Melbourne Storm were looking to avenge their loss earlier in the season to Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles when they met at AAMI Park.
Result
Melbourne Storm 24
Tries: Jahrome Hughes 24th; Jonah Pezet 37th; Nelson Asofa-Solomona 58th; Xavier Coates 62nd, 73rd
Goals: Nick Meaney 39th, 60th
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 6
Tries: Haumole Olakau’atu 13th
Goals: Reuben Garrick 15th
Report
Both Melbourne and Manly headed into their round 17 clash missing two key players. Cameron Munster was unavailable through illness and Tom Trbojevic was ruled out for the rest of 2023 with a pectoral tear. The Sea Eagles looking towards dispensation for Trbojevic after being injured in representative football.
It looked positive for Manly early when they crossed first through Haumole Olakau’atu off Daly Cherry-Evans’ kick. Melbourne’s opening stanza was dominated by errors, in particular coming out of their own half.
The Storm started to click midway through the first half with Will Warbrick’s speed creating an opportunity for Jahrome Hughes to cross for their first. They would go into half-time ahead thanks to a line break by Xavier Coates which led to Pezet scoring a short time later.
Early in the second half Aaron Pene was placed on report for his contact on Lachlan Croker when in possession. The game appeared to be reaching a simmering point when Karl Lawton stayed down after some heavy contact by Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
When Hughes put Asofa-Solomona through a gap to score, the Storm led 16-6 and a double to Xavier Coates sealed a comfortable victory.
Coates’ spectacular finish for his second try of the night an excellent four days for the Melbourne flyer after scoring for Queensland in the series sealing Origin game in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
Melbourne moved into the top three with victory and will face the Penrith Panthers next Saturday at Marvel Stadium, while the Manly Sea Eagles have lost six of their last eight matches and have dropped to twelfth place.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Jahrome Hughes (Storm)
2 – Xavier Coates (Storm)
1 – Jonah Pezet (Storm)
