A packed AAMI Park saw an enthralling battle between the Storm and Warriors to finish round 8 of the NRL premiership.
Result
Melbourne Storm 30
Tries: Justin Olam 14th; Cameron Munster 34th; Nick Meaney 47th, 56th; Harry Grant 75th
Goals: Nick Meaney 16th, 35th
New Zealand Warriors 22
Tries: Jackson Ford 4th; Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 10th, 44th; Addin Fonua-Blake 20th
Goals: Shaun Johnson 5th, 12th, 21st
Report
Melbourne hosted the final ANZAC Round clash with their traditional opponents New Zealand Warriors at AAMI Park. The Storm was without suspended forward Tui Kamikamica and opted to start Nelson Asofa-Solomona from the bench.
The Warriors got on top early with a try within the first five minutes to Jackson Ford before Dallin Watene-Zelezniak crossed after ten minutes, taking an early 12-0 lead.
Cameron Munster’s 40/20 got Melbourne into the contest with Justin Olam scoring shortly after. When Addin Fonua-Blake went through some soft Storm defence to score under the posts, the Warriors were running hot at 18-6 and dominating with 73% possession.
That possession started to even up before the break and an error by Shaun Johnson with a rare incorrect restart error led to Munster scoring and reducing the half-time deficit to six points.
A double blow right on half-time saw Tohu Harris leave the field injured with a knee problem and Dylan Walker sent to the sin-bin for what appeared a head slam.
Watene-Zelezniak’s second try of the night but the Warriors up by 22-12 but that would be the end of the scoring for the visitors with Melbourne dominating the line-breaks 6-1 in the final forty.
Nick Meaney made up for his error in the lead-up to Watene-Zelezniak’s 44th minute try by scoring twice within nine minutes which saw the Storm hit the front for the first time of the evening after 56 minutes.
The injury toll for the Warriors continued to mount with Jazz Tevaga limping from the field and Charnze Nicoll-Kloskstad failing his HIA assessment.
Harry Grant’s try next to the posts sealed victory for the Storm, but the Warriors were far from disgraced making amends for their 70-10 loss in the same fixture last year.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Cameron Munster (Storm)
2 – Harry Grant (Storm)
1 – Addin Fonua-Blake (Team)
