Sharks silence soggy Storm

v BYE

The Sharks have become victorious in a Grand Final rematch through a 11-2 victory at AAMI Park today, leaving the Storm with their first loss of the season.

Within the first 20 minutes there were points to be scored - but only through the boot. James Maloney was caught in a high tackle right in front, and Cam Smith took the two to put the hosts in front.

With points seemingly scarce in the first half and Melbourne's penalty kick the only scoring play, the wet conditions proved to be an obstacle for both teams. The second half proved to show there was going to be more points scored eventually, when fifteen minutes into the second half Maloney locked up the scores at 2-apiece through a penalty goal of his own. 

The ongoing rain effectively rendered the ball a cake of soap, handling errors mounting throughout the game to a total of 27 by fulltime.

A lot of close calls followed for both sides - Billy Slater, Wade Graham, Tim Glasby and Young Tonumaipea all getting close but no cigar. 

Only one try was scored all evening, through James Segeyaro in the 72nd minute after a Billy Slater knock back into goals. Segeyaro jumped right onto it to score, after an earlier James Maloney field goal all to further them out to 7-2 closely followed by a conversion to make it 9-2.

With five minutes to go the Storm were forced into another a dropout and when Billy Slater kicked it out on the full, it gave the Sharks perfect opportunity to further their margin to 11-2, leaving the hosts tryless and without a win for the first time this campaign.

Next weekend the Sharks head to Pepper Stadium for an Easter Sunday showdown with Penrith, while the Storm are heading up to Sydney's northern beaches where they'll face Manly at Lottoland on Saturday afternoon.