Rugby League

Melbourne Storm
18
St George-Illawarra Dragons
16
Full Time

Match Tracker

Melbourne Storm
St George-Illawarra Dragons
H1
12
10

    Melbourne Storm Events

  • 17 mins - Try, M.Koroibete
  • 24 mins - Try, M.Koroibete
  • 35 mins - Penalty goal, C.Smith
  • 38 mins - Penalty goal, C.Smith

    Melbourne Storm and St George-Illawarra Dragons Events

  • 6 mins - Try, J.Nightingale
  • 15 mins - Try, B.Marshall
  • 16 mins - Conversion, G.Widdop
H2
6
6

    Melbourne Storm Events

  • 46 mins - Try, K.Bromwich
  • 47 mins - Conversion, C.Smith

    Melbourne Storm and St George-Illawarra Dragons Events

  • 57 mins - Try, T.Frizell
  • 58 mins - Conversion, G.Widdop
ET
0
0

    Melbourne Storm Events

    Melbourne Storm and St George-Illawarra Dragons Events

Scorers

Melbourne Storm
St George-Illawarra Dragons
Goal Scorers Melbourne Storm St George-Illawarra Dragons
Tries Koroibete (2), Bromwich (1) Nightingale (1), Marshall (1), Frizell (1)
Conversions Smith (1/3) Widdop (2/3)
Penalty Goals Smith (2/2)
Field Goals

Team Statistics

Melbourne Storm
St George-Illawarra Dragons

Statistics

Melbourne Storm St George-Illawarra Dragons
Tries 3 3
Conversions 1 2
Penalty Goals 2 0
Field Goals 0 0
Melbourne StormGoal Scorers
Players R RM OF LB TA K T MT PC ER
J.Bromwich 15 155 2 0 0 0 29 2 0 1
K.Bromwich 7 65 0 1 0 0 17 0 0 0
W.Chambers 12 122 0 0 0 0 21 3 0 1
C.Cronk 3 17 0 0 0 14 19 3 0 1
D.Finucane 10 98 0 0 0 0 31 2 1 0
T.Glasby 11 100 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 1
B.Green 9 77 1 1 0 2 15 1 0 1
T.Harris 16 140 1 0 0 1 31 1 0 0
F.Kaufusi 3 29 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0
M.Koroibete 16 188 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 1
J.McLean 5 39 0 0 0 0 28 0 0 1
C.Munster 10 82 1 0 0 3 11 0 0 0
K.Proctor 8 77 0 0 0 0 33 1 0 0
B.Slater 7 62 0 0 2 0 6 1 2 1
C.Smith 4 41 0 0 1 2 32 2 1 1
Y.Tonumaipea 9 67 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1
C.Welch 3 22 1 0 0 0 13 0 0 0
St George-Illawarra DragonsGoal Scorers
Players R RM OF LB TA K T MT PC ER
L.Ah Mau 16 165 0 0 0 0 16 0 0 0
E.Aitken 14 97 0 0 0 0 15 2 0 0
M.Cooper 7 68 0 0 0 0 20 1 0 0
B.Creagh 6 61 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 1
J.de Belin 9 95 1 0 0 0 29 0 1 1
J.Dugan 15 96 0 0 0 0 20 3 0 1
T.Frizell 4 28 0 0 0 0 32 1 3 2
S.Havili 4 51 1 0 0 1 15 0 0 0
T.Lafai 14 96 1 0 0 1 8 1 1 0
D.Lui 5 43 0 0 0 0 12 2 0 0
K.Mann 10 110 0 1 1 0 5 0 0 2
B.Marshall 5 33 3 0 1 8 14 2 0 0
W.Matthews 5 41 0 0 0 0 22 0 2 0
J.Nightingale 18 149 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
R.Packer 13 121 0 0 0 0 22 0 0 0
M.Rein 3 21 0 0 0 1 26 1 2 1
G.Widdop 5 19 1 0 0 10 15 3 0 2

