Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk's greatness came to the fore as their Melbourne Storm saw off a dangerous Sydney Roosters at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Smith created the first two tries, the second for Cronk, then his little halfback provided the knockout punch in the form of a precision pass, which put in Kevin Proctor for the game-sealing try in a 26-10 win in front of 12,604 supporters.
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Storm hold off spirited Roosters
Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk put on a show for the home fans. Though the Storm were far from clinical against the battling Roosters.
Tohu Harris added to the scoreline in the final minutes converting a Blake Green pass into the Storm's fourth try.
This wasn't a headline-grabbing performance like their win in Brisbane three weeks ago. Instead it was a gritty, resilient effort in which they kept the Roosters scoreless after a fourth-minute try until the final minute when Shaun Kenny-Dowall scored late.
With the chasing pack of top four contenders sitting three wins behind the Storm and waiting for a mistake, the home side couldn't afford a slip-up and their veteran playmakers plus their exceptional defence made sure they took the points.
Roosters stand-in fullback Blake Ferguson scored just four minutes in after Mitchell Pearce's grubber kick deflected off Smith's foot and into the path of Ferguson who was unchallenged with the kick making it 6-0.
The visitors were tackling in a ferocious manner, led by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, through the early minutes and it was pushing the Storm back.
But Waerea-Hargreaves went so hard he ended up with an injury after 19 minutes and did not return with possibly another knee injury.
On 14 minutes they broke their duck as Munster challenged a high kick and it was fumbled, with the Storm fullback winning the ball.
After several thwarted attempts, eventually Smith got the ball then put in a grubber kick next to the right post which lock Dale Finucane was first to touch scoring his side's first try.
With no sideline cameras to judge offside, we will never know if the Storm's second try was legitimate so Smith and Cronk's kick-chase will forever stand as a try.
The Storm were struggling to find the line but Smith put in a lateral bouncing kick to the in-goal knowing Cronk was in place to beat out the Roosters defence to score and make it 12-6.
The Roosters were under attack and Connor Watson's poor choice to pull back Proctor as he chased a seemingly hopeless grubber kick cost his side two more points as the penalty was called and Smith chose to kick and make it 14-6.
Melbourne couldn't add to their lead before the half-time whistle and even a poor dropped high ball from Marika Koroibete early in the second half couldn't fuel the Roosters attack as they were forced into an error.
Roosters winger Daniel Tupou's ripping line break up the middle looked assured of creating a try but Munster forced him to offload then Cronk and Koroibete caught up with his support runners stopping them inside the 20-metre line.
Already a man down, the Roosters were tiring and with 15 minutes to go Cronk threw a perfect pass to his outside hitting the hands of Proctor and Cronk was pumping his fist as Proctor scored the try, he knew the job was done.
The Storm visit North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday night while the Roosters host Brisbane Broncos at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night.
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