The Melbourne Storm have defeated the St.George-Illawarra Dragons 12-4 in the final game in the opening round of the 2015 NRL competition at Jubilee Oval.
St.George enjoyed most of the possession at 60% for the match and were able to complete an impressive 89% of their sets, but the home side could not break through the Storm defence.
Young Tonumaipea scored in the 4th minute for Melbourne after a Cooper Cronk kick caught the Dragons line coming up. Tonumaipea had all the time in the world to gather the ball and fall over the line, putting his side up 6-0.
Melbourne could have really put the Dragons to the sword but several good chances were wasted through poor handling.
“We just need to hang onto the ball,” commented Cameron Smith at the half-time break.
St.George-Illawarra looked good crashing the ball up, especially through key interchange forward Trent Merrin and enforcer Ben Creagh. It was the backline plays that were a weakness. With plenty of talent to offer in the halves with Benji Marshall and Gareth Widdop, the Dragons could not get it to click all match.
Latest recruit Etonia Nabuli crossed on the left wing after Benji Marshall was able to squeeze a kick through the Storm defences. Nabuli ran and finished intuitively displaying the skills that influenced the Dragons recruiters to sign him in the off-season.
A piece of Will Chambers individual brilliance in the 60th put the Storm up 14-6 which is where the score remained.
Josh Dugan was battered and bruised, staying down after heavy contact a number of times. The star back had to be assisted from the field with a suspected major injury that could see him spend time on the sideline in a major blow for the Dragons.
Tyson Frizell did his best to motivate the Dragons forward pack, making several line-breaks and looking to offload to his supporting runners, only for play to breakdown time and again.
The Melbourne Storm back line combined for 782 running metres. The Dragons defence held strong on the flanks and would have made for an exciting contest had their backs converted the numerous chances that presented themselves.
The Dragons play the Tigers next Monday night, while the Storm face the lacklustre Sea Eagles at Brookvale.
