They may have missed the bus but the Melbourne Storm didn't miss the chance to leap frog Cronulla into fifth place on Monday night.
A clinical performance from Cooper Cronk saw Melbourne run out 30-2 winners over the Sharks. (The team bus broke down so the Storm players caught taxis to Remondis.)
The Sharks suffered a reality check in their hopes for a top four finish after suffering the disappointing 28-point loss which ended their five-game winning streak.
The visitors’ night got off to a difficult start when their team bus broke down en route to Remondis Stadium, forcing players to hail taxis to get to the ground.
Both teams started brightly with the Sharks opening the scoring through a Michael Gordon penalty goal after seven minutes.
Five minutes later Cronk showed his first touch of class.
With Melbourne attacking Cronulla’s line, the Queensland and Australia halfback produced a flat pass to prop Jesse Bromwich who strolled through some uncharacteristically soft Sharks’ goal line defence to score untouched.
Just before the 20-minute mark the Storm struck again, this time as Cronk shifted right and found fullback Cameron Munster who picked out Matt Duffie with a pin-point cut out pass for the winger to score in the corner.
Melbourne could have extended their lead just after the break only for Will Chambers to lose the ball over the line.
Valentine Holmes tried to spark the Sharks just before the hour mark as he attacked the line and grubber kicked twice to force a Melbourne error.
But the Storm survived a Cronulla onslaught that included three set on their own line with resolute defence reminiscent of Melbourne’s successful teams under Craig Bellamy.
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan played his final card with 15 minutes remaining as he introduced Ben Barba off the bench for the first time but even the mercurial fullback couldn’t drag the Sharks back into the game.
Melbourne sealed victory in the 70th minute when Duffie crossed for his second try of the match.
Dale Finucane and Munster scored late tries to see the score blow out.
The loss saw Cronulla slip to sixth place on 28 points, with Melbourne replacing them in fifth on for and against.
The Sharks will look to bounce back on Saturday when they host the Wests Tigers.
Leader Scoreboard
Melbourne Storm 30 (Jesse Bromwich, Dale Finucane, Cameron Munster, Matt Duffie (2) tries. Cameron Smith five goals)
defeated
Cronulla Sharks 2 (Michael Gordon goal)
At Remondis Stadium crowd 10,269
Leader man of the match: Cooper Cronk.
Sharks’ next three: Tigers (home), Eels (away), Sea Eagles (home).
