Rugby League

Melbourne Storm
12
Brisbane Broncos
14
Full Time

Match Tracker

Melbourne Storm
Brisbane Broncos
H1
12
8

    Melbourne Storm Events

  • 9 mins - Try, B.Green
  • 9 mins - Conversion, C.Smith
  • 35 mins - Try, B.Green
  • 36 mins - Conversion, C.Smith

    Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos Events

  • 19 mins - Try, L.Maranta
  • 29 mins - Try, J.Reed
H2
0
6

    Melbourne Storm Events

    Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos Events

  • 50 mins - Try, C.Oates
  • 52 mins - Conversion, J.Kahu
ET
0
0

    Melbourne Storm Events

    Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos Events

Scorers

Melbourne Storm
Brisbane Broncos
Goal Scorers Melbourne Storm Brisbane Broncos
Tries Green (2) Maranta (1), Reed (1), Oates (1)
Conversions Smith (2/2) Kahu (1/3)
Penalty Goals
Field Goals

Team Statistics

Melbourne Storm
Brisbane Broncos

Statistics

Melbourne Storm Brisbane Broncos
Tries 2 3
Conversions 2 1
Penalty Goals 0 0
Field Goals 0 0
Melbourne StormGoal Scorers
Players R RM OF LB TA K T MT PC ER
N.Asofa-Solomona 5 47 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 0
J.Bromwich 27 245 1 0 0 0 25 1 0 0
K.Bromwich 3 13 0 0 0 0 9 1 0 0
W.Chambers 20 175 4 0 0 2 12 1 0 1
D.Finucane 20 166 1 0 0 0 25 0 0 0
M.Fonua 9 72 2 0 0 1 11 0 0 1
T.Glasby 11 131 0 0 0 0 28 0 1 0
B.Green 14 98 2 2 0 10 12 2 0 0
B.Hampton 10 69 1 0 0 6 10 2 0 0
T.Harris 20 160 0 0 0 0 29 2 1 0
R.Hinchcliffe 7 47 0 0 0 0 23 2 1 0
F.Kaufusi 12 95 1 0 0 0 18 0 0 1
R.Kennar 10 89 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K.Mann 12 85 2 0 0 0 10 0 0 0
C.Munster 25 245 0 0 0 1 7 1 0 0
K.Proctor 12 102 0 0 0 0 34 1 0 1
C.Smith 12 70 0 0 1 7 45 2 1 1
Brisbane BroncosGoal Scorers
Players R RM OF LB TA K T MT PC ER
A.Blair 10 96 1 0 0 0 38 3 0 0
D.Boyd 15 138 0 0 0 1 12 2 0 1
M.Dodds 4 33 0 0 0 0 19 0 0 0
M.Gillett 13 94 0 0 0 0 46 2 1 1
A.Glenn 9 84 1 0 1 0 33 0 0 0
B.Hunt 6 40 1 0 0 12 20 2 2 2
J.Kahu 9 71 1 0 1 0 12 1 0 1
L.Maranta 10 78 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 0
A.McCullough 8 59 0 0 0 1 61 0 1 0
J.McGuire 15 168 0 0 0 0 45 0 0 0
A.Milford 6 51 0 0 1 1 12 1 1 2
C.Oates 13 127 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
M.Parcell 3 42 0 0 0 0 26 1 0 0
J.Reed 6 71 0 2 0 0 24 0 1 1
S.Thaiday 11 83 0 0 0 0 32 0 0 0
D.Vidot 6 59 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0
J.Wallace 8 86 0 0 0 0 16 0 1 0

Match Details

Melbourne Storm
Brisbane Broncos
START TIME
4:00PM
WEATHER
Unknown
VENUE
AAMI Park
Referees
Ben Galea, Brett Suttor, Gerard Sutton, Henry Perenara, Jared Maxwell, Ricky MacFarlane
Storm 12 Broncos 14

Brisbane Broncos defend, defend, defend in win over Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm attacked until they were at a standstill, Brisbane Broncos defended until the Storm punched themselves out.

