Competition leaders Melbourne survived an almighty scare from a never-say-die Manly to hold on for a 28-18 win at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
The Storm have put opponents to the sword week after week, scoring 40 or more 11 times in their 17-game win streak but the Sea Eagles pushed them to their limit and it was only a couple of late errors that allowed Melbourne to kick away.
Centre Justin Olam crossed for a double but all of the Storm’s stars contributed to the win through key interventions whether it be a try, try assist or line break.
Tom Trbojevic was kept relatively quiet, but still came up with two try assists, while Reuben Garrick crossed twice for a double.
Manly launched a stunning counter-attack in the shadows of half-time to head into the sheds all square at 8-8 with Melbourne after a half dominated by the competition front-runners.
The Sea Eagles hung tough as the Storm turned a 5-2 advantage in set restarts and a 4-0 penalty count into an 8-0 lead, surviving a bright Manly start to put the first points on the board through Kenny Bromwich eight minutes into the contest.
Melbourne looked to have moved further ahead when Nicho Hynes appeared to have collected his second try assist by putting Justin Olam over in the corner but the centre’s feet had crossed the sideline before he put the ball down.
Manly then made the Storm pay for not turning their dominance into more points, winger Jason Saab latching on to a Hynes cut-out pass and racing 90 metres to score before Garrick turned the Sea Eagles’ first penalty of the half into two points as time expired.
Story first published on NRL.com