Storm stroll past Titans in a sloppy contest

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Melbourne Storm v Gold Coast Titans

The top-of-the-table Storm trailed at halftime against the last-placed Titans, but scored three unanswered tries in the second half to cruise to a 24-8 victory at AAMI Park this afternoon.

The Storm were denied a try in the 7th minute when Dale Finucane was found to be just in front of the kicker when he picked up a loose ball and dived over the line. The scoring opened in the 13th minute when Michael Gordon slotted a penalty goal.

From the next set, Curtis Scott was penalised and put on report for a crusher tackle. From the ensuing set, Nathan Peats received an offload, kicked across from the right side to the middle where Jesse Arthars flew through to take a catch cleanly before falling over the line for a try. Gordon converted and the Titans lead 8-0.

Melbourne finally clicked after half an hour of play when Kenny Bromwich took a crash ball from Cameron Smith and slam dunked the ball over the line for a strong try. Cameron Smith converted.

Four minutes into the second half, Kenny Bromwich again ran onto a crash ball into the goal line defence, before getting an arm free and an offload away to Ryan Papenhuyzen, who ran through a gap and in for a good try. Smith again converted.

In the 57th minute Jesse Bromwich linked with Dale Finucane, who ran through two defenders to barge over for a good try. Smith again converted.

In the 66th minute, Kevin proctor gave away a penalty for a high shot and Cameron Smith walked up and kicked a penalty goal. From the restart, the Titans failed to kick the ball the minimum 10 metres. At the end of the ensuing Storm set, Tyrone Peachey fumbled a grubber. From the scrum, Cameron Munster lobbed a long ball out to the flying Josh Addo-Carr who dived over in the corner. Smith failed to convert from touch.

The final minute saw Addo-Carr leap up and diffuse a bomb near his own goal line, before breaking through the scattered defensive line and running 90 metres before he was tackled by Phillip Sami, which caused Addo-Carr to also lose the ball in what was one of the best try saving tackles of the year.