Brisbane Broncos are the starring feature of Friday Night Football but Melbourne Storm's rare cameo stole the show at Suncorp Stadium.
The Storm had 30 points on the board by half-time before Fijian winger Suliasi Vunivalu completed his hat-trick and Cheyse Blair his double in the second half en-route to a 48-6 win over the struggling Broncos.
Injuries to starting forwards Jordan McLean (ankle) and Tohu Harris (rib) will concern the Storm but their masterful performance will send them into the bye with a spring in their step.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was just as surprised as anyone by the scoreline. "I don't think anyone saw that coming. It's a bit surreal," he said.
"But Brisbane have too many quality players and too good a culture not to bounce back."
After the Broncos forced the Storm into multiple repeat defensive sets to open the game, the visitors pounced when they finally had possession.
On 13 minutes Cooper Cronk put in Kevin Proctor with a perfectly timed flat pass, with the Storm halfback drawing in the defender and delivering with split second precision to a full-speed Proctor who burst to the line and kissed his wristband after the score.
The Storm had their second just minutes later when Cronk broke apart the Broncos' right-sided defence with a cutout pass to centre Ryan Morgan, who powered through the last two defenders and scored the try.
In the process Morgan's shoulder appeared to hit Broncos' winger Corey Oates' head and he was walked off for a concussion test then didn't return.
Adding to the Broncos' woes, utility Kodi Nikorima dislocated his shoulder in the first half but played on. He was first slotted onto the wing and then to fullback, but could not stop Melbourne taking full advantage of Oates' absence, terrorising Brisbane's left edge.
Jesse Bromwich and the rest of the Storm's pack were making metres for the fun of it in centre-field and Cronk again exploited the right side by putting a grubber kick behind the defensive line and leaving Vunivalu one out with the smaller Nikorima, who was brushed aside as Vunivalu scored.
The nightmare wouldn't end for the Broncos and despite the Storm losing McLean, they burst down the left through Marika Koroibete before Blake Green found Blair, who took on the edge defence and overpowered them to score his side's fourth try after 27 minutes.
Vunivalu used his 192-centimetre frame to score on 33 minutes as he flew high to catch Cronk's bomb and he steered it to ground to score the fifth try and make it 30-0.
Broncos centre James Roberts gave the home side a lift on 37 minutes when he stepped from the right inside and wrong-footed several Storm defenders before bursting through the gap and scoring under the posts to leave it 30-6 at half time.
The Broncos won a penalty just 10 metres from the Storm's line in the opening kick on the second half but they couldn't convert and within five minutes Koroibete was in again.
Blake Green kicked from 20 metres out and it took a wicked backwards bounce falling to a full-speed Koroibete, who scored under the posts to make it 36-6.
The Storm lost forward Tohu Harris to a rib injury but his side continued on and Vunivalu had a hat-trick on 65 minutes after Cronk again put up a high ball and Vunivalu was unmatched in the air catching the bomb and scoring.
Soon after the restart the Broncos fumbled the ball deep in their half and Blair picked it up, dummied wide then burst through a hole to get his double.
The Storm continued to press for try No.9 but they were denied by the final whistle as much as the Broncos' defence.
"They [Storm]Â were very good. That's all I can say but we knew that," Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said.
"We got the injury and they exploited that – there wasn't much we could do to fix it."
Melbourne's eight-tries-to-one victory was centre stage, but perhaps they will find themselves in the limelight again once the finals begin.
The Storm have a bye next round then play Newcastle Knights in Newcastle on July 17.
1 comment
New User? Sign up