A Cameron Smith penalty goal was all that separated the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters in a golden point thriller on Thursday evening.
Coming from 22-12 down with ten minutes remaining to secure the 27-25 win, the Storm showed their premiership credential to hand last year's premiers their first loss since the season resumption.
Going set for set during the opening ten minutes, Sydney speedster Brett Morris capitalised on a Melbourne error to send Kyle Flanagan (11th minute) over for the first try of the evening.
Responding immediately with Josh Addo-Carr (13th minute) latching onto a loose ball to race 60 metres to level the scores at 6-all, the initial rush of points came to a halt as both teams showed their premiership credentials with inspired defence for the remainder of the half.
Striking a pivotal blow shortly before the break after Luke Keary put up a cross-field kick for Daniel Tupou, the giant winger offloaded to send Josh Morris (37th minute) over for his second try in red, white and blue colours.
Taking less than two minutes after the resumption of play to draw the scores level at 12-all, Melbourne utility Tom Eisenhuth latched onto a wayward pass to send Jahrome Hughes (42nd minute) over for his first try of the season.
Hitting back through Brett Morris (54th minute) following a brilliant passage of play that saw the Roosters spread the ball from sideline to sideline, the four-pointer saw the evergreen winger move into outright seventh on the all-time try-scorers list.
Appearing to have the result sewn up after Josh Morris (68th minute) managed to stay inside the field of play, the Storm rose to the occasion to produce two tries in quick succession through Hughes (71st minute) and former Rooster Paul Momirovski (73rd minute).
Taking the lead for the first time through Cameron Smith's sideline conversion, the match took a further twist as rookie halfback Flanagan stepped up to nail a 30-metre penalty with three minutes remaining.
Appearing to secure the result courtesy of a Keary one-pointer in the following set, an error from the kick-off afforded Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen the chance to send the match into golden point with seconds left on the clock.
Taking advantage of a Boyd Cordner error inside the Roosters' half, a determined run from Dale Finucane produced the decisive penalty with Smith stepping up to nail the kick from in front of the posts.
Next week, the Roosters take on the Cowboys in Townsville, while the Storm will face the Raiders at GIO Stadium.