Melbourne Storm

The Storm and Raiders finished first and second respectively on the 2016 Telstra Premiership ladder and now face off with a spot in the NRL Grand Final at stake.

A big second half from the home side saw them move to within one win of a grand final berth, as North Queensland will now host Brisbane next weekend in a rematch of last year's decider.

An early second half try to prop Jesse Bromwich would give the Storm a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as the Storm would quash the demons of last year's preliminary final loss to the Cowboys.

The opening 40 turned out to be a game of two halves, as Melbourne took it to the Cowboys from the outset and dominated the opening 20 minutes.

After losing to the out-of-sorts Broncos in round 25, the Storm returned to their absolute best in Saturday's first-versus-second showdown in front of 24,135 people at AAMI Park.

The Sharks, meanwhile, could fall from second to third and lose their rights to a home final in the opening week of the playoffs if the Raiders beat Wests Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

One week after handing Cronulla its first loss since March, the Raiders on Monday night became just the second team in 30 years to beat the competition leaders in back-to-back games.

In front of 15,707 fans at Canberra Stadium, the Raiders claimed arguably their best win for the year with their defence turning the Storm away 51 times inside their own 20m zone.

In contrast, Canberra had just 16 possessions in the opposition red zone.

PNG Hunters utility Justin Olam will travel to Melbourne after the games this Sunday with the Redcliffe Dolphins to visit Melbourne Storms coach Craig Bellamy to see where he will be residing to play with his new NRL club.

Hunter’s coach Michael Marum said Justin is a dangerous player being in the Hunters team and his performance has boosted the team in many games.

“Replacing Co-Captain Noel Zeming, he has played well scoring tries and defending the corner lanes,” Marum said.

The emphatic victory saw the Storm reclaim first place on the ladder from Cronulla and they will hang on to it despite the fact the Sharks are yet to play their round-14 game.

Cronulla would have to beat reigning premiers North Queensland by more than 42 points on Monday night in what would be its 10th-straight win to take top spot back.

On Saturday night, the Storm looked every part worthy ladder leaders as long-serving stars Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk led them around the park.

Despite conceding in the opening 10 minutes the Storm kept the Panthers scoreless for the remainder of the game, much to coach Craig Bellamy's delight.

"I thought we were really strong defensively, they scored in the first 10 minutes, so to keep them scoreless for 70… it was outstanding," Bellamy said.

Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk both had a say in Queensland's 6-4 win over New South Wales in Origin I on Wednesday night and while Craig Bellamy is expecting his captain to take the field on Saturday, he's still unsure as to whether Cooper Cronk has recovered from an ankle injury suffered during Queensland's training camp.

"Cameron's come back and he looks like he's moving OK, so we'll see how he trains later today," Bellamy said. 

Ben Hampton was the latest to join the injury list after tearing his calf in Saturday night's thrilling one-point win over the Cowboys.

Hampton will most likely spend close to a month on the sidelines, and Bellamy joked it could have something to do with the jumper numbers. 

"It just seems to be that when we throw someone in a 3 or 4 jersey they get hurt, so I've got no inclination in throwing [Cameron] Smith, Cooper [Cronk] or Jesse [Bromwich] out in the centres at the moment," Bellamy laughed.

Vindicating taking a home game on the road to record their sixth straight win at Queensland's home of rugby league, a judicious decision by Smith to take a field goal 10 minutes from full-time was all that separated two sides who came into the clash locked together on top of the table.

The Storm moved to the outright competition lead with their eighth win of the season and showed with the NRL's best defence and two of the game's sharpest minds at the helm that they have all the qualities needed to challenge for the title later in the year.