You can practice all kinds of situations in the lead-up to finals, and on Friday night Melbourne Storm were given a taste of what a premature finals exit would feel like as Brisbane Broncos marched into AAMI Park and departed with the points.
The Broncos were more resilient in defence and more resourceful in attack and, while the Storm weren't terrible, they lacked ruthlessness at both ends, leaving the door ajar for Cronulla to pinch the minor premiership should results go the Sharks' way this week and next. The Broncos, meanwhile, remain a chance to finish in the top four.
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The Broncos produced a classic rugby league ambush and came up with arguably their best performance of 2016 as they downed the Storm 26-16 in Melbourne.
The result leaves open the possibility of a rematch between the two clubs in the qualifying final at AAMI Park in two weeks' time. Melbourne will still have the double chance, but a repeat performance in the preliminary or semi-final would end their premiership dreams – and therein lies the importance of Friday's victory for the Broncos.
In his 250th game, Brisbane veteran Sam Thaiday set up the first try just four minutes in, taking the ball from dummy-half, faking inside then running wide where he caught the Storm unawares before putting Tom Opacic over.
On eight minutes the Broncos doubled their lead, with Ben Hunt setting up Jordan Kahu to drive into the right corner. The Storm regained their composure after those tries but they struggled to find the line themselves despite several chances to open their account.
Melbourne finally broke through when Cameron Munster and Jordan McLean pushed the ball to the brink of the line then Tohu Harris powered through and reached out to plant the ball down. But try No.3 Â followed soon after for the visitors as Marika Koroibete dropped the ball 10 metres from his side's line, from where the Broncos forced it left for Opacic to complete his double.
The scoreboard pressure started to play on the home crowd as the Broncos continued to defend manfully and frustrate the Storm's best efforts. That pressure became even stronger on 53 minutes when Darius Boyd made an incisive run from the 10-metre line and beat out three defenders to score his side's fourth try for 20-4.
The Storm's attack suddenly regained its sharpness on 65 minutes as they quickly moved to the right, with Ben Hampton finding room to step, then sprint over the line. Cameron  mith's conversion was his 900th in the NRL and it gave the home side late hope.
But the Broncos made sure of the points in contentious circumstances on 69 minutes as they appeared to have lost the ball forward only for the referee to clear the move as backwards before a low kick to the in-goal was touched down by Jai Arrow to make it 26-10.
Smith's late try and conversion cut the lead with three minutes to go. Just before the Arrow try, Cooper Cronk took what looked like an inadvertent kick to the head but kept playing after treatment.
The Storm host the Cronulla Sharks in their final-round game at AAMI Park next Saturday night at 7.30pm.
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