Melbourne Storm flyer Xavier Coates has produced a put-down for the ages, scoring a try described as the greatest ever in the NRL to hand his side a last-gasp victory over the Warriors.
Coates will feature on highlight reels for years to come after somehow grounding the football with a gravity-defying effort in the dying seconds. After leaping from almost five metres out from the tryline, Coates’ entire body was out of the field of play. However, he somehow managed to ground the football, despite the attention of Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
It was the second try that Melbourne scored in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the game to seal one of the NRL’s most remarkable comebacks.
“I didn’t even know if I got the ball down, so I couldn’t really celebrate with them, but it all popped up on the big screen and ended up getting a try,” Coates said.
Asked what was going through his mind when he was watching the replay, Coates said: “I was thinking I didn’t want to put my left hand down on the sideline.
Xavier Coates of the Storm scores the match-winning try.Credit: Getty
“So I was hoping that left hand stayed up. I knew I was up in the air and I got the ball down with my right hand, but I was hoping that left hand didn’t touch the sideline. I sort of just ended up getting the ball down.
“I’m pretty happy to get that ball down and to finish the game, the way we did. I’m just really proud of the team.”
The Maroons star revealed that he regularly practices acrobatic put-downs at training.
“We get the big pads out, we put them on the side and I get someone to pass me the ball and then come across and sort of push me over as I to try to plant the ball down,” he said.
“I try to get my body into certain positions where I can get it down without the ball sort of getting whacked out by the defender coming across.
“So it’s definitely something I work on at training and I’m just happy that it pulled off in a game.”
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was still coming to terms with the extraordinary finish.
“I was just about to leave about two minutes ago, I thought that was about it,” Bellamy said.
“I was just gonna jump in the car and go home actually … There’s not too many guys now going to score a try like that. But, he’s one hell of a player, Xavier.”
The 30-26 victory at AAMI Park extends the Storm’s winning run to 15 over the Warriors, a result made possible due to fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen’s second try. And then Coates completed one of the most unlikely comebacks of them all.
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