2023 NRL Round 4: Storm 24, Tigers 12

March 24, 2023

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Elinya Chenery reviews Melbourne’s win over the Wests Tigers at AAMI Park.

Result

Melbourne Storm 24
Tries: (4) Will Warbrick 18th; Nick Meaney 23rd; Justin Olam 33rd; Cameron Munster 38th
Goals: (4) Nick Meaney 5th, 25th, 39th, 65th

Wests Tigers 12
Tries: (2) Asu Kepaoa 29th; Apisai Koroisau 54th
Goals: (2) Adam Doueihi 31st, 55th
Field Goal: N/A

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Report

A return to AAMI Park also saw a return to their winning ways for the Melbourne Storm in the early game on Friday night. Craig Bellamy was looking for a response this week after concurrent losses to the Bulldogs and the Titans in an uncharacteristic fall from form in the last fortnight. Despite walking away with the two points this evening, whether the coach will be happy with his side’s performance is another thing entirely – with the Storm letting the 17th-placed Wests Tigers challenge them right until the full-time siren, only hanging onto victory through the Tigers’ inability to capitalise on scoring opportunities.

The first half got off to a slow start, with the only points a penalty goal for the Storm in the fifth minute until a try eventuated towards the quarter point of the game for AFL and Union convert Will Warbrick for the Storm. After the ball got rolling, the home side once again added a try to the scoresheet with an effort from Nick Meaney, filling in at fullback in Ryan Papenhuzyen’s injury-forced absence.

Asu Keopaoa gave the Tigers their first points in the 29th minute, in a game in which he stood up and took the challenge to the Storm. His efforts, however, were quickly dampened by another four-pointer to Melbourne with prolific try scorer Justin Olam sliding over, before Cameron Munster added another try for the home side just before half-time. Unbeknownst at the time, this would be the last time Melbourne saw the scoreboard go up by four for the match, with their only points in the second half coming through another penalty goal.

It was a different story for the visitors in the second half, with the Tigers managing to jag a try through Api Koroisau with 25 minutes left to play, and it looked like we might have been in for a repeat of Melbourne’s loss to the Gold Coast last Saturday. However, despite benefitting from multiple penalties and set restarts gifted to them by the home side, the Tigers were unable to convert their copious amount of possession and field position into points, with the game concluding at 24-12 to the Storm – handing a fourth straight loss to Wests and leaving them at zero-from-four to open the season.