Wizardry from Grant as a Storm surge moves to a prelim final

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Melbourne Storm v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

A maiden NRL hattrick from Harry Grant has again showcased that the Melbourne Storm are Penrith's biggest challenge to a potential four-peat with a commanding 37-10 win over the Cronulla Sharks at AAMI Park.

The second qualifying final couldn't have started any worse for the visitors as Will Kennedy failed to defuse the opening kick-off. Off the line-dropout, Cam Munster caught the Sharks asleep, and it is a ruthless start from the Storm. He used big Nelson Asofa-Solomona as a decoy which fooled Toby Rudolf and Munster goes through to score the opening try after just over 60 seconds.

Cronulla were able to wrestle back momentum. A smart offload from Oregon Kaufusi saw the Sharks motor up field and began to push the Storm back towards their own line. From the ensuing set-restart given away by Jack Howarth, Cronulla moved the ball right as Nicho Hynes found Siosifa Talakai who isolated Howarth one on one. Talakai was able to get it away to Sione Katoa and the Sharks get one back and were right in the contest in the opening exchanges.

Unfortunately, two critical Sharks mistakes came back to bite which led to scoring plays for the Storm. Hynes and the visitors were punished for their inability to get a kick away on the last. The home side was able to work towards their right edge which allowed Nick Meaney to deliver a magical offload to Will Warbrick and the Storm grabbed a second try despite the visitors cries of a forward pass.

Melbourne added a further penalty goal after Munster was hit off the ball by a Sharks player. The Storm were fortunate to secure possession after a horrific kick for touch by Hynes which was easily recovered by the home side. At 14-4, the Sharks were up against it, however a late penalty gave the Sharks the final say of the first 40. Brayden Trindall was skipping across the field, dragging the Storm defence out wide. Trindall turned Nikora underneath with a spectacular flick pass to score right under the posts on the stroke of half-time to make the score 14-10.

The second half started strongly for the boys from Melbourne. The Storm had plenty of try-scoring opportunities but early on the Sharks were keen on keeping the gap at four points. However, a penalty against Katoa saw the Storm finally crack the Sharks side. Josh King dug into the teeth of the Sharks pack, before unloading to Harry Grant who dove over under the posts to make it a two possession game.

More possession down the Sharks end of the field tested the Sharks defence further and despite their best efforts, another try was on the way just past the hour mark. A brilliant pin-point kick from Jahrome Hughes landed in the lap of Warbrick to put the match beyond doubt. Melbourne were looking great with ball in hand and looked set to run up the score, but a brilliant try-saving tackle on Tui Kamikamica stopped the score-line going into the 30's (for the moment).

Melbourne added further salt into the Cronulla wound with a brilliant Hughes bomb. Eli Katoa made these kicks contests' all night long and got his reward when he defused it and unloaded to Grant to add his second try next to the posts. This became a hattrick when Hughes' bomb again was contested, this time Warbrick batted it back to Grant and "Prince Harry" delivered for the Storm in a commanding performance. Ryan Papenhuyzen added the final bullet with a disrespectful field goal in the dying stages.