Injury ravaged Warriors come close to ending eight-year hoodoo against Storm

At AAMI Park, Melbourne: Storm 30 (Justin Olam 14 min, Cameron Munster 34 min, Nick Meaney 47 min, 56 min, Harry Grant 75 min tries; Meaney 5 goals). Warriors 22 (Jackson Ford 4 min, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 10 min, 44 min, Addin Fonua-Blake 20 min tries; Shaun Johnson 3 goals). HT: 12-18

Sin binned: Dylan Walker (Warriors)

The Warriors have once again failed to beat the Melbourne Storm, but boy they had a good crack at trying to win their first game against them since 2015.

They went down 30-22 in the traditional Anzac Day fixture in Melbourne to make it 14 losses in a row against Craig Bellamy’s team.

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The last time the Warriors beat the Storm, John Key was prime minister, the country was debating whether to change its flag and the price of a litre of 91 petrol was $2.04.

Yes, that’s how long it’s been since the Warriors last beat the Storm, but for an hour in Melbourne it looked like the streak could be coming to an end as the Warriors played inspired footy and were ready to stop this being one of the most one-sided rivalries in professional sport.

At the start of the game, the Warriors showed they weren’t overawed by the occasion, or playing against a team they haven’t beat for eight years.

They took on the Storm up front, played with more passion and aggression and won the key battles, which allowed Shaun Johnson to produce his magic and open up the Storm defence.

But despite being up 22-12 after 44 minutes they slipped away, partly because of injuries and partly because of self-inflicted wounds.

When these teams played in this annual fixture last year, the Storm won 70-10, this season’s result is a 62-point turnaround from 12 months ago, so some perspective is required.

For the second week in a row the Warriors got off to a great start, with Jackson Ford attacking the Storm defence and exposing a gap left open by Reimis Smith to score.

A second try came soon after, with a peach of a pass from Johnson, to Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad who then shovelled it out to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to cross the line.

But following a Munster 40/20 the Storm launched their first attack and it resulted in a try to Justin Olam.

Addin Fonau-Blake was unstoppable early on and the way he crashed through the Storm’s defensive line in the 20th minute would have sent Craig Bellamy’s blood pressure to dangerously high levels.

But Nelson Asofa-Solomona made an impact for the Storm when he came off the interchange bench a minute later.

That, the silly penalties and errors from the Warriors allowed the Storm to get momentum and six minutes before the break Munster strolled in for his team’s second try.

It got worse for the Warriors before the players entered the sheds. Firstly Tohu Harris had to leave the field for his second knee injury this season. Then Dylan Walker was sin binned for a head slam on Eliesa Katoa, that forced the former Warrior to take an HIA test, which he failed.

With Walker still off the field, Watene-Zeleniak again exposed the Storm’s frail left edge for his second try.

However, Nick Meaney scored soon after for the Storm and there was another blow for the Warriors in the 53rd minute when Nicoll-Klokstad went off the field for a head knock,

Another Meaney try and then his conversion put the Storm in front for the first time.

The Warriors were down to 13 fit players when Jazz Tevaga limped down the tunnel with 15 minutes to go and Bayley Sironen also went off for a HIA.

Not surprisingly, the Warriors were out of gas for the remainder of the game and it wasn’t a shock when Harry Grant scored another try for the Storm in the 75th minute.

So the streak continues, but it was another performance that showed how things are different this year for the Warriors.

AT A GLANCE

The big moment

The last couple of minutes of the first half were huge. The Warriors conceded a try, lost Tohu Harris to an injury and had Dylan Walker sin binned, it was too hard to recover from all of that.

Match rating

8/10: Too many times this Anzac Day game has been a blowout, but this new look Warriors team helped make this a thrilling end to end battle.

MVP

Addin Fonua-Blake produced one of his best ever performances for the Warriors, having to play for 71 minutes because of injuries, he ran the ball for 177 metres, causing carnage up the middle.

The big picture

The Warriors picked up a heavy injury toll from this game and with fixtures against the Roosters and Panthers coming up, the squad’s depth is going to be severely tested.