Wests Tigers 18 Melbourne 30

MELBOURNE STORM completed a breakaway by the top four sides in this year's NRL after defeating Wests Tigers in Campbelltown last night.

In the final match of a round of upsets, the Storm were only the third favourites to win and joined Sydney Roosters and Cronulla on 26 points, just shy of Manly (28), as teams virtually certain to make the semi-finals this year - even if they fail to win another of their remaining eight games.

On last night's form, the premiers - who have been handicapped by three Origin-affected losses - will give their top-four opponents plenty of sleepless nights, with the pace and confidence of both fullback Billy Slater and centre Greg Inglis (who grabbed three tries) decisive.

Eleven sides will battle for the other four positions, while the last-placed North Queensland Cowboys' mathematical hope will be extinguished with their next loss.

While Storm coach Craig Bellamy tried to pass on Melbourne's mantle as the competition's sternest examination to Manly, he did admit his side contained some rare talents. "We've got a couple there who can just pull a try out of nothing," he said.

Tigers captain and fullback Brett Hodgson was unable to leave his home ground of Campbelltown Stadium with a winner's smile, and one of those talents - his opposite number Slater - was a big part of the reason.

The Storm looked lethal whenever Slater touched the ball, setting up the opening try by first diving full length to catch a Hodgson kick then jumping into dummy half and streaking free - only to be run down by Tigers centre Chris Lawrence. But the Tigers were shot, and it was a formality for Inglis to score.

But the Tigers hit back almost immediately, with Benji Marshall putting winger Taniela Tuiaki on the outside of his opposite man Steve Turner. A tit-for-tat game seemed on the cards when the Storm replied, with the towering Inglis crunching over the top of Marshall.

But the tat took a long time in coming, and it seemed the Storm were slowly sucking the life from the Tigers. Finally, it was Tigers lock Dene Halatau who revived the home side, slicing through for a 50-metre break before drawing Slater perfectly and giving Hodgson just enough time to dive in under the posts. Five minutes from the break, the captain was never going to miss the conversion and duly tied the scores at 12-all.

After the break, the Tigers players returned - but their footballing brains took a lot longer to reappear. While Melbourne repeatedly kicked into the in-goal area (with one effort by Cam Smith travelling 70 metres to sit up two metres shy of the dead-ball line), the Tigers' kicks were a mixture of the ad lib and the ineffective.

Slater jumped out of his box again just after half-time when Cooper Cronk's kick put the two fullbacks one on one, with the jockey-sized Slater defying his height to soar above Hodgson's head, collect the ball and shove him out of the way in the process.

"It's all about Slater," Tigers coach Tim Sheens said. "Where he is, the game is. We knew about that, but you've got to be able to stop it."

The Storm were ready to score tit and tat. Inglis took the ball with nothing on, pulled out the fend, the step and the acceleration to give Sika Manu a try.

But Inglis wasn't finished, getting on the end of a Matt Geyer cut-out to score his third of the night four minutes later. Smith's sideline kick stretched the lead to 30-12.

Origin hadn't affected his side mentally, Bellamy said, but the physical toll was forcing him to spell many of his troops at training. "Physically, we're still a little bit of a way from where we want to be," he said.

One of those, Smith, was still landing his kicks on a 20 cent piece, frustrating his markers and making 40-odd tackles a game, gave an understated smile that suggested Storm Mk 2008 aren't far off the previous two vintages. "We're in a pretty good spot … we're on the right track," he said.

MELBOURNE 30 (G Inglis 3 S Manu B Slater tries C Smith 5 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 18 (B Hodgson B Ryan T Tuiaki tries B Hodgson 3 goals) at Campbelltown Stadium. Referee: Jared Maxwell. Crowd: 16,653.