Hughes stars as Storm go six in a row

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Newcastle Knights v Melbourne Storm

A virtuoso performance from Jahrome Hughes has seen the Melbourne Storm fightback from a halftime deficit to defeat a gallant Newcastle Knights side 32-14 on Saturday afternoon.

Turning an 8-2 deficit with a minute left in the first half into a comprehensive victory, the reigning Dally M winner was at his attacking best with a direct hand in four tries as the Storm extended their record over the Knights to 30 wins from 40 matches during Craig Bellamy's tenure.

The result failed to reflect the home side's effort with the Knights producing one of their best halves of the season in the first 40 minutes only to be outclassed after halftime to the dismay of 21,107 supporters at home.

After conceding first points via a penalty goal from former Novocastrian Nick Meaney, the hosts flexed their attacking muscles with a right-side shift which saw Dominic Young (12th minute) streak down the sideline before regathering his own chip kick to ground the ball just inside the field of play.

Growing in confidence after repelling the Storm on multiple occasions on their goal line, the Knights took advantage of a penalty to extend their lead after Young (27th minute) used sheer strength for his second four-pointer.

The Storm managed to keep the Knights at bay for the remainder of the half and struck a blow of their own in the final minute of the half; a well-placed chip kick from Hughes was plucked cleanly from the skies by Eliesa Katoa (39th minute) for an 8-6 halftime scoreline.

A fortuitous ricochet put the Storm back in front early in the second half with Harry Grant's grubber kick bouncing off the posts into the arms of Trent Loiero (44th minute), while Hughes' boot delivered once again with Kane Bradley (47th minute) using his height advantage over Greg Marzhew for a 16-8 buffer.

Hughes continued to assert his class on the match with a blistering passage to set up a second for Loiero (58th minute), nail a 40/20 and throw an audacious cut-out pass to give Bradley (61st minute) his second career double.

The Knights refused to wilt despite seeing the game slip away with Fletcher Hunt (71st minute) chasing a Young offload, which bounced off a Storm player, to keep the host's hopes alive.

A powerful run from Katoa (75th minute) close to the try line capped a dominant second half as the Storm ran out 32-14 victors.

Next week, the Knights will host the Warriors on Sunday afternoon, while the Storm will return home on Saturday evening to take on the Sea Eagles.