Where Melbourne’s 30-0 preliminary final belting of Brisbane was won and lost

A FAILED gamble, some nervous moments and a dominant forward performance were the defining factors in Melbourne’s 30-0 win over Brisbane.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — SEPTEMBER 22: Broncos players look dejected as the Storm celebrate at the final whistle during the NRL Preliminary Final match between the Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos at AAMI Park on September 22, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

A FAILED gamble, some nervous moments and a dominant forward performance were the defining factors in Melbourne’s 30-0 win over Brisbane.

Here’s where the game was won and lost.

1) BRISBANE EMBRACE WRESTLEMANIA

Wrestling always comes up in the chat when Melbourne are playing but in the early stages it was Brisbane who put on their best WWE impression, working over the ruck whenever the Storm ran the ball. It was effective, slowing down the Melbourne’s momentum in the forwards and former Storm prop Adam Blair was the greatest spoiler.

It was close to peak Blair — against his former club he used all his old tricks to slow down the ruck, he put all sorts of pressure on Cooper Cronk and niggled the Storm to the end in his final game for the Broncos.

In the latter stages of the match, when the result was beyond doubt, Brisbane turned in some back-alley stuff including a late shot on Cronk from Blair and a mindless challenge on Billy Slater from Jordan Kahu. It was poor form from a Broncos team who are usually so well-disciplined.

The Storm are heading to another grand final.

2) BRONCOS DON’T TAKE ADVANTAGE

Brisbane had their chances in the first half — their forwards did a great job in the middle and some sloppy errors from the Storm’s back three gave them good field position.

However, their playmakers failed to stand up and take control of the game, despite some promising right to left sweeps.

Tautau Moga and Corey Oates let a couple of tries go begging and Anthony Milford looked likely but James Roberts saw such little ball he may have caught a cold, while Kodi Nikorima was a ghost.

Darius Boyd showed great toughness and bravery to play with a hamstring that would have been buggered on a good day, but it limited his impact in attack badly.

Their struggles continued in the first 20 minutes of the second half and Roberts continued to have little impact — he had just seven runs.

The failure of the Broncos to give him more clean ball was puzzling.

They instead chose to feed Tautau Moga, and while Moga has come a long way since the season began he sadly saved his worst game in a Broncos jersey for his last.

Darius Boyd was clearly underdone.

3) SHOULD BOYD HAVE PLAYED?

Wayne Bennett’s decision to play Boyd when his skipper was clearly struggling with his hamstring will be heavily debated in the weeks to come.

Whatever benefits Boyd may have given the Broncos in terms of organisation he did not have the speed or agility he usually possess and it hampered Brisbane’s attack badly.

Was it an error for Boyd to play? One of Bennett’s great strengths is the trust he has in his players, and the confidence that breeds plays a huge role in his team’s success, but perhaps the super coach got this one wrong.

Having said that, Boyd made the decision to rule himself out last week and may have had the final call this time around as well.

Benji Marshall came on for Boyd in the 53rd minute and showed some spark from the jump, but he was left with too much to do.

Aside from Boyd, Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt and Kodi Nikorima all had games to forget, particularly with their last tackle options.

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4) CLOSE ENOUGH WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR STORM

For their second match in a row, Melbourne were below their best.

That seems a crazy thing to say about a team who won 30-0 in a preliminary final, but it’s true. In the first half in particular, the Storm made some needless errors and only some terrific scramble defence and the listlessness of the Broncos attack kept them from paying the ultimate price.

In the second half their struggles continued until Billy Slater’s first try in the 59th minute and from there it was classic Storm football all the way.

Unless the Storm have another similar patch in next week’s decider it is difficult to see North Queensland or the Roosters matching them.

But having said that, it was just as difficult to see Melbourne having so many wrinkles in back to back finals matches.

5) FORWARDS PAVE THE WAY

Slater and Cronk and Munster and Chambers and Addo-Carr score the points and fill the highlight reels but Melbourne’s forward pack was truly excellent and showed none of the errors of their backline brothers.

Jordan McLean was excellent in his final home game, roaming out wide and making untold metres with every carry. He’ll be a super purchase for the Cowboys next season.

Tohu Harris was strong as ever on the left edge and Felise Kaufusi was dazzling on the right, popping two great offloads in the lead-up to the Slater tries.

The Melbourne forwards did a great job throughout the match.

Kaufusi has been a real success story for the Storm this year — he has a different style to Kevin Proctor, using footwork and mobility more than raw power — and has grown as a player every week.

Add in the work of Nelson Asofa-Solomona off the bench and it was a domination by the purple people-eaters as the match drew on.

But it wasn’t one-way traffic — the Broncos forwards gave as good as they got for 60 minutes, especially bench forward Herman Ese’ese and backrower Matt Gillett.

Originally published as Where Melbourne’s 30-0 preliminary final belting of Brisbane was won and lost