Having scored the crucial first try in the second half, Storm skipper Harry Grant arose as Melbourne’s captain of footy. Not just for the NRL, although his minor premiers are now one match away from the grand final, but with a special offering to this AFL-loving city.
The hooker slid over for his first four-pointer in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying final against Cronulla, then leapt up with a grin, and hand-passed the ball – Australian Rules-style – into the near-capacity crowd of 26,326 at AAMI Park.
The previous night Hawthorn had been eliminated from the AFL finals, leaving the Storm as the only team from the so-called sporting capital of the world left in either of the men’s top football competitions. Melbourne, Grant seemed to be saying, is now the Storm’s town.
If the NRL’s first final on Friday was anything to go by, they will need all the support they can get. The Penrith Panthers, who displayed fearsome form in a 30-10 victory over the Roosters the previous night, are chasing their barely fathomable fourth-straight premiership.
The Storm loom as the team best placed to stop them. Grant scored his second minutes later, pushing the scoreboard to 30-10: very much a statement of ‘anything you can do, we can do better’. He would cross again for his first career hat-trick with a minute to go, and a late field goal from Ryan Papenhuyzen pushed it to 37-10. The premiership race is alive and well.
Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
In truth, the final margin was unfair to a gallant Sharks side, whose effort was epitomised by the bloody face of captain Cameron McInnes at fulltime. They had the measure of their hosts for the entire first half, but it was only when the game was stretched that they couldn’t keep up on a freezing spring afternoon.
The mercury was in the single degrees Celsius, and hail and rain had pelted the city in the hours leading up to the afternoon kick-off. While the weather dried out for the duration of the match, the wind moved in.
With a head like a weathervane, Papenhuyzen was the first to take advantage of the conditions. Off the kick-off, a gust got hold of the ball, surprising Sharks fullback Will Kennedy who could only tip it over the dead ball line.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy had been on about the importance of starting well all week. Marauding prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona – having returned to the starting team at the back-end of the season – had listened. After the drop-out was called, he turned around, pointed and acknowledged Papenhuyzen’s mastery of the conditions. Seconds later Cameron Munster scurried out of dummy half to score within the first minute.
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At that stage a walkover – not unlike Friday’s procession in Penrith – looked likely, but Cronulla showed fight. They have a reputation of turning to flake in the finals, but the 2024 Sharks have some spine. They had already come to Melbourne and beaten the Storm, in round 10, and had been in the top four all season. Despite a stiff headwind, they went about their business and for much of the first half they were the better side.
When backrower Briton Nikora crossed in the dying seconds they trailed only 14-10. Nikora was proving dangerous on the right edge, and alongside him Sifa Talakai – brought in at the last minute due to an injury to Jesse Ramien – was giving Storm centre Jack Howarth a difficult afternoon.
But Bellamy has won 26 from 26 finals when his side has led at the break. Despite facing the breeze in the second stanza, Munster and Jahrome Hughes began to find metres in the middle of the field, and it was the latter whose perfectly weighted kick found Warbrick for the side’s fourth try. By then the team in purple were not to be stopped, and Grant was the beneficiary, recording his trio of second-half tries.
The Storm now look forward to playing a home preliminary final against either the Roosters, Bulldogs or Sea Eagles (depending on Sunday’s result) on the Friday public holiday before the AFL grand final, in two weeks time.
As Munster and hard-working prop Josh King walked up the other end in the dying seconds, they waved their arms up and down, urging on the crowd to get behind them. The roar they got in response made one thing clear: Melbourne’s momentum is building.