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Broncos defend their way to victory

Brisbane seemingly defended their try-line for the entirety of Sunday's clash against Melbourne, holding out the Storm for a 14-12 win.

In prizefighting terms, the Broncos showed the grunt and the smarts to prove their place at the top end of the NRL ladder with a tireless display at AAMI Park on Sunday.

After a week of Monday night football and midweek State of Origin, the Storm and Broncos still drew 14,278 supporters to AAMI Park and those to witnessed the game saw a battle for the ages as the home side dominated possession and the Broncos tackled and scrambled until snaring a 14-12 win.

Support for NRL: Will Chambers.
Support for NRL: Will Chambers. Photo: Getty Images

Corey Oates' try in the 50th minute proved the difference in a compelling second half.

The Storm were without injured attackers Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Marika Koroibete, and outside of five-eighth Blake Green, no-one in the Storm side looked capable of cracking the Broncos' line.

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Statistics never fully tell the story, but they do help illustrate the Storm's dominance - they had 59 per cent of total possession and forced the Broncos into 445 tackles to 317 but could only score two tries.

In an end-to-end start, the Storm quickly established themselves as having the better of the possession and field position.

On eight minutes, their hard work in the centre of the park paid off as five-eighth Blake Green took a pass and dummied before stepping forward and touching down. Skipper Cameron Smith's conversion made it 6-0.

Two penalties on the Storm allowed the Broncos to go from deep in their own half to the other end and those repeat sets wore down the Storm defence as Jordan Kahu's strong running and some smart play from the visiting halves ended with winger Lachlan Maranta scoring in the right corner on 18 minutes.

Kahu's kick bounced off the crossbar and backwards to leave it 6-4 to the Storm.

The Broncos looked intent on crunching young Storm full back Cameron Munster at every opportunity, and they took it too far on 23 minutes as Munster went down holding his neck with Broncos centre Jack Reed placed on report in the incident.

Munster was able to return, but with Billy Slater out for the season, an injury to Munster would test the club's depth.

The Storm's wastefulness in attack saw them punished by the Broncos, who defended on their line for almost 10 minutes regaining the ball on their own defensive line before breaking out and bolting up the field.

On the fifth tackle, the Broncos managed to keep their passes alive, probing to the right and then back across the park, dodging Storm tackles and then finding Reed unmarked on the left side to score.

Kahu's kick missed again as the Broncos led 8-6 on 30 minutes.

After having 59 per cent of first-half possession, the Storm broke down the Broncos' resilient defence on 36 minutes as Smith stepped to his left then hit Green with the ideal pass as he went in for his brace just left of the goalposts. Smith's conversion left the home side up 12-8.

A penalty soon after the restart gave the Storm an ideal chance to score their third try against a tired Broncos' defence, but a poor offload from Felise Kaufusi caught Smith unaware and he knocked on leaving scores 12-8 at half time.

Green almost scored his hat-trick early in the second half, but that chance was all the Storm could muster. At the other end the Broncos took the lead in clinical fashion.

Five-eighth Anthony Milford saw his side had numbers wide left and he put in a perfect kick into space as Corey Oates ran onto the ball and caught it on the tryline. Kahu's conversion put the Broncos up 14-12 on 50 minutes.

The Storm one again wrested control of possession, but could not break the Broncos' defence which held strong despite being forced back onto their line repeatedly.

From the 50th minute to the 70th, the Storm seemed to have a mortgage on the ball, but found no way to break through the Broncos' wall.

Kaufusi looked to be through with a minute to play and all five tackles used, he was tackled and could not make the pass when his team finally had the Broncos outnumbered.

It was too little, too late and the Broncos held the ball and worked out the clock.

The Storm play Canterbury Bulldogs at Belmore next Monday night at 7pm.

Brisbane Broncos 14 (L Maranta, J Reed, C Oates; J Kahu 1-3 cons) d Melbourne Storm 12 (B Green 2; C Smith 2-2 cons) at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon. Crowd: 14,278.

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