Matty Johns blown away by Storm drama: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’

Matthew Johns has been left gobsmacked by the ludicrous ending to the Storm-Rabbitohs thriller that has the NRL lost for words.

Ryan Papenhuyzen was the hero. Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

Matthew Johns said he has “never seen anything like it” after South Sydney came back from the dead in the final 15 minutes before losing a golden point heart-stopper in Melbourne on Thursday night.

The Storm were saved by field-goal hero Ryan Papenhuyzen, who danced through Rabbitohs defenders before pulling up and drop-kicking the Steeden over the black dot to win the game in the 83rd minute.

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It came after the Storm had led 14-0 with 12 minutes left to play.

What came after that was simply ridiculous.

Bang. Alex Johnston scored in the 68th minute.

Bang. Jaxson Paulo scored.

Bang. Justin Olam was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate offside.

Bang. Campbell Graham scored to give Souths Star Latrell Mitchell a chance to send the game into extra-time with a sideline conversion.

He missed.

Latrell Mitchell had a strange night with the boot. Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

Mitchell had missed all three conversions when he was passed the ball in the 79th minute and casually proceeded to slot a freakish 48m double-point field goal.

Suddenly it was 14-14.

Somehow, in Craig Bellamy’s 500th game as an NRL coach, the Storm got over the line thanks to Papenhuyzen.

The incredible momentum shifts left NRL commentators stunned.

“Have you seen the likes of this? it’s a circus out there,” Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said.

“This is the most amazing night.”

Panthers great Greg Alexander also told Fox League: “Have you ever seen anything as crazy as what just happened”.

With the dust still settling on the Storm’s epic win, Matty Johns was still coming to terms with the dramatic finish.

“I’ve never seen a last 10-15 minutes like that before,” he said on Fox League’s Late Show with Matty Johns.

The Storm performed a great escape. Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

“That was incredible. For 65 minutes South Sydney had been so poor, particularly in the first half. 14-0 was really no indication of Melbourne’s dominance. I don’t know how they hung in there, let alone drew level. That last 10 minutes, I’ve never seen anything like it. It was outrageous.”

Despite the win, Eels legend Nathan Hindmarsh said Bellamy would still have been filthy with his players for letting the game almost slip through their fingers.

“I wouldn’t want to be a Melbourne Storm player going into those sheds tonight,” he said.

“To not put them away at 14-0, they’re going to cop a hiding.”

Harry Grant had a monster game for the Storm and showed the club is going to have to pay some big money to get him to sign a contract extension while NRL rivals prepare to make offers at the end of the year.