Storm suffer shock loss to Titans
The Melbourne Storm has suffered a shock 18-6 loss to the Gold Coast Titans, only the Storm’s fourth loss at the ‘Graveyard’ in their last 45 games.
The Storm had their chances but made too many errors, were penalised at crucial times and were stifled by the Titans defence.
Billy Slater and the wingers, Steve Turner and Anthony Quinn, all got close but were denied tries either by skill errors or Titans’ defence.
The Titans capitalised on penalties against the Storm and spent most of the first half on the attack.
Titans prop Luke Bailey went over for a try in the 26th minute after a knock-on from Greg Inglis gave the Titans a set of six just 20 metres out, and Matt Rogers converted the resultant two penalty kicks.
Even without their playmaker, Scott Prince, and a dismal away record to think about, the Titans were creative in attack and difficult to contain.
On the other hand, the highlights for the Storm were few and far between.
A try-saving tackle by Cooper Cronk, and Dallas Johnson’s tally of 36 tackles for the half were impressive.
Young centre Will Chambers found a few gaps and made some handy metres but was often without support.
At half-time, the Storm were down 10-0, with the penalty count and the run of play against them.
The second half didn’t start any better for the Storm.
Brett Delaney took advantage of an overlap out wide and ran down the wing, committing Slater to the tackle, before offloading to Chris Walker for an easy try.
Young gun Joseph Tomane gave the Storm fans something to celebrate, running over for a try in the 51st minute to get the Storm on the board.
Slater picked a gap in the Titans line before offloading to Tomane 30 metres out.
Tomane’s fancy footwork and blistering speed saw him over the line. Willie Isa may be hard-pressed to regain his place in the side after Tomane’s performances in the last two games.
Cam Smith made the difficult conversion to have the Storm within reach of the Titans, and while Ryan Hoffman returned from an earlier head clash, it was not to be.
The Storm’s 14 errors often halted attacking moves and resulted in a completion rate of only 67% compared to the Titans 86%.
Kevin Proctor, Jeff Lima and Slater all tried hard but couldn’t break the line and the last tackle kicks from Cronk or Smith just didn’t bounce the right way.
Next week’s game against the Panthers takes on even greater importance for the Storm, as two home losses in a row may dent “The Graveyard’s” reputation.
Storm 6 (Try: Tomane; Goal: Smith) def. by Titans 18 (Tries: Bailey, Walker; Goals: Rogers 4) at Olympic Park.
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