With 14 minutes to go Melbourne trailed St George Illawarra 30-28.
By full-time, the Storm had blown the Dragons away.
For more than an hour it was one of the games of the season before Melbourne produced a late surge to down St George Illawarra 52-30 on Thursday night.
The teams were without 11 of their stars in total – six for the Storm and five for the Dragons – on State of Origin duty.
But if there was concern the match would lose its quality after being shorn of its elite players, those that remained put on a show to remember.
Like a bout between two primed heavyweights, the Storm and Dragons went toe for toe and blow for blow. The match see-sawed for more than an hour. When one landed a punch, the other countered.
St George Illawarra got off to a disastrous start, losing Jacob Host inside the opening five minutes after the young back-rower suffered a dislocated shoulder.
And Melbourne added insult to injury in the 10th minute, with Suliasi Vunivalu batting back a Ryley Jacks kick for Curtis Scott to touch down.
The Dragons hit back shortly after when, on their first attack down Melbourne’s end, Gareth Widdop’s clever switch from the blind to open side saw St George Illawarra shift right through the hands for Kurt Mann to score in the corner against his former club.
But, as was the nature of the match, Melbourne hit back almost straight away to re-take the lead.
Cameron Smith put in an early kick down field, with the ball bouncing awkwardly back over the retreating Mann’s head allowing Brandon Smith to race through and pick up the loose ball. From the ensuing set the Storm went right for Brodie Croft to show exceptional footwork, slicing through James Graham and Widdop, to score.
It was the Dragons’ turn to respond and they did through Widdop, who ran to the left before firing a perfect cut out pass onto the chest of Nene Macdonald. The giant winger then produced an incredible put down, twisting his body to ground the ball in the corner despite having almost his entire body outside the field of play.
The Storm then hit back again through a Cheyse Blair try before St George Illawarra scored one of the most bizarre tries in recent memory.
A panicked offload from Melbourne inside their own 20 metre area hit the ground, with Cameron Smith toeing the ball back into his own in-goal. Croft got back to scoop it up and ran 20m across field in the in-goal area before sneaking into the field of play.
But Euan Aitken showed great strength to hold up the young halfback and steal the ball one on one before powering his way over two defenders to score.
But just as the Dragons had put their nose in front, they gifted Melbourne the lead on the stroke of half-time.
Ryan Hoffman got on the outside of debutant Darren Nicholls and strode down field before beating Matt Dufty with a dummy and sliding over to score despite the efforts of Mann.
Melbourne extended their lead to 24-18 two minutes into the second half with a Smith penalty goal. Before the Dragons drew level once again with half an hour to play as Luciano Leilua benefited from Tim Lafai’s quick hands to score.
But, again, the Storm answered. A poor read in defence from Jason Nightingale ended with Young Tonumaipea barging over in the corner. Only for St George Illawarra to regain the lead on the hour mark.
A scrum 10m out from Melbourne’s line saw Dufty attack the blind side, with his electric pace setting up Mann for his second try of the night.
With the Dragons in front 30-28 entering the last 15 minutes the Storm needed a final push and they got it. Firstly, Jahrome Hughes showed lighting speed to race through and score before Blair scored his second from another long-range break.
Then two more quick tries to Jacks and Vunivalu saw the score blow out as the Storm secured their 15th win in a row against the Dragons in Melbourne.
The loss saw the Dragons fall from the top of the table with South Sydney overtaking St George Illawarra on for and against thanks to their bye.
The Dragons will look to regroup before hosting the Wests Tigers at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah next Sunday.
Leader Scoreboard
Melbourne Storm 46 (Cheyse Blair two, Curtis Scott, Brodie Croft, Ryan Hoffman, Young Tonumaipea, Jahrome Hughes, Ryley Jacks, Suliasi Vunivalu tries. Cameron Smith eight goals)
defeated
St George Illawarra Dragons 30 (Kurt Mann two, Nene Macdonald, Euan Aitken, Luciano Leilua tries. Gareth Widdop five goals)
at AAMI Park, Melbourne
Dragons’ next three: Tigers (home – Kogarah), Cowboys (away), Roosters (away)
