Storm win ugly against sloppy Raiders

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Melbourne Storm v Canberra Raiders

Cold and greasy conditions greeted both sides at AAMI Park on Saturday night, where it was the Storm who adapted vastly better, winning 16-6.

The first half saw Melbourne dominate field position and were also more disciplined, however it took 37 minutes before the first points were scored, when Bronson Garlick fired a stellar flat ball to his lead runner Josh King, who juggled the ball that he wasn't expecting to receive, then noticed there was no one near him, so he fell over the line to score untouched near the posts. Tyran Wishart converted.

The Storm almost had 2 other tries in the first half, with the bunker denying both. In the 12th minute Grant Anderson put in a chip and chase and dived to plant the ball for a try but he didn't get a hand on it.

In the 25th minute Sualauvi Faalogo dived to score in the comment but lost the ball mid-air due to a great cover tackle from Albert Hopoate.

At halftime, Melbourne held a tight 6-0 lead.

Kaeo Weekes, who had a horror first half, made up for it inside the opening 90 seconds of the second half, when he fielded a Storm kick near his own line, busted through two defenders, then used his speed and step to race 95 metres to score a scintillating try. Jordan Rapana converted to level the scores.

Melbourne hit back just 4 minutes later when Garlick at dummy half and close to the Raiders line, dummied left and then passed right to Shawn Blore who crashed over to score. Wishart added the extras.

Melbourne ran a similar play on the other side 4 minutes later when Jack Howarth on a ruck run, steam rolled over the defender to score a strong try. Wishart failed to convert.

A Jordan Rapana fumble in his own in-goal very nearly produced a try for William Warbrick, but the Bunker found a Storm knock-on in the lead-up.

Melbourne received a penalty deep in the Raiders half in the 64th minute and Tyran Wishart had a shot at the penalty goal, but missed from the relatively easy angle.

In the 72nd minute, a Wishart grubber into the Raiders in-goal very nearly produced a try for Xavier Coates, but it was also denied by the Bunker. Coates came out of the play with an injured leg and limped off the field.

A number of players, mostly Raiders, copped head knocks and head cuts from a rather well behaved contest. Eventually the Storm held on to win 16-6.