Bellamy’s Storm rain on Knights parade
MELBOURNE master coach Craig Bellamy taught his former apprentice another lesson on last night, when the Storm handed Adam O’Brien’s Newcastle side their first loss of the NRL season.
O’Brien, a Storm life member, faced his ex-team for the first time as a head coach, but came away with a harsh reality check for his previously undefeated Knights.
In typical Storm fashion, skipper Cameron Smith was chief orchestrator in the 26-12 victory at Central Coast, keeping up the pressure on the Knights, who eventually crumbled.
Smith set up two of the three first-half tries as Melbourne took an 18-2 lead into the sheds, but it could have been more if not for some defensive resilience from the Knights.
Despite a brave rally from
Newcastle in the second half, their poor completion rate in the first 40 minutes was too much to overcome at the back end of the game.
The Knights briefly threatened, scoring two tries in six minutes through Bradman Best and Edrick Lee, to get within a converted try with 20 minutes on the clock.
However, with the Storm on the attack, Knights enforcer David Klemmer was controversially pinged for a late shot on lock Dale Finucane in front of the posts.
Smith easily nailed the penalty from in front to give Storm a
20-12 lead with six minutes to go.
A late try to Kiwis hooker Brandon Smith sealed the win for Melbourne in the dying minutes when he burrowed over from close to the line.
It was the fourth win of the season for the Storm who take on Penrith next weekend, while Newcastle face Brisbane on Thursday night on the Central Coast.
AAP