Green Machine fires in Melbourne

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Melbourne Storm v Canberra Raiders

The Raiders have kept their strong record at AAMI Park intact, as a starring effort from George Williams helped the Green Machine to an 22-6 defeat of the Melbourne Storm.

Canberra were quick to take advantage of the new rules and began mounting pressure early and it took just five minutes for them to get on the board when returning hero Jordan Rapana was able to cross thanks to Jack Wighton and Jarrod Croker drawing in the defence. The Raiders' captain was able to convert from out wide right of the posts.

The impact of English signings has been big on Canberra and Williams has quickly made his name, especially after tonight with some cracking plays. The Raiders added their second try when Williams was able to throw a magnificent ball that found Nick Cotric on the chest to score in the left-hand corner. Croker was able to again extend the lead with an excellent conversion from the left touchline.

If one team can never be ruled out, it's Melbourne - and they showed that they were still in the game when Cameron Smith put Dale Finucane over underneath the posts, closing the gap to six after the Melbourne captain converted.

The Canberrans were able to add a final try in the half when Williams was able to put Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad through under the posts. The converted try gave them an 18-6 lead at the break.

The second half wasn't a point-scoring fest as everyone was expecting, with both sides trying hard to come up with plays but errors were the story for that 40 minutes. Both sides repeatedly gave up 20m restarts early on in the second 40 which was a sign of things to come.

While each team were able to go close, the respective defensive lines were strong, and there was no better example than when Justin Olam was all-but-over except for some desperation defence from Joseph Tapine and his teammates to hold the PNG winger up.

The only points of the second half came in the dying seconds, when the Raiders turned it on with the class - a double kick and chase, first from Curtis Scott then from Nick Cotric was able to get Tapine a 'meat-pie', the second-rower grounding the ball and sealing the 22-6 victory.

Next weekend, the Storm will again be hosting at AAMI Park this time up against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, whilst the Canberra Raiders will be playing hosts to the Newcastle Knights at Campbelltown Stadium.