Home side earn a stunning last-gasp victory at AAMI Stadium.
The Melbourne Storm have given Billy Slater and Cameron Smith a fitting result in their milestone games after downing the Penrith Panthers 18-17 in a thrilling clash at AAMI Stadium.
Three field goals between the two sides in the last five minutes set up the epic encounter and handed Slater victory in his 250th game in a Storm jersey.
While Smith will have extra fond memories of his 263rd game in a Storm jersey, breaking the club record previously held by Matt Geyer.
Slater said it was good to record their second win for the season, despite not playing as well as they would have liked.
“They’re getting close at the moment, it was a tough game tonight and the Panthers are playing well and did so in the first round,” Slater said.
“This week I thought out first half was alright, but we need to stop giving away penalties but we’ll work on it during the week.”
Slater said it was a dream to be able to play as many games for the NRL heavyweight.
“I’m very happy for the chance to try and live my dreams and to play all 250 games with one club is something that I’m very proud of,” he said.
The home side showed determination to keep the Panthers from crossing their line, after Penrith showed plenty of intent with the ball early in the game.
After giving away the first three penalties the Storm marched downfield and it did not take long for Cooper Cronk to make is impact felt in his first game of the season.
A slight dummy held the Penrith defence up before he popped a ball to a rampaging Kevin Procter who spun over the line to make the score 4-0.
The try was a sign of how much more dangerous the Storm are with Cronk in the side.
In the blink of an eye the Storm doubled their lead when another run-around play on the right edge created space for Mahe Fonua to scramble over the line.
After 25 minutes and six penalties in their favour, the Panthers finally crossed with Kevin Naiqama
sliding across untouched on the right wing.
Peter Wallace landed the excellent kick from the sideline and the score became 8-6 with 12 minutes left until half-time
It was a try that Penrith had to score against the traditionally tough Storm defence, as the tide of possession would have eventually turned, and the away side would have been in trouble if they were not close to parity on the scoreboard.
The Storm hit back as soon as possible as soft defence out wide by the Panthers created an overlap for Sisa Waqa to score his third try for the season.
Cameron Smith’s unhappy day with the boot continued as he struck the upright to make it 0-3 for the day, with the home side inching ahead, 12-6 in the 32rd minute.
On the back of a rare mistake by Slater the Panthers made the most of the stagnated Storm defence, shifting the ball to the right to give Naiqama his second for the game, the fourth time in his NRL career he has scored a double.
Wallace just pushed his kick across the face of the goal and amazingly the Panthers
were only two points down in the shadows of half-time.
Naiqama was then denied a hat-trick after the final pass to him was ruled to have been forward in what was a big call that would have transferred much of the warranted momentum to the Panthers going into the sheds.
Melbourne were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time, and Smith made an amends, somewhat, for his broken radar earlier in the game in piloting the ball over as the home side led 14-10 at the break.
Melbourne have won 164-168 games under coach Craig Bellamy when they lead going into the break.
Despite the greasy conditions, the Panthers showed sensational handling and second-phase play to stretch the Storm defence enough.
And Josh Mansour captalised on the left wing but slamming the ball down despite heavy attention from Waqa in cover defence.
Wallace missed the shot at goal and the scores were locked at 14-all with six minutes elapsed in
the second stanza.
Penrith did well to hold out the Storm for two full sets, in a sign the at times paper-thin defence of 2013, could be a thing of the past.
With 58 minutes gone, Slater was sent to the sin-bin for staying in the tackle too long after James Segeyaro made a break down field.
“I was saying to the referee ‘where do you want me to go’, but it’s one of those things that happens and I’m sure the coaches will talk to the refs about that after the game,” Slater said after the game.
And Wallace made no mistakes in slotting the penalty to give the away side the lead for the first time in the game.
On the cusp of Slater rejoining the game, the Storm level the scores at 16 with 13 minutes left on the clock thanks to a Penrith penalty.
James Segeyaro was taken from the field with Panthers offcials wary of a knock to his jaw, however, he rejoined the action soon after.
Melbourne put their noses ahead when Cronk landed an ugly looking field goal as the
home side grabbed the lead 17-16 with five minutes left.
A turnover on the first tackle from Waqa with two minutes remaining gave the Panthers one last crack at the line, as AAMI Stadium was drenched in a downpour.
And amazingly Wallace slotted a field goal to give his side a chance of going to golden point, with just 90 seconds left in regulation.
Smith then showed his intelligence to grubber the restart along the ground, giving the home side possession 25 metres out from the line.
And off two tackles, Cronk again landed a field goal and put the Storm in front with just 30 seconds left in the game, before a short restart from the away side gave a penalty.
Wallace then stepped up and failed to get the match-winning goal in what was a thrilling finish to the game.
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