Match Details

Melbourne Storm
St George-Illawarra Dragons
START TIME
7:00PM
WEATHER
Unknown
VENUE
AAMI Park
Referees
Anthony Eliott, Ben Galea, Bernard Sutton, Grant Atkins, Gavin Reynolds, Jared Maxwell, Jon Stone
STORM 18 DRAGONS 16

Melbourne Storm brilliance overcomes errors against St George Illawarra Dragons

Three moments of brilliance from Melbourne Storm's Marika Koroibete and Jesse Bromwich gave their club the win in an error-filled game on Monday night.

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Storm open 2016 with a win

Melbourne Storm welcomed back Billy Slater with a tight opening round win over St. George Illawarra at AAMI Park.

In his 50th game, Koroibete used his powers of acceleration to score two first-half tries before Bromwich's try-line offload early in the second half allowed his brother Kenny to score the decisive try in an 18-16 win over St George Illawarra at AAMI Park in front of 12,148 supporters.

Billy Slater showed his attacking prowess hadn't disappeared during his injury layoff, assisting on both of Koroibete's tries while both clubs had first-round handling problems with the error count finishing at 11 for the Dragons and nine for the Storm.

Errors always come at a cost and Storm winger Young Tonumaipea's dropped high ball, just metres from the Storm's line set up the visitors' first score.

The Dragons moved the ball to the right before swinging it back to the left side and drawing Tonumaipea out of position before finding Jason Nightingale to make it 4-0 after seven minutes. St George Illawarra again exposed the Storm's left edge defence before a fumbled ball close to the line fell backwards into Benji Marshall's hands allowing him to score the second try and see his club up 10-0 after 16 minutes.

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The Storm's early butter fingers must have been airborne as the Dragons coughed up the ball inside their own 10-metre line on the kick-off and the home side grabbed the chance with both hands as Slater moved to the left edge, exploded into a gap and lofted a perfect cut-out pass to Koroibete who scored with ease.

The Storm gained momentum from a penalty deep in their half then drove deep into attack before Slater's flick pass found Koroibete one on one with just a defender to beat and the Fijian did it in a canter rounding the last marker and scoring in the left corner.

Try machine: Marika Koroibete is driven back by Josh Dugan.
Try machine: Marika Koroibete is driven back by Josh Dugan. Photo: Getty Images

Cameron Smith again couldn't convert from the left touchline to see his club down 10-8 on 25 minutes.

Smith landed a couple of penalties for a 12-10 buffer. Gareth Widdop had a kick after the siren to level the scores but he missed to the right.

Crucial play: Kenny Bromwich celebrates after scoring his try.
Crucial play: Kenny Bromwich celebrates after scoring his try. Photo: Quinn Rooney

Jesse Bromwich is looking to add more offloads to his carries this season and he set up the club's third try doing just that as he loosened his arm close to the line and passed to Smith who quickly found brother Kenny Bromwich for an easy try on 46 minutes as Storm went up 18-10.

The Dragons caught up as a Marshall bomb was dropped backwards by Koroibete with Dragon Tyson Frizell happily sliding in-goal and touching it down with Widdop's kick making it 18-16 just before the hour.

Well held: Billy Slater is tackled by Gareth Widdop and Will Matthews.
Well held: Billy Slater is tackled by Gareth Widdop and Will Matthews. Photo: Quinn Rooney

Points became hard to find in the final 20 minutes but Slater's sure hands and the Storm's defence made sure of the win.

Dragons star Josh Dugan almost touched down a grubber on the end of the in-goal with two minutes to play but the ball rolled out of bounds.

A final dropped ball from the Dragons with just seconds left sealed the result.

Storm star Cameron Munster made a surprise early return from a knee injury and played out the full game.

The Storm host Gold Coast Titans at AAMI Park this Sunday at 6.30pm while the Dragons face Cronulla Sharks at Shark Park on Sunday.

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