Suliasi Vunivalu scores hat-trick as Melbourne Storm thump Brisbane Broncos 48-6
A RUTHLESS Melbourne Storm consigned the shell-shocked Broncos to their worst home defeat, putting on eight tries to one to record a 48-6 annihilation.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE first thing Melbourne Storm chief executive Dave Donaghy should do Saturday morning is look to move every home game to Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Storm fans wouldn’t like it, but you couldn’t argue with the breathtaking results.
A ruthless Melbourne consigned a shell-shocked Brisbane to its worst defeat at home, putting on eight tries to one to record a 48-6 annihilation.
Fijian rookie Suliasi Vunivalu scored a hat-trick, centre Cheyse Blair a double and Cooper Cronk — who registered five try assists — dominated as Storm scored its 11th win over Brisbane in their past 12 meetings.
It also continued Storm’s remarkable record at Suncorp Stadium, with the Victorian side winning 10 of its past 11 games at the Brisbane venue.
“We’ve been very fortunate up here over the past few years coming up playing the Broncs, and there’s no doubt the boys enjoy coming here,” Storm skipper Cameron Smith told Channel Nine.
“I don’t think any of us in our squad saw a scoreline like that coming, but is a pleasing effort against a quality side.”
The only sour point for Storm was its forward stocks were again hit with Jordan McLean (ankle) and Tohu Harris (ribs) unable to finish the game.
Although, the good outweighed the bad with Storm producing a brilliant performance across the board.
Brisbane had the best of the early opportunities and peppered Melbourne’s line with a number of repeat sets.
Then everything changed in an instant.
A bullet-like pass from Cronk found Kevin Proctor for the first try of the match against the run of play.
Storm then stunned the home crowd with a second try just two minutes later.
It started with the Bromwich brothers, with Kenny putting older sibling Jesse into a huge hole.
From there, Storm pushed it wide with centre Ryan Moran taking advantage of a disorganised Broncos’ defensive line to score.
Then a clever Cronk kick found Vunivalu in the corner for his first try of the night.
It was quite the start, but Storm wasn’t done yet for the first half.
Next it was Blair’s turn, with the centre barging his way over for Melbourne’s fourth try of the half.
Remarkably, Storm found itself up 30-0 within 35 minutes courtesy of Vunivalu, who completed his double after taking down a Cronk cross-field kick.
Brisbane finally got on the board right on half-time with speedster James Roberts weaving his magic to beat the Melbourne defence.
In a repeat of last weekend, Storm led by 24 points at the break.
But this time, unlike last week, there would be no big fade out with Storm adding three second half tries.
MELBOURNE STORM 48 (S Vunivalu 3 C Blair 2 M Koroibete R Morgan K Proctor tries C Smith 8 goals) bt BRISBANE BRONCOS 6 (J Roberts try C Parker goal) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Matt Noyen. Crowd: 44,519.
Originally published as Suliasi Vunivalu scores hat-trick as Melbourne Storm thump Brisbane Broncos 48-6
Broncos star dating Channel 9 journalist
Broncos and Queensland star Pat Carrigan, once one of Australia’s most eligible bachelors, is officially off the market.
‘Needs to prove himself’: Eels great’s $400k wake up call for Brown
Parramatta legend Brett Kenny has declared Dylan Brown is not worth his $1.2 million asking price and has called for the Eels official who allowed the get-out clauses in his contract to be sacked.