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Melbourne Storm ... centre Will Chambers pushes away from Thomas Leuluai. Source: Colleen Petch / News Limited
The Melbourne Storm held off a focussed Warriors side led by electric halfback Shaun Johnson to remain unbeaten with a 28-18 NRL win in their Anzac Day clash.
| 5 Tries 3 | |
|---|---|
| Will Chambers 11' | Ben Henry 7' |
| Mahe Fonua 30' | Bill Tupou 40' |
| Sisa Waqa 58' | Shaun Johnson 52' |
| Will Chambers 72' | |
| Billy Slater 76' | |
| 4 Conversions2 | |
| Cameron Smith 13' | Shaun Johnson 9' |
| Cameron Smith 59' | Shaun Johnson 54' |
| Cameron Smith 74' | |
| Cameron Smith 77' | |
| 0 Penalties1 | |
| Shaun Johnson 67' | |
The annual match again provided some heart-stopping moments with the NRL champions not hitting the lead at AAMI Park until the 72nd minute with centre Will Chambers getting his second for the night.
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Star fullback Billy Slater then sealed the result with their fifth try of the night.
Johnson almost orchestrated the upset of the season in front of the sell-out crowd of over 25,000, which was a Storm record.
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The 22-year-old New Zealand international was everywhere, scoring an intercept try to break a 10-10 halftime deadlock while setting up two others.
He kicked a penalty in the 67th minute for a 18-16 lead but the Storm proved they are never out of a match.
Warriors coach Matt Elliott backed his side's dubious decision to take the penalty goal despite repeat sets attacking the Storm line.
But he lashed two refereeing decisions; describing the pass by Waqa to Chambers for his second try as "a long way forward".
The video referee also over-ruled the linesman on a 40-20 kick by Johnson late in the match.
Elliott said his team had been hard done by with refereeing decisions in this match as well as in the tight loss to Canberra.
"The refs will also have to put their hands up for making errors," he said.
"They did it in the back end of the Canberra game in their report, where there were three calls that went against us and they acknowledged they were incorrect."
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said his players looked for short-cuts in the first half but got back to playing their brand of grinding football in the second.
"I thought we were looking for some easy options instead of sticking to what we know works for us," Bellamy said.
"We weren't looking to get our hands dirty.
"I thought the second half was really good and we did the things we planned to do during the week."
Chambers showed his class in the first half when he turned the defence inside out in brilliant fashion for his first try.
His second try was just as impressive.
He got around Warriors centre Jerome Ropati and then combined with Cooper Cronk and winger Sisa Waqa before touching down for his second.
In his past seven games against the Warriors, Chambers has now scored nine tries.
The Warriors went into the match in 15th place, with just one win for the season, but played some fearless football.
They forced the Storm into uncharacteristic errors with their stiff defence and willingness to throw the ball around.
Warriors skipper Simon Mannering failed to overcome a calf injury to play but his second row replacement Ben Henry made himself right at home as the first tryscorer.
Henry was gifted a ball that bounced off Storm winger Mahe Fonua as he leapt to defend a Johnson bomb and Henry was able to plant the ball across the line.
The Storm answered through Chambers and a try by Fonua before Warriors winger Bill Tupou scored right on halftime after a Johnson break and it was 10-10.
Johnson intercepted a pass by Storm five-eighth Gareth Widdop to race 80 metres to score but Cronk showed equal class when he grubbered ahead for Waqa to scoop up and again tie up the match before the Storm fired again.
