Hard-earned victory for Storm

The Melbourne Storm comprehensively defeated the Raiders tonight - as the scoreboard showed - but a glance at the match statistics would suggest otherwise, as the premiership favourites fought hard for a victory against a defiant Canberra outfit.

The Raiders were the first to put points on the board when five-eighth Todd Carney put on a twist and step to cross for a try in the 12th minute. Halfback Michael Dobson converted giving his side an early lead.

The Storm struck back though not long later after five-eighth Greg Inglis put a massive bomb in to the air, resulting in a good bounce for veteran Matt Geyer who crossed the white line uncontested and with ease.

Melbourne ran into the sheds at half time with a four point lead on the Canberra side, but stats had indicated that Canberra were the dominant team during that first 40 minutes. Canberra managed to hold on to the ball 54% of the time, whilst conceding less errors and gaining more metres compared to their opponents.

The second-half did not start to well for the home side as the Storm put on an early try in the 44th minute. Some brilliance from Billy Slater, Michael Crocker, and Matt Geyer lead to Melbourne prop Brett White scoring his second try for the night.

The Raiders hit back in the 51st minute through Carney. The five-eighth managed to get the ball out wide to winger Colin Best who grabbed the pill after it hit the deck, strolling through to score an easy four points.

But Melbourne weren