Round 13
Melbourne Storm 48 d. Brisbane Broncos 4

2009 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Melbourne steamroll Broncos
Sat June 6, 2009
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

The Melbourne Storm can add yet another tombstone to the Graveyard with an emphatic 48-4 victory over the Broncos, with young winger Joseph Tomane scoring an astounding 24 points.

The Storm were uncompromising in defence and even more brutal in attack leaving the Broncos still winless in Melbourne since 2003.

The Broncos sorely missed the presence of their captain Darren Lockyer, ruled out with general soreness and centre Justin Hodges.

For most of the game the Broncos almost looked disinterested in the contest.

The game was on level pegging for the first 10 minutes. Cameron Smith started on the bench and the young Broncos backline holding its own.

It took a star of the future, Joseph Tomane to kick-start the Storm's half when he broke the line and passed to Billy Slater.

Slater sprinted down the field and had Greg Inglis running with him. With the two Origin players combining, a try was never in doubt.

It was a text book broken play try, covering almost 80 metres while having support runners the whole way.

The Storm are one of the best in the league at turning line breaks into tries and they would prove that time and again against the Broncos.

In the 26th minute and another lapse in defence from the Broncos, letting big man Brett White make an easy line-break from the ruck.

Unsure of his passing, he took the tackle from Karmichael Hunt but the Broncos defence was too slow in getting back, quick hands out left giving Tomane his first for the night.

Cooper Cronk and Will Chambers also scored in the half to lead the Broncos 20-0.

The crowd of 15,318 stood and applauded as the Storm jogged off the field at half time while the Broncos looked like they didn't know what had hit them.

The second half was little different to the first as Slater opened the Storm's account in the opening minutes with an easy try from dummy-half.

The Broncos pressure around the ruck was almost non-existent while the Storm suffocated playmaker Peter Wallace.

The Storm had a field day down the left wing and Tomane was the beneficiary of the tactic.

He scored two more tries in the second half and converted six of the nine tries.

The Broncos found it near impossible to find scoring options. Peter Wallace's kicking game often went dead or was too easy to defend.

Their only try for the game came in the 65th minute when Israel Folau had a rare touch of the ball and got an opportunistic try as the ball bounced around in-goal.

Cronk got yet another try from poor defence at the ruck and with less than five minutes to go, Aiden Tolman took a few defenders with him to ground the ball.

Nobody could have predicted a game that looked close on paper would end up being such a rout, but the Storm put their foot on the Broncos throats and didn't take it off.

As good as the 48 points looks on the scoreboard, no doubt Bellamy would be particularly proud in keeping the Broncos to just the one try.

The Storm's place near the top of the ladder is shored up for another week and they'll go into next Saturday's game against the Rabbitohs full of confidence.

Storm 48 (Tries: Tomane 3, Cronk 2, Inglis, Chambers, Slater, Tolman; Goals: Tomane 6) def. Broncos 4 (Try: Folau)

Crowd: 15,318


Storm Round 13 v Broncos Game Notes
Thu June 4, 2009
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

The Storm enjoyed a bye last week following their disappointing 26-10 loss to the Bulldogs in Round 11 at Bluetongue Stadium.

Following the bye, the Storm sit in sixth position of the ladder.

Four players, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis Cam Smith and Dallas Johnson, will be backing up from Origin I at Etihad Stadium.

The Broncos also had a bye in Round 12, and in Round 11 they enjoyed a scratchy 20-18 win over the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

Brisbane will have five players backing up from Origin I, with Justin Hodges likely to miss the game after suffering a knee injury.

The Broncos sit in equal top spot on the ladder.

WHO: Melbourne Storm v Brisbane Broncos
WHAT: Round 13 of the 2009 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Olympic Park, Melbourne
WHEN: Friday, June 5th from 7.30pm
ON TV: Fox Sports 2 - 11.30pm, Channel 9 (Melbourne) - Midnight

FAST FACTS
* Melbourne has won eight of their past 10 meetings against the Broncos
* Brisbane has not won at Olympic Park since 2003
* Melbourne has conceded the first try in their past three games
* Brisbane has scored the first try in 10 of their 11 games this year

DID YOU KNOW?
Storm assistant coach Stephen Kearney was stunned when awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit award at this year's Queen's Birthday honours for his services to rugby league.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 25, Storm: 14, Broncos: 10, Drawn: 1
At Olympic Park: Played: 9, Storm: 7, Broncos: 2

FOR AND AGAINST 2009
Points for: Storm: 205, Broncos: 263
Points against: Storm: 158, Broncos: 203
Tries for: Storm: 35, Broncos: 48
Points differential: Storm: 47, Broncos: 60

LAST EIGHT CLASHES
2009 Broncos def. Storm 16-14 Suncorp Stadium
2008 Storm def. Broncos 16-14 Suncorp Stadium
2008 Storm def. Broncos 28-6 Olympic Park
2007 Storm def. Broncos 40-0 Olympic Park
2007 Storm def. Broncos 14-6 Olympic Park
2007 Storm def. Broncos 28-18 Suncorp Stadium
2006 Broncos def. Storm 15-8 ANZ Stadium
2006 Storm def. Broncos 18-12 Suncorp Stadium

THE STORM STORY SO FAR
ROUND ONE: Storm 17 (Tries: Inglis, Slater, Cronk; Goals: Smith 2; Field Goal: Inglis) def. Dragons 16 (Tries: Hornby, Cooper; Goals: Soward 4) at Olympic Park
ROUND TWO: Storm 14 (Tries: Slater, Proctor; Goals: Smith 3) def. by Broncos 16 (Tries: Folau, Michaels, Wallace; Goals: Parker 2) at Suncorp Stadium
ROUND THREE: Storm 26 (Tries: Inglis, Cronk, Quinn, Turner; Goals: Smith 5) def. Cowboys 12 (Tries: Bolton, Williams; Goals: Thurston 2) at Dairy Farmers Stadium
ROUND FOUR: Storm 6 (Try: Tomane; Goal: Smith) def. by Titans 18 (Tries: Bailey, Walker; Goals: Rogers 5) at Olympic Park
ROUND FIVE: Storm 16 (Tries: Slater, Quinn; Goals: Smith 4) def. Panthers 14 (Tries: Tighe, Lewis; Goals: Gordon 3) at Olympic Park
ROUND SIX: Storm 6 (Try: Hoffman; Goals Smith) def. by Tigers 16 (Tries: Moltzen, Lawrence 2; Goals: Marshall 2) at Leichhardt Oval
ROUND SEVEN: Storm 14 (Tries: Turner, Slater, Chambers ; Goals: Smith) drew Warriors 14 (Tries: Vatuvei 2, Ah Van; Goals: Kemp) at Olympic Park
ROUND EIGHT: Storm 22 (Tries: Inglis, Turner, Cross, Slater; Goals: Smith 3) def. Sea Eagles 8 (Tries: Robertson, Williams) at Brookvale Oval
ROUND NINE: Storm 28 (Tries: White, Turner, Hoffman, Lima, Finch; Goals: Tomane 4) def. Roosters 12 (Tries: Sa, Perrett; Goals: Fitzgibbon 2) at Bluetongue Stadium
ROUND TEN: Storm 46 (Tries: Slater 2, Inglis, Lima, Turner, Cross, Blair, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 6, Tomane) def. Raiders 6 (Tries: Monaghan; Goals: Campese) at Olympic Park
ROUND ELEVEN: Bulldogs 26 (Tries: Ryan, Goodwin, Millard, Warburton; Goals: El Masri 5) def. Storm 10 (Tries: Chambers 2; Goal: Smith) at Bluetongue Stadium
ROUND TWELVE: BYE

2009 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Slater 7, Turner 5, Inglis 4, Hoffman 3, Chambers 3, Cronk 2, Quinn 2, Lima 2, Cross 2, Proctor, Tomane, White, Finch, Blair

2009 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Smith 28, Tomane 5

2009 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Inglis

2009 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
Smith 56, Slater 28, Turner 20, Inglis 17, Tomane 14, Chambers 12, Hoffman 12, Cronk 8, Quinn 8, Lima 8, Cross 8, Proctor 4, White 4, Finch 4

MELBOURNE STORM INJURY UPDATE
Willie Isa (wrist): 1 week
Lucas Miller (knee reconstruction): 2 weeks
Kevin Proctor (ankle): 10 weeks

THE STORM AHEAD
Rd. 14 v Rabbitohs @ Members Equity Stadium (Perth), Saturday, June 13th from 7.30pm
Rd. 15 v Wests Tigers @ Olympic Park, Sunday, June 21st from 2.00pm
Rd. 16 v Raiders @ Canberra Stadium, Sunday, June 28th from 2.00pm
Rd. 17 v Knights @ Olympic Park, Saturday, July 4th from 7.30pm
Rd. 18 BYE
Rd. 19 v Eels @ Parramatta Stadium, Monday, July 20th from 7.00pm
Rd. 20 v Sharks @ Olympic Park, Saturday, July 25th from 7.30pm

TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
1 Dragons 18
2 Broncos 18
3 Bulldogs 16
4 Knights 16
5 Titans 16
6 Storm 15
7 Cowboys 14
8 Panthers 14
9 Rabbitohs 13
10 Warriors 11
11 Raiders 10
12 Sea Eagles 10
13 Wests Tigers 10
14 Eels 9
15 Roosters 8
16 Sharks 6

NRL SQUAD FOR FRIDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Billy Slater
2. Steve Turner
3. Will Chambers
4. Greg Inglis
5. Joseph Tomane
6. Brett Finch
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Jeff Lima
9. Cameron Smith [c]
10. Adam Blair
11. Matt Cross
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson

Interchange:
14. Ryan Hinchcliffe, 15. Sika Manu, 16. Aiden Tolman, 17. Brett White

Coach: Craig Bellamy

UNDER-20 SQUAD FOR FRIDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Gareth Widdop
2. Josh Jerome
3. Sam Joe
4. Pita Maile
5. Justin O'Neill
6. Dane Chisholm
7. Luke Kelly [c]
8. Pulou Vaituutuu
9. Jai Jones-Weigold
10. Jesse Bromwich
11. Rob Rochow
12. Fred Makimare
13. Billy Rogers

Interchange:
14. Blake Leary, 15. Will Naitoro, 16. Theo Stuart, 17. Jordan McLean

Coach: Brad Arthur

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