North Queensland Cowboys talked the talk but Melbourne Storm walked the walk to earn a home preliminary final at AAMI Park in two weeks time.
The Storm were at their reliable best  in the qualifying final making the most of some unexpected Cowboys' errors to win in front of 21,233 supporters.
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Storm grind out victory
Melbourne held off the Cowboys to earn the week off.
The Cowboys face a home elimination semi-final against Brisbane Broncos in Townsville this Friday night while the Storm have two weeks to prepare for the chance to make the grand final.
On the eve of Saturday night's game Cowboys coach Paul Green demanded referees crack down on wrestling from the Storm around the ruck but the home side were handed a clean bill from the referees on the night while Green's words proved motivation for the minor premiers.
In attack the Cowboys will rue several crucial errors, especially those which came early in the second half when Storm captain Cameron Smith kicked a penalty goal and Jesse Bromwich scored a try which took the home side's lead out to eight points.
The Storm will sweat on the fitness of lock Dale Finucane who appeared to hurt his knee while powerful forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona's clumsy collision with Cowboys star Johnathan Thurston will likely receive close viewing by the match review panel.
North Queensland earned themselves four-straight sets on the Storm's line but couldn't score before a high kick from Cronk was dropped leading to an offside penalty 20-metres from goal.
Smith wasted no time calling for his kicking tee and he converted the kick to make it 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the half.
Minutes later Storm winger Suliasi Vunivalu made the 23rd try of his rookie season out of next to nothing as the Cowboys fumbled the ball while in attack and the Fijian winger took it to the house cutting a hole in the last few defenders and hurdling the diving tackle of Thurston to score. Smith's conversion missed leaving the Storm up 6-0 instead of 8-0.
That miss hurt even more when the Cowboys scored with just seconds left in the half as Thurston's grubber kick deflected off a Storm defenders shins and into the lightning quick hands of Cowboys' back Lachlan Coote who flicked a pass to an unmarked Antonio Winterstein who scored next to the left corner post. Thurston nailed the conversion just before the buzzer to make it 6-6 at the half.
The Storm lost lock Dale Finucane to a possible knee injury early in the second half and despite appearing to pass a fitness test he didn't return to the game.
But the home side didn't lose their focus as a knock on from Kyle Feldt close to goal gave Smith the chance at another penalty goal which he kicked to make it 8-6 on 50 minutes.
The Cowboys were their own worst enemies as playmaker Michael Morgan lost the ball in his own half and in the ensuing set Storm prop Jesse Bromwich ploughed his way through four defenders to score making it 14-6 after Smith's conversion.
Yet the Storm let the Cowboys back into the contest with costly errors as Smith lost the ball close to the try line then Asofa-Solomona was penalised for colliding with Thurston after he kicked the ball.
As you would expect from the reigning champions, they snubbed the penalty goal and went for full points, getting them on the right wing as Feldt scored in the corner although Thurston was unable to convert it either leaving it 14-10 with 16 minutes to play.
But the Storm kept them from scoring again. Smith converted a penalty kick from the left  to make it 16-10 with three minutes to play.
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