Raiders 16 Storm 23
THE Melbourne Storm might be only 11 years old and based in a rugby league outpost, but a speech by coach Craig Bellamy about the club's history and tradition was credited with last night's Heritage Round victory over a spirited Raiders outfit.
Led by Australian fullback-in-waiting Billy Slater, the Storm last night ruined what would have been a fairytale win by an undermanned Canberra side featuring a halfback set to be released to Super League, a hooker called up at short notice from the Queensland Cup and a captain almost sacked from the club less than 12 months ago.
Having lost skipper Alan Tongue and hooker Lincoln Withers to injury on the eve of the match, Raiders coach Neil Henry gave the captaincy to wayward star Todd Carney and called in out-of-favour playmaker Michael Dobson and untried hooker Glen Buttriss from Souths Logan to take on the might of the NRL premiers.
Right up until Israel Folau's 78th-minute try an upset looked possible.
But after leading 16-4 at half-time, the home side failed to score a point in the second term while Slater sparked a Melbourne comeback and Storm players later revealed how a vow to show pride in the club's heritage jersey fuelled their resurgence.
"We spoke during the week about how we wanted to play with a lot of pride because of the jersey we were wearing," captain Cam Smith said. "The Storm have got a great history and we didn't want to disappoint the guys that first started in this jersey, but Craig thought we lacked that and it was a pretty good spray he gave us at half-time."
Bellamy played down the half-time address but admitted he had been more animated than usual.
"I can't remember what I really said, but I was pretty specific about our attitude and hopefully they took heed of that," Bellamy said. "I was pretty disappointed at half-time. It's been a fair while since I gave them a touch-up at half-time but they got one today."
Smith also said he couldn't recall in detail what Bellamy had said.
"The boys were too busy getting all of the spit out of our face, it was a spray literally," he quipped.
Despite having 10 players on the sideline through injury or suspension, the Raiders were equally committed and completed a phenomenal 23 sets out of 26 in the first half.
Carney's kicking game kept them camped down on their opponents' line for most of the opening 40 minutes and Dobson, who has been told he will be released if he can find a Super League club, laid on tries for winger Colin Best in the 10th minute and centre Adrian Purtell, who flew to Melbourne last Wednesday for talks with the Storm, 11 minutes before half-time.
In between, Carney managed to put second-rower Nigel Plum over in the 15th minute to give the home side a shock 12-0 lead before the Storm hit back four minutes later when centre Will Chambers scored untouched off a long Cooper Cronk cut-out pass.
The turning point came in the 54th minute when Best had a try disallowed after video referee Bill Harrigan ruled he had touched the corner post at the same instance he grounded the ball from another Dobson kick, and Slater wrapped around Anthony Quinn to put Steve Turner over two minutes later.
Just nine minutes later Slater drew the scores level with a 35-metre solo try before halfback Cronk put Melbourne ahead for the first time with a 71st-minute field goal.
MELBOURNE 23 (W Chambers S Turner B Slater I Folau tries; C Smith 3 goals C Cronk field goal) bt CANBERRA 16 (C Best N Plum A Purtell tries; T Carney 2 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: P Haines. Crowd: 15,550.
