Storm into the big dance with dominant win over Roosters

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Melbourne Storm v Sydney Roosters

Melbourne has secured a ticket to the 2024 Grand Final following a dominant 48-18 win over the Roosters at AAMI Park this evening.

In the big games you need your big guns to stand tall and that was what occurred for the home side with Jahrome Hughes scoring a hat-trick, while Ryan Papenhuyzen and Cameron Munster both scored two tries each in a superb performance from Craig Bellemy's men. 

Melbourne were superb from the start racing in four first half tries and despite a brief Roosters fightback early in the second half, Melbourne went up a gear to race in another four to give the men in purple a huge confidence boost heading into next week's Grand Final no matter who they play. 

It was an eventful start at AAMI Park, when Lindsay Collins was collected high off the kickoff by Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona. The Storm prop was sent to the Sin Bin, while Collins was ruled out for the match with a Category 1 concussion.

The Tricolours advanced up field and were awarded another early penalty against Jahrome Hughes for taking out Angus Crichton who was chasing a kick. Joseph Suaalii made no mistake and the Roosters took an early 2-0 lead.

With the Storm down to 12 men, the Chooks took advantage of the extra number as the Roosters went through the hands for Joseph Suaalii to create enough space for Daniel Tupou to score in the corner and it was 6-0 following the missed conversion.

Melbourne then returned to full strength at 13 players, which coincided with Ryan Papenhuyzen slicing through close to the line to get the home side on the scoreboard.

The Storm began to turn the tide and their continued possession took its toll as Papenhuyzen and Nick Meaney combined to put Hughes under the posts untouched to extend the scoreline to 12-6.

Melbourne continued to overpower the Roosters and caught the Chooks on the back foot from a 20 metre re-start as Ryan Papenhuyzen exploded onto a ball from Xavier Coates. Papenhuyzen then found young gun Jack Howarth in support as the rangy centre skipped out of a covering tackle to score in the corner.

Melbourne then ran in try number four just before halftime and it was a second to the Dally M Medal favourite Hughes, as he crashed over off a flat pass from Harry Grant close to the line to give his side a commanding 22-6 lead at halftime.

Following the break Melbourne were awarded a gift penalty for an escort on Harry Grant by Rooster forward Naufahu Whyte. Nick Meaney made no mistake extending the Storm lead to three converted tries.

The Roosters simply needed to score the next try to mount a comeback and they did exactly that through prop Terrell May who pushed away from two Storm defenders to score under the posts.

It was game on minutes later for the Roosters, as Ryan Papenhuyzen spilled a kick on his own tryline. Roosters backrower Nat Butcher picked up the scraps to score and all of the sudden the visitors were down by just a converted try.

The Storm were quick to stamp out the revival however, when Melbourne charged up field off a kick which resulted in Hughes scampering over for his hat-trick and this was followed up by Ryan Papenhuyzen scoring his second try off a neat inside ball from Harry Grant close to the line.

Melbourne continued to put the pedal to the floor as fan favourite Cameron Munster put the icing on the cake scoring two more tries in the final five minutes to get the celebrations going in Melbourne. 

The convincing 48-18 win gives the Storm a huge confidence boost heading into Grand Final week where they will play the winners of tomorrows Preliminary Final in Penrith or Cronulla.