Melbourne Storm left it late but turned a disastrous start into a dogged win at AAMI Park on Saturday.
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Cronk double steers Storm home
Cooper Cronk crosses either side of halftime as Melbourne scrape home against a spirited Knights outfit. But Craig Bellamy will be far from pleased by his team's scrappy performance.
Down 14-6 with 20 minutes to play, the Storm roared back with a Cooper Cronk try, a Cameron Smith penalty goal and finally a Richard Kennar game-winning try as the home side triumphed 18-14 over Newcastle Knights.
Errors, penalties and unpolished play marred both sides' performance and at the hour mark Melbourne looked so far from their best play that the Knights would again steal the points in front of 11,443 supporters.
But the Storm's forward pack started driving harder, while backs like Will Chambers, Ben Hampton, Blake Green and Cronk found the inspiration that was missing the rest of the day, using it to beat the tiring Knights' defence.
Cronk ended with two tries and the Storm took two premiership points that looked to have gone begging, while the young Knights earned respect in the first hour but showed in the final 20 minutes why they are still win-less from five games.
The Knights lost Sione Mata'utia in the opening minutes after he collided with Storm winger Kennar and fell to the turf awkwardly.
Storm captain Smith held the players' neck and head still until trainers came to his aid but luckily the Knights player was able to groggily get to his feet and be helped from the field.
Those turnovers came back to haunt the Storm on 13 minutes when a high kick from the Knights was caught by winger Aquila Uate who was not held down thus allowing him to pass to Jacob Saifiti who ran over to score the first try.
Melbourne's response wasn't pretty but it was quick as they built up possession in the Knights' half, then went to the right with Chambers drawing in three tacklers then making a low offload to Cronk, who ran around to score the team's first try.
Smith's conversion made it 6-6 after 20 minutes and the Knights were further reduced when hooker Danny Levi limped to the rooms but he would return in the second half.
The Knights regained an 8-6 lead with a penalty goal on 30 minutes after repeated Storm infringements and they took that edge into half-time.
The Storm looked ready to regain the lead and control of the game on 50 minutes but a low pass from Smith was knocked on by Cronk despite the team having the ball inside the 10-metre line.
They would have the ball in the same position again just minutes later and again knock on in the fifth tackle.
A crucial judgment error from Storm fullback Cameron Munster saw the Knights take their biggest lead of the game on 58 minutes when halfback Trent Hodkinson put in a grubber kick to the back of the in-goal.
Munster stood before the ball and was letting it run out of bounds not realising the Knights' Korbin Sims had sprinted to within reach of the ball, diving alongside Munster and touching the ball down for a try.
The conversion kick made it 14-6 to the Knights and left the Storm's home crowd almost silent.
The Storm's response was promising, with  Chambers' ambitious kick into goal ending with the Knights' dropout kick after which the Storm drove in close to the line.
Dale Finucane made a strong run at the Knights' defence then passed to Cronk who burst through a slight gap to score his second try and make it 14-12 with 14 minutes to play.
On the kick-off the Storm burst to midfield then drew a fifth-tackle penalty from the Knights plus a penalty closer to goal, with Smith opting to kick the two-pointer and tie scores at 14-14 with 11 minutes left.
The winner seemed inevitable as the Knights' tackles became looser and several penalties started to pile up.
Ben Hampton's insertion at left centre gave the home side added zip and after a repeat set deep in the Knights' half Tohu Harris and Hampton drew in the defence before passing to Victorian-raised Kennar, who scored to make it 18-14 with six minutes to play as Smith's conversion went wide.
The Storm face Canterbury Bulldogs at AAMI Park next Monday at 7pm.
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