Legendary NRL coach Craig Bellamy has booked himself an 11th Grand Final appearance after his Melbourne Storm held on for a nervy 22-14 preliminary final win against the Cronulla Sharks.
The Storm spine of Papenhuyzen, Grant, Munster and Hughes were reunited for their first appearance in three months and were nothing short of sublime during a scintillating first half attacking display that would have put almost any other opposition to the sword.
Reigning Dally M medallist Jahrome Hughes, managing a broken arm with screws, plates and electromagnetic technology to speed up the healing process, certainly showed what the Storm were missing during his absence earlier in the finals series as their key playmaker with a game-high eight tackle busts.
Melbourne were first on the board through one of Stefano Utoikamanu's early hitups as he moved the ball to the 20 metre line from a Cronulla goal-line dropout and Hughes was the architect of the first try when handing the ball off to Nick Meaney who got around his opposing centre and opened up space for Warbrick to get past Mulitalo.
It was a third consecutive week where Cronulla conceding the opening try and they showed plenty of resolve to stay in the game on this occasion as well, striking in the 11th minute when the off-contract Will Kennedy dummied Cameron Munster and Jack Howarth before scything the pair and slinging it out wide to Sione Katoa for the first of his two tries prior to half-time.
Melbourne allowed Cronulla to enjoy parity for only a few minutes and again it was Stefano Utoikamanu and Jahrome Hughes doing some fine work. Utoikamanu charge up the Cronulla defence in the 15th minute and laid the ball off to Hughes who split Teig Wilton and Jesse Colquhoun, fending one off with his busted arm at the 30 metre line before putting on the afterburners and getting himself all the way to the line.
The Storm were exceptionally slick in attack in the opening 20 minutes and looked on for a third try that was denied by outstanding defence from Brayden Trindall and KL Iro to defuse a cross-field bomb that Warbrick and Meaney had combined to set up for a try.
Warbrick was ruled to have made the last touch and so Cronulla had an immediate chance to bounce back but the last tackle dribble kick from Trindall on the counter was cleaned up by Papenhuyzen, who was instrumental at the back as usual.
Cronulla’s defence continued to sustain some of Melbourne’s finest attacking plays and again stood up in the 29th minute of the first half when Munster dummied and busted a tackle, broke through the line only to be dragged down by a diving tackle from Blaike Brailey who grabbed Munster by the shorts.
The Sharks hit back for their second try of the game in the following set when Billy Burns broke the line and made space for Katoa to reach out for the line on the right wing after surviving an unsuccessful tackle from Xavier Coates that brought him to ground.
Cronulla’s two first half tries both forced kicker Nicho Hynes to hug the sideline on his non-preferred right side and neither of his conversion kicks were close to scoring. Cronulla, for all of their valiant efforts, were made to pay for a hefty 19 missed tackles in the first half.
In the 35th minute of the match, Papenhuyzen started the jaw-dropping attack that he ultimately finished when Munster, having seen Sharks fullback Will Kennedy moving up to join the line in a blocking position, deftly chipped the ball over the top of the line. Papenhuyzen controlled the ball with all the soft foot skills of a football player whilst staying in front of Kennedy to ensure he was able to fall onto the ball next to the posts.
The Storm came out from the sheds at half-time to defend a 28-game winning streak when leading at half-time in a final under Craig Bellamy and, for at least the first 18 minutes of the second half, were not assured of a 29th.
Cronulla’s defensive pressure was much more intense and disciplined after half-time with fewer ruck infringements, and they absorbed 20 tackles in the first 17 minutes without conceding, even sniffing an opportunity to swing momentum in their favour thereafter when a penalty for a high tackle from Cam Munster allowed Hynes to bring the half-time lead of eight points back to six. The penalty turned out to be well worth it, for Munster had held up Briton Nikora after the ball-running second rower had crossed the line.
The game appeared to be out of reach for the Sharks once Hynes blew a golden attacking opportunity by dropping a slightly wayward fourth tackle pass just ten metres out, and when the Storm won a Captain’s Challenge in attack three minutes later, the crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief.
That relief turned to elation when Xavier Coates scored his first finals try in three years to extend the lead out to an unassailable 12 points.
Melbourne will take on the winner of Sunday afternoon's preliminary final in Brisbane between the Broncos and the Panthers.