Warriors NRL struggles continue as they fall to Melbourne Storm at Mt Smart Stadium

By Michael Burgess

The last time the Warriors beat the Melbourne Storm, Richie McCaw was All Blacks captain, Barack Obama was in the White House and John Key was our Prime Minister.

That was back in July 2015, and the Storm's dominance continued on Friday night with a 24-12 victory at Mt Smart Stadium, extending their winning streak against the Warriors to 13 matches.

The Warriors were in the contest for a long period and an upset result was in the air at halftime as the home side only trailed 10-8 in front of a vocal 18,395 crowd.

The Warriors had probably edged the first half – but couldn't make the most of their opportunities – and the Storm's greater attacking variety and superior defensive resilience proved the difference.

But for the third consecutive week, the Warriors will wonder what might have been.

Some cheap errors killed momentum at crucial times, while their season long inability to turn pressure into points was costly.

That was epitomised in the third quarter, when the Warriors came up empty after three consecutive sets on the Melbourne line, before the Storm scored a 60m long-range try on the next play.

Wing Edward Kosi had a special night, with a hat-trick of tries (all unconverted), while Tohu Harris set a high standard against his former team. Reece Walsh was also impressive on his home debut in an all action display. The Warriors lost Chanel Harris-Tavita to injury midway through the first half, though Wayde Egan filled in well as a makeshift five-eighth.

Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes ran the game well for the Storm, while prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona was a brutal presence, though he was fortunate to escape sanction for a sickening early hit on Egan.

Despite the Storm's recent losing run, Friday was always going to be a uphill struggle. Melbourne still had plenty of quality, with four top line Kiwi internationals along with several Queensland stars.

The cynical side of the Storm was apparent in the first half. Asofa-Solomona smashed Egan's head into the ground with his forearm in the third minute, in a cynical attack. Egan left the field for a head injury assessment but the Melbourne prop avoided the sinbin.

Things got worse for the Warriors minutes later, as Justin Olam ran through wafer thin defence on the Warriors right edge.

Walsh then went close with a searing break, but the Warriors couldn't finish off the resulting opportunities.

More foul play by the Storm, with Grant appearing to put his fingers in Jazz Tevaga's eye, before Josh King worked him over on the ground, led to another penalty (but again nothing further), before Kosi crossed in the corner, following a swift backline move.

But the Storm always looked more dangerous. Winger Grant Anderson shelled the ball with the line open, before Grant, started and finished an incisive move.

The Warriors blew their own golden chance, as Walsh spurned a two man overlap, with a misplaced pass but the home side made no mistake in the 33rd minute, with Egan producing a beautiful ball to send Kosi in again. There probably should have been more, but a simple error stopped momentum just before halftime, after sustained pressure.

The Warriors were made to pay for that profligacy moments into the second half, as Hughes strolled through a gaping hole close to the line, after Cameron Munster had collected defenders. It continued a recent pattern of lapses just after the interval. The Warriors responded, forcing consecutive goal line dropouts – but had no end product – before the Storm produced the ultimate counter attack, with a 60m move brilliantly finished by Nick Meaney.

A neat set move from a scrum saw Kosi score his third try in the 63rd minute, after a looping rainbow pass from Johnson, but the deficit always looked too great.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission