Melbourne have stormed back to the top of the NRL ladder following a comfortable 18-4 victory over Newcastle at Olympic Park on Monday night.
Despite fielding 8 players backing up from representative duties for Australia and New Zealand on Friday night, the home side survived a scoreless first half before dominating the scoreboard inside the second half to get the two-points.
Israel Folau used his express legs to run in the first two tries which Cameron Smith converted to hand the Storm a 12-nil lead before Newcastle halfback Jarrod Mullen struck back via an inspirational run down the short side.
Unfortunately for Knights fans who had bothered to fly down to Victoria to see the game live, Kurt Gidley was unsuccessful in his first and only attempted conversion for the evening.
The task of hauling in the Storm’s lead was then made ominously impossible when Anthony Quinn impressed NSW State of Origin selectors by linking up in the corner to score the last try of the contest.
Smith then made it 3 from 3 through the uprights to hand fans of the reigning premiers a 14-point victory to brag about to anyone who would listen on the way home.
On the naughty side of things, Newcastle had a dangerous tackle on Sam Tagataese placed on report by referee Ben Cummins.
Monday's victory makes it almost impossible for Storm fans to hold out any hope of being in the running for the Wooden Spoon.
STORM 18 (Tries: Folau 2, Quinn; Goals: Smith 2) def. KNIGHTS 4 (Try: Mullen) at Olympic Park. Crowd: 10,624. Penalties: Storm 10-3.
