Full-time here in Townsville and the Cowboys walk away with a dominant victory. We hope you enjoyed the match and our coverage, stay with us as we'll bring you all the action between the Penrith Panthers and the St. George Illawarra Dragons
Townsend puts the cherry on top with a field goal
Munster saves a try with his boot. The Cowboys are absolutely charging at the moment
Penalty to the Cowboys, the Storms' night just continues to get worse
Holmes has his sixth conversion of the night
The Cowboys have another! Townsend is the beneficiary this time after a great kick Hiku who grubbered it inside after making a break down the left edge
Cowboys hold out the Storm once again, it seems like it's too late for a Storm comeback
The Storm go oh so close to scoring but the Cowboys scramble to hold them out
Penalty to the Storm, Hess hits Coates with a shot around the chin
Short kick-off from the Storm is unsuccessful
Holmes extends the lead to 18
Shut the gate!! the Cowboys are turning it on here in Townsville. The Storm defence has absolutely collapsed as Nanai runs off the shoulder of Drinkwater and his fullback puts him through a hole to extend the lead to three tries
Successful captains challenge as Munster has been deemed to strip the ball out of Griffin Neame's reach, time running out for the Storm
Holmes extends the lead
Taulagi has his second of the afternoon and it's all thanks to Holmes. The Queensland centre burst through the Melbourne defensive line with speed and drew Meaney, giving Taulagi a free ride for a four-pointer
Converts his own try and the deficit is back to six points
WOW! Try of the afternoon. Nick Meaney with an excellent piece of work. Drinkwater was spotted in the line and Meaney executes the chip and chase to perfection, the Storm are back in this
Holmes extends the home sides lead to 12 points. Can the Storm overturn the deficit like they did in the first half? Or will the Cowboys push on with it?
The Queenslander extends the Cowboys lead. On the back of another error from the Storm and the Cowboys continue to attack the edge. Holmes does well and drops Taulagi under him who proves too hard to stop
Another error from Melbourne, Bellamy will be irate with his team
The Cowboys look dangerous when the get on the roll as they target Melbourne's edges, this time an attacking kick from Drinkwater had too much juice on it as it trickled over the sideline
Katoa goes close to levelling it for the Storm, but fails to get two hands on the football
Penalty to the Storm, more sloppiness from the Cowboys. Granville going out of his way to take out Aaron Pene as he tried to pressure the kicker
NAS' second error of the night, it's been a very sloppy game
A poor play the ball from Leilua once again releases the pressure that they've done so well to build at stages in this match. The Strom get another chance to level the scores
Holmes converts from the sideline
Valemei has a hat-trick in his first game for the Cowboys. The Cowboys again came down this right edge where they've had success early today. Coates nearly intercepted a Townsend pass but his touch put the ball in Hiku's hands who drew Meaney and passed it to his winger
The Storm get us underway for the second half, big half of footy coming up
Meaney levels the score before the break
Half Time here in Townsville with the scores locked. The Storm will be the happier of the two teams as they've had limited opportunity throughout the half. They've been sloppy but have made the most of their opportunities, whereas, the Cowboys have looked the better side for big parts of the game but their defence has let themselves down
Granville leaves the field for a HIA
An error by Reimis Smith has been successfully challenged by the Storm as he was pushed in the process of playing the ball. The Storm will take the shot at goal in an attempt to level the scores
Forward pass from the centre, the Cowboys left edge again looking dangerous, but the forward pass halts all momentum
Olam leaves the field for a HIA after a head clash in his try scoring effort just minutes ago
Meaney makes no error from the sideline with the scores now separated by just two points
Olam crosses for the Storm. Given how they half has turned out, Melbourne will be disappointed with their general play but will be glad to be close to the home side on the scoreboard. Cowboys on the other hand will be frustrated to not be leading by more
Penalty to the Storm, can they strike again before the half?
Holmes misses again, uncharacteristically too.
And they make the most of it. Melbourne's defence looks fragile on their own line and it's some great work from the Cowboys to dissect it. Dearden and Drinkwater linked up well and attracted defenders creating a big overlap for Holmes to run through untouched
NAS has put it down just 20 out from his own try line, the Cowboys have the chance here to push the lead out to double digits
Olam has absolutely flattened Nanai, welcome to the field
The Cowboys will be disappointed that they only lead by four points after such a dominant start to the game
Meaney slots it to bring the deficit to four points
There we go! The Storm are on the board. It was a little to easy for Coates who got the ball early in the play and cut in of his left boot and burst through Hiku and Valemei essentially untouched. Poor defence and they'll be flat to let the Storm in that easily after such a great start
Holmes loses it in the tackle just 20-30 metres out from his own line. This may be the opportunity that the Storm need
An absolute shocker of a kick from Munster. His kicked aimed for just short of the try line flies over the dead ball line on the full. The Storm can't get anything to click
Good contest from Taulagi but fails to hold onto the ball, another good set of six from the Cowboys. Storm need to respond with something
Knock-on from Olam, the Cowboys defence rushed them and the pass from Munster failed to find Olam's chest
Forward pass from Leilua just as the Cowboys were looking dangerous on that left edge
Storm are looking very rusty, passes aren't hitting their mark and just ill-disciplined all round
And just like tat the Storm put the ball down, and another penalty is headed the Cowboys way. A poor 20 seconds for the Storm
Penalty to the Storm, Granville has interfered with play a he was running back to get onside. Storm with an excellent opportunity to return serve
Holmes can't repeat his efforts of his first kick with this one crashing into the post.
Valemei has a double! No one gets the the kick and the bounce favours the home side. It falls with Luki who passes it over Coates to Valemei who barged his way over
Penalty to the Cowboys, it keep getting better for the home side
Holmes has absolutely nailed the kick from the sideline. Perfect start for the Cowboys
Valemei scores in his club debut! The Cowboys earned another six tackles after a failed attempt to diffuse the bomb by the Storm. Overlap to the right and the Cowboys make no mistake
A wild last play from the Cowboys has resulted in a repeat set courtesy of a Jake Granville grubber
Solid start to this outing, both sides look up for it
Welcome to Townsville for the clash between the Cowboys and the Storm, hope you enjoy the footy
Referees & scorers:
Referee: Peter Gough
Touch Judges: Belinda Sharpe, Michael Wise
Video Referee: Adam Gee
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (45)
Tries: Semi Valemei (3), Valentine Holmes, Murray Taulagi (2), Jeremiah Nanai, Chad Townsend
Field Goals: Chad Townsend (1/1)
Conversions: Valentine Holmes (6/8)
MELBOURNE STORM (20)
Tries: Xavier Coates, Nick Meaney, Justin Olam
Conversions: Nick Meaney (3/3)
Penalty Goals: Nick Meaney (1/1)