STOPPING TOMMY TURBO? STORM SHOWS HOW IT’S DONE
NEWS FLASH: Tom Trbojevic can be stopped.
The Dally M medallist elect was good, but not at his mercurial best as the Melbourne juggernaut continued their march towards the minor premiership with a 28-18 win over Manly.
That wasn’t to say Melbourne had everything their own way but they were deserved winners, with Justin Olam scoring a double to continue his fine try-scoring record against Manly.
The Storm scored first thanks to a short bust from Kenny Bromwich, before Jason Saab and Reuben Garrick touched down either side of the break to put Manly ahead.
Olam then grabbed his brace – one off a short crash ball and the other from a Trbojevic error – to put the Storm back in the driver’s seat.
Garrick responded once more, but Melbourne pulled away late on thanks to a Ryan Papenhuyzen penalty and a Cameron Munster try. STORM SLOW DOWN TURBO MELBOURNE was so utterly dominant in the first half, it seemed bizarre that the scores were 8-8 after 40 minutes.
Manly toughed it out like a punchdrunk boxer doing the rope-a-dope as Melbourne continued to ask and probe, affording the Sea Eagles no tackles inside their own 20m zone.
The Sea Eagles scored a breakaway try through Saab late on in the first half, but it was from an intercept rather than any good build-up play which gave them a sniff.
Melbourne was able to restrict Tom Trbojevic to just 56m in the first half and coach Craig Bellamy didn’t need to bring his shotgun to stop him.
“He is yet to really inject himself,” said Fox League’s Michael Ennis at halftime.
“He has been busy and not had a lot of opportunities, he’s been suffocated.”
What Melbourne did so well was put the pressure on Reuben Garrick and Saab on the wings.
While Trbojevic came to life in the second half with two try assists and 123m, he also made a costly error that allowed Olam over for his second.
“They are going after him physically in their kick chase and they’re numbering up and racing out of the line to stop him,” said Fox League’s Cooper Cronk.
MANLY REVEAL BLUEPRINT TO STIFLE STORM
REGARDLESS of the outcome of the result, there is one way to beat Melbourne and Manly showed the rest of the top eight the way.
Want to try and beat them at their own game up the guts? You will have no luck.
The Storm solve attacking structures like a mathematician working out the answer to 2+2.
But Manly, who were restricted in every statistic whether it was territory or possession, gave a glimpse of how to disrupt Bellamy’s men.
Starved of any decent ball, the Sea Eagles moved the pill as they attempted to disjoint the Storm’s solid defensive middle by attacking their edges.
“You’ve got to move Melbourne around,” said Fox League’s Greg Alexander.
“They might not make a linebreak but they make metres and move the Melbourne Storm around.
“I think that is the only way to break down the Storm defence, move them around first, go to the edges and you almost flip the rule on its head.
“You don’t have to make ground before you go to the edges, you move them around first and then go down the middle.”
EAGLES ROCKED BY BIGBODIED BLOW
IT was a costly night for Manly’s front row.
The Sea Eagles lost big man Taniela Paseka early and really lacked his go-forward and ability to suck in two, three or four defenders.
Dylan Walker ended up slotting in to Manly’s middle rotation and got a good going over from Storm defence.
And the man who replaced Paseka, Josh Aloiai, came up with a crucial error off a kick-off set that led to Olam scoring his first of the night.
“You can’t make an error like that,” Alexander said.
“Dylan Walker is playing in the middle.
“But he has done a lot in defence and the Storm players are picking him out because it’s not somewhere he’s used to playing.”