A first half blitz from Melbourne saw the Storm down St George Illawarra 34-22 in their top of the table clash in Wollongong on Sunday.
The Dragons were without Gareth Widdop but there wasn’t much even their inspirational captain could have done to stop the onslaught as the Storm ran in four first half tries – two each to wingers Suliasi Vunivalu and Josh Addo-Carr – to run out convincing 12-point winners.
Though they trailed 34-4 15 minutes into the second half, the Dragons fought back late on to score four unanswered tries and restore some respectability to the scoreline.
Widdop, missing the first match of a potential six-week absence with a knee injury, could only watch on as Melbourne opened the scoring after nine minutes through Vunivalu’s first.
Storm fullback Billy Slater produced a deft cross-field kick over the head of Jason Nightingale for Vunivalu to stretch out and score.
Three minutes later and Addo-Carr had his first in the opposite corner. A precise left-side raid led by Cooper Cronk and Cameron Munster ended with the winger touching down out wide.
Vunivalu had his second inside 20 minutes, producing an acrobatic finish to score in the corner, diving from metres out with his body well outside the field of play.
The Dragons finally looked to hit back soon after on the back of two penalties, only for Slater to somehow hold up Tim Lafai over the line.
It was 22-0 after 25 minutes when Addo-Carr crossed in the corner for his second on the back of a great Nelson Asofa-Solomona offload.
Nightingale scored four minutes before half-time to give the Dragons hope. The Storm lost forward Christian Welch during the play with a knee injury after turning awkwardly. He had only been on the field three minutes and did not return.
Any hope the Dragons had was all but extinguished five minutes after the break when Slater scored his first try of the season, slicing between Lafai and Kurt Mann to score.
Slater scored his second seven minutes later. Vunivalu motored around Nightingale to run 40 metres down the sideline before drawing Josh Dugan and passing inside for Slater. Cameron Smith’s conversion took him past Jason Taylor’s all-time NRL goalkicking record, his 943rd successful shot at goal.
Nightingale grabbed a second shortly after on the back of some smart footwork from Mann to reduce the deficit to 34-8.
Nene Macdonald almost scored another consolation for the Dragons after intercepting a Slater pass, only to be run down and tackled centimetres short of the try line by Vunivalu and Addo-Carr. Referee Matt Cecchin sent Cronk to the sin bin for coming in late to slow down the play the ball.
The Dragons did score from the ensuing set with hooker Cameron McInnes crossing from dummy half.
Nightingale completed his hat-trick 10 minutes from full-time, his second hat-trick in four weeks after his effort against the Wests Tigers in round five.
They may have been long beaten but St George Illawarra refused to quit. Displaying much of the effort and determination they have to start the season, the Dragons scored again through Tariq Sims with two minutes remaining.
The final score may have been closer than the first 60 minutes of the game would indicate but the Dragons showed enough late on to give them confidence heading into the representative round – before a derby clash with fierce rivals Cronulla.
Leader Scoreboard
Melbourne Storm 34 (Suliasi Vunivalu two, Josh Addo-Carr two, Billy Slater two tries. Cameron Smith five goals)
defeated
St George Illawarra Dragons 22 (Jason Nightingale three, Cameron McInnes, Tariq Sims tries. Josh Dugan goal)
at WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Crowd: 12,377
Leader man of the match: Suliasi Vunivalu (Storm)
Dragons’ next three: Sharks (home), Warriors (away), BYE
