The Melbourne Storm have totally and utterly embarrassed the Wests Tigers following their 66-16 victory at the Sunshine Coast Stadium.
It was all the Victorians to start the contest as they scored in just the third minute when the Tigers defence allowed the Storm to make 100m in their opening set and gave them six more on their own line. A massive gap in the defensive line allowed Brandon Smith to dive over from dummy half.
The Tigers couldn't get their hands on the ball and the points continued to flow for Melbourne as they ran 100m in attack and at the end of the set Nicho Hynes was able to score. The Storm were actually forced into a last tackle kick and some dumb play by Daine Laurie to flirt with the sideline whilst shadowing the ball meant the ball came off the Tigers fullback to go into touch.
This gave Melbourne more attacking position which they duly crossed after Cam Munster was able to fight his way over the line and slam the ball down despite looking to be held. The conversion pushed the lead out to 18. The points didn't slow down at all for Melbourne as Dale Finucane crossed with absolute ease.
If things weren't embarrassing enough for the Tigers, Nelson Asofa-Solomona crossing out of dummy on last tackle probably topped things off and after Nicho Hynes converted Melbourne lead 30-0 after just 17 minutes.
Getting their hands on the ball helped the Tigers slow the scoring and they were denied an effort to Alex Seyfarth when the ball was knocked on in the lead-up. The Tigers embarrassed themselves and their fans again when Tommy Talau dropped the ball on a simple hit-up and it landed fortunately for Jahrome Hughes to put Reimis Smith over for the Storm's sixth try of the night.
The Storm added their final try of the half when Felise Kaufusi strolled over to score, Nicho Hynes had his first miss with the boot and the Storm lead 40-0 at the break.
If the Tigers wanted a change in the second half, it wasn't coming very quickly as things looked eerily similar to the first half as they could barely get their hands on the ball. The Storm opened the scoring just a minute into the second half when Jahrome Hughes crossed after some poor defence from the Tigers. The points continued to flow as the Melburnians as they yet again went the full length in the ensuing set and Reimis Smith was able to chase through and get to a George Jennings kick to score.
The fragility of the Tigers defence was on show again when Tom Eisenhuth was able to get through to score before Harry Grant took advantage chasing through his own kick to score, the Storm went on to lead 60-0 after just 50 minutes.
The Tigers were denied again by the bunker after Ken Maumalo had his efforts knocked back due to an obstruction infield but it wasn't long before the Tigers were able to get points on the board when Tommy Talau scored. The Tigers continued to put a very small touch of respectability back into the scoreboard when Luke Garner scored.
Jahrome Hughes added his second try of the night with ten minutes to play after he was allowed to step his way through some poor defence from the Tigers. The Tigers capped the night off with a try to David Nofoaluma to claim "last try wins" jokes.
The Tigers will need to do some soul searching in the weekend off before their game against the Rabbitohs at Leichhardt Oval whilst the Storm have a tough task up against the Roosters at the SCG.