Manly fans left AAMI Park happy. Who knew they actually had fans that left the insular peninsula? Maybe playing games on weekends allows fans to travel to interstate matches… there’s a crazy idea that will never catch on.

Thankfully there wasn’t much above a drizzle after a downpour before the match. The turf is in fantastic condition at the moment too at AAMI Park. If only the rest of the NRL had a surface like that.

3/10

Storm Machine Player of the Year

Three tries, the third of which brought Melbourne back from the brink. Xavier Coates had a great night with the ball, but might like to forget his miss on the Sea Eagles’ first try. Of the forwards, credit to the hard work of Trent Loiero. He had 41 tackles without a miss, no errors with the ball and no negative play. He’s off the hook in the video review.

Hard to find others to afford points to, when taking into account the negatives. I had hoped for more off the bench from Ativalu Lisati when Melbourne needed a spark, but there just wasn’t enough forthcoming.

Round 20 points:

2 – Xavier Coates
1 – Trent Loiero

Leaderboard

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

Around the grounds

Jersey Flegg Cup — New Zealand Warriors 12–48 Melbourne Storm

Another big win for Mark Russell’s squad, this time putting the Warriors to the sword. The Storm are averaging over 34 points per match in 2025 and are only conceding a tick over 15 points per game. The win has them two games clear on top of the ladder with five matches remaining.

NSW Cup — New Zealand Warriors 32–18 North Sydney Bears

It wasn’t as good news for the Bears across the ditch. Behind 18–6 at half time, they did score first in the second period, but never really got close.5 Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown set up a try with a nice grubber kick, but was caught out on a couple of the Warriors tries.

Queensland Cup — Burleigh Bears 48–6 Brisbane Tigers

Nine tries for the home team. A 24–0 lead at half time. Yeah it was a bad day at the Gold Coast for the Tigers. Would not have been a fun trip for Coby Williamson, Keagan Russell-Smith and Josiah Pahulu.

Queensland Cup — Sunshine Coast Falcons 42–4 Northern Pride

But it was the exact opposite for Jonah Pezet and Lazarus Vaalepu. The Falcons were dominant at home also leading 24–0 at half time, scoring three more tries in the second half. There were doubles for Zion Johnson and Mason Peut, while Cody Hunter scored a try and seven goals with the boot.

Next up

Round 20 vs Sydney Roosters – Thursday 24 July 2025, 7:50pm @ Allianz Stadium

Short week alert. The Roosters have an extra day and no travel. If there was a match that Melbourne should have been losing, it’s this one. But after losing to Manly, this one will be very important now.

Preview post online Thursday.