NRL champions Melbourne suffered an almighty scare by a fired-up Wests Tigers before escaping with a 26-12 win at AAMI Park on Monday night.
In a gripping encounter the home side didn’t hit the front until the 66th minute, with man of the match and halfback Cooper Cronk orchestrating a brilliant final 20 minutes.
After a try by Cronk they sealed the victory, which was a club record 13th in succession, with six minutes remaining with some individual brilliance by premiership winger Sisa Waqa in his first game of the season after a hand injury.
Little went right for most of the match for the home side, who looked shell-shocked as they were out-enthused and out-played across the park.
Melbourne’s usual weapons – their kicking game and their defence – let them down while their attack was uncharacteristically sloppy with credit due to the Tigers’ punishing defence.
The teams went to the sheds at halftime locked at 6-6, with Tigers winger James Tedesco opening the scoring in the 18th minute.
The Storm answered through forward Siosaia Vave, who crashed over just two minutes before the break.
While the home side would have copped a spray from coach Craig Bellamy, it was the visitors who came out firing in the second half.
They dominated possession with four repeat sets before Robbie Farah put up a bomb that was taken by Ben Murdoch-Masila, who managed to get a one-handed pass away to Benji Marshall.
That gave them a 12-6 lead and it looked like an upset was on the cards.
But the undefeated Storm showed why they are top of the competition ladder as they started to build some momentum while the Tigers ran out of steam.
The penalty count blew out against the visitors, giving Melbourne even more ball with the pressure finally telling on the Tigers.
Winger Mahe Fonua scored a well-deserved try off a Billy Slater rocket pass in the corner in the 62nd minute and skipper Cameron Smith levelled at 12-12.
Just minutes later Smith sent the ball on to Cronk, who found Chambers who broke through a tackle by Tedesco and after running downfield, passed back inside to the game’s leading No.7.
The Tigers’ experiment with Braith Anasta at halfback gave the team more shape, particularly with Benji Marshall troubled with a toe injury for much of the game.
