Are we witnessing the collapse of one rugby league’s greatest dynasties?
For the past 23 years, Craig Bellamy’s Melbourne Storm set the gold standard for consistency. With three premierships, seven grand finals and 22 finals series appearances since ‘Bellyache’ took over in 2003, the Storm have been the perennial contenders.
Not anymore.
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Not only did Saturday night’s 38-14 home loss to the Warriors mark Melbourne’s fourth defeat on the bounce, but it also snapped a 17-match winning streak they had enjoyed over the Aucklanders.
The Storm currently sit in 13th position and are looking increasingly likely to miss their first finals series since 2010 – the year they were unable to compete for premiership points after being caught systemically cheating the salary cap.
Bellamy was justifiably livid with his side’s performance at AAMI Park. Their ill-discipline gifted the Warriors valuable attacking opportunities across the 80 minutes.
Likewise, their usually methodical attack was completely shut down by some ferocious tackling.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them overpowered,” remarked Fox Sports commentator Michael Ennis.
“It’s as physical a domination of Melbourne as perhaps we’ve ever seen in a regular season game,” added Andrew Voss.
Soft tries to Ali Leiataua and Marata Niukore gave the visitors a 12-2 lead after 15 minutes, and while the Storm rallied to lead 14-12 at the 24-minute mark, an almost comical try to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak turned the pendulum back towards the visitors.
Down 18-14 at the break, the Storm continued to spiral during the second stanza.
A procession of penalties and set restarts allowed Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to stroll over for the Warriors’ third try in the 44th minute, before NSW Origin hopeful Jackson Ford barged over from short range to make it 30-14 three minutes later.
After being called up to replace the injured Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Leiataua played the game of his life. It was his flying catch of a Chanel Harris-Tavita kick that set up Watene-Zelezniak’s second, and ultimately put the game out of the Storm’s reach.
Oh No, Joe!
Storm Backrower Joe Chan won’t want to watch this game back.
The Warriors exploited his defensive fragilities on the left edge multiple times during the first half, and he subsequently copped a spray from Bellamy at the halftime break. Chan continued to struggle during the second stanza and was promptly hooked.
Wayde’s World
Wayde Egan showed his Origin credentials with a strong showing at hooker for the Warriors. His soft hands at dummy-half laid on two great tries for the Warriors, while he also made a solid 25 tackles in the middle. Reece Robson may be the incumbent number nine for the Blues, but Egan certainly wouldn’t look out of place.
