NRL 2016: Melbourne Storm down Newcastle Knights thanks to try double from Cooper Cronk

IT was a substandard performance, but a double from halfback Cooper Cronk helped Melbourne overcome a brave Newcastle.

Cooper Cronk crossed twice to help his team to a Round 5 victory.

IT was a substandard performance that had coach Craig Bellamy blasting his troops from the coach’s box, but a double from halfback Cooper Cronk helped Melbourne overcome a brave Newcastle outfit with a hard fought 18-14 victory at AAMI Park yesterday afternoon.

The Storm were heavily favoured to easily account for the winless Knights, but the Novocastrians led for most of the match despite losing two players in the first half.

Centre Sione Mata’utia left the field after just six minutes with concussion following a heavy collision with forward Richard Kennar, while hooker Danny Levi lipped off with spasms in the back after 25 minutes.

Sione Mata'utia suffered concussion early in the match.

Despite the setbacks, the Knights led 14-6 midway through the second half through tries to forwards Jacob Saifiti and Korbin Sims and looked destined to continue their recent domination over the Storm.

Enter Cronk.

The champion halfback capitalised on a perfect pass from lock Dale Finucane to narrow the gap with a scintillating solo try in the 63rd minute, before a try out wide with eight minutes remaining to Kennar sealed the win for the Storm.

Melbourne may have picked up the two points to record their 300th victory since entering the competition back in 1998, but skipper Cameron Smith was far from happy with the mistake-riddled display from his charges.

“There were some really good things we did, but some really poor things as well,” Smith told Fox Sports after the match.

“I’m not even too sure if that was an improvement on last week against Cronulla.

Cooper Cronk crossed twice to help his team to a Round 5 victory.

“Our defence is what kept us in the game today, but our attack is very poor at the moment and we’ve got to sort what we are doing and especially when we are attacking the oppositions try line.”

Newcastle remain winless after five rounds, but their gutsy display against Melbourne was proof coach Nathan Brown’s youth policy is on the right track.

As for the Storm, they’ll need to improve dramatically for their blockbuster clash against Canterbury at AAMI Park next Monday night.

One thing’s for certain, they’ll cop their fair share of sprays from coach Bellamy in the lead-up to taking on the Bulldogs.

Originally published as NRL 2016: Melbourne Storm down Newcastle Knights thanks to try double from Cooper Cronk