Penrith punish rusty Roosters
15 hours ago | Aidan Edgecomb
The Melbourne Storm have put the hapless Parramatta Eels out of their misery after a 36-16 demolition job at a sunny Parramatta Stadium this afternoon.
After holding on in the first couple of minutes, the Storm dominated the rest of the match running through gapping holes and created havoc through up middle of the pitch.
The Eels looked promising in patches but struggled to go forward, running side to side with ball in hand.
Parramatta scored with several seconds left to go in the first half with a controversial try to Matt Peterson. At half time, the Storm held a handy 18-10 lead. In The first ten minutes of the second half saw the Eels with a wealth of possession and territory but the Storms sliding defence held out the Eels side who continued to run sideways.
The Storm's Steven Bell then scored a 75 metre try to herald the beginning of the end. Dallas Johnson then contributed from a gapping hole to give the Storm a 20 point lead.
The Storm once more through a brilliant grubber kick to an unmarked Dustin Cooper but a consolation try from Parramatta's Adam Dykes with the siren in the background might just give some Eels fans a glimmer of hope next week when they take on bruised Dragons outfit next Friday night. The three kick off attempts that either went dead or didn?t go over ten metres summed up the Eels today and Brian Smith has a mountain of work to help this Eels turn around their poor form.
EELS 16 Tries: McKinnon, Peterson, Dykes Goals: Burt 2/3 defeated by STORM 36 Tries: Cooper 2, Kearns, Smith, Bell, Johnson Goals: Smith 6/8
Parramatta Stadium Referee: Stephen Clark Video Referee: Paul Simpkins. Touch Judges: Allen Foster, Tony Archer
By the clock: Over-head conditions are fine for this Round 10 clash.
0 min: Eels kick off.
1 min: News - A perfect start for the Eels, the ball bounced from the kickoff and the Storm are forced in-goal.
3 min: News - A harsh call on Parramatta following a forward pass 20 metres out gets the Storm off the hook and some possession.
4 min: News - Michael Vella is put on report for a high tackle on the Storms Kiwi enforcer Alex Chan.
8 min: Try-Melbourne: Scott Hill puts up a high a kick. Dustin Cooper regathers and offloads to Melbourne's prop Robbie Kearns to score. Cameron Smith converts. 6-0 Melbourne
11 min: News - Melbourne hold up Parramatta's Dean Widders over the line.
16 min: Try-Parramatta: Michael Vella runs the ball up attracts several Storm defenders and throwns an offload to Wade McKinnon to score. Luke Burt's conversion goes wide. 6-4 Melbourne
17 min: News - Melbourne's Dustin Cooper saves a certain 40/20 kick by batting it back.
25 min: Try-Melbourne: The Storm spreads it wide to the flanks with Melbourne winger Dustin Cooper scoring out wide. Cameron Smith's conversion attempt goes just wide. 10-4 Melbourne
26 min: News - Bad luck for the Eels. They kick the ball over the dead ball line from the kickoff. Penalty Melbourne.
28 min: News - Attempted intercept from Parramatta's Luke Burt is knocked on.
30 min: Try-Melbourne: Cameron Smith goes through a mile wide gap to score a easy try. Smith converts. 16-4 Melbourne
36 min: Goal-Melbourne: 20 metres out Cameron Smith slots the goal for two more points. 18-4 Melbourne
39 min: News - Parramatta break the line. The Eels had a 3 man overlap but they chose to kick it instead.
40 min: Try-Parramatta: After what looked like a sheppard the Eels pass it out to the flanks and Eels wing Matt Peterson scores in the corner. Burt converts. Storm 18-10
Halftime: The Eels currently look a theme park ride. They do one good thing then make a crucial error the next. The last try will give the Eels some confidence but unless they can fix there goal line defence the result could end up looking like a cricket score. Possesion: 54% Melbourne, 46% Parramatta. Score: 18-10 Melbourne.
Second half: Storm kick off
42 min: News - Adam Dykes puts in a grubber,Parramatta fullback Wade McKinnon was ruled to have got a hand to the ball by the video referee before Daniel Wagon planted the ball.
51 min: News - Brilliant defence from the Storm after they force Eels winger Matt Peterson over the sideline.
53 min: Try-Melbourne: After 10 minutes of defending, Melbourne throw the ball wide. Steven Bell gets the ball and runs over 75 metres beating two men to score. Smith converts. 24-10 Melbourne
55 min: News - It just gets worse for the Eels. After 10 minutes of attacking the Storm's line, Melbourne kick a 40/20
58 min: Try-Melbourne: Another try from a big gaping hole in the Eels defence. Dallas Johnson scores. Cameron Smith converts. 30-10 Melbourne
58 min: Parramatta's kick from the re-start doesnt go 10 metres. Penalty Storm.
60 min: News - Craig Stapleton (Eels) is put on report for a high tackle on Scott Hill.
63 min: News - After Storm half back Matt Orford knocked it on, Adam Dykes goes wide. He's tackled over the sideline a couple of metres out from the tryline. The Eels continue to go side to side with the ball in hand as opposed to going forward.
68 min: Goal-Melbourne: Following a penalty for offside play, Cameron Smith slots the goal 20 metres out. 32-10 Melbourne
68 min: News - 3rd time not so lucky for the Eels after another re-starting kick off doesnt go 10 metres.
70 min: Try-Melbourne: Billy Slater shows excellent vision as he grubbers to an unmarked Dustin Cooper to score out wide. Cameron Smiths conversion attempt goes wide. 36-10 Melbourne
72 min: News - The Eels manage to stuff up another try after passing it sideways while the Storm defence simply slid wide to cover them up.
75 min: News - Cameron Smith caps off an excellent day at the office by kicking a superb 40/20.
80 min: Try-Parramatta: John Morris throws a flat pass to Adam Dykes. He beats Billy Slater to score a consolation try. Burt converts. Storm 36-16
Fulltime: The sound of the siren puts Parramatta fans out of there misery after a ugly display from the Eels. No go forward and an ugly defensive structure led to the Eels demise after the Storm put in an all round solid effort. 36-16 Melbourne Storm victorious. ----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - C Smith (Storm) 2 - R Kearns (Storm) 1 - D Cooper (Storm) -----------------------------------------