Melbourne rookie Brodie Croft gave a glimpse of life after Cooper Cronk with a hat-trick of tries in the Storm's minor premiership-clinching win against Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
Croft, appearing in only his fifth NRL game, scored in the 37th, 49th and 65th minutes as the Storm prevailed 44-12 to ensure they will finish the regular season in pole position for the second consecutive year.
The 20-year-old Queenslander was called in on Friday after Storm coach Craig Bellamy opted to omit Cronk, apparently to freshen him up before the finals.
Croft made his NRL debut last season and has previously deputised when Cronk was unavailable through Origin commitments, notably kicking the decisive field goal in Melbourne's 23-22 win against North Queensland in round 15.
He shapes as the heir apparent to Melbourne's No.7 jersey after Cronk's decision to move on at season's end.
It was Melbourne's fifth successive win and 18th in 22 games this season.
For Newcastle, it ended their three-game winning streak and left them needing at least one victory from their remaining two games – against Canberra (away) and Cronulla (home) – to have any chance of avoiding a third successive wooden spoon.Â
The Storm overcame a setback after only two minutes when prop Jesse Bromwich was controversially sin-binned for a professional foul.
Bromwich collided with Knights hooker Jamie Buhrer as they raced after a Brock Lamb grubber kick, and upon review the video-referee bunker ruled the Kiwi Test forward had intentionally run interference.
Rather than taking a penalty shot at goal, Newcastle opted for a tap restart and it produced dividends when back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon crashed over for his third try in as many games, after a Lamb short ball.
That was as good as it got for Newcastle in the first half.
With a howling southerly at their back, the Storm dominated possession and field position and inevitably made the Knights pay.
Melbourne centre Curtis Scott scored out wide in the ninth minute, after his teammates batted back a high kick and kept the ball alive.
Twelve minutes later, Storm lock Dale Finucane powered over between the posts after a try assist from skipper Cameron Smith.
Croft made it 16-6 just before the interval when he dummied and strolled over out wide.
The diminutive speedster found the Knights wanting again nine minutes in the second half when he produced another dummy and some fancy footwork, racing 35 metres to score.
A try by Knights centre Joe Wardle six minutes later, after a powerful Fitzgibbon burst, gave Newcastle a glimmer of hope at 22-12.
But almost immediately, the Storm responded with a try to Test centre Will Chambers, converted from wide out by Smith.
Croft's third try of the game, and then winger Suliasi Vunivalu's 19th try of the season, left the Knights facing their heaviest defeat since the Storm beat them 40-12 in round 13.
A runaway try in the last minute by giant forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona capped a convincing win for the visitors.