{"id":373957,"date":"2024-03-08T10:22:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T11:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=373957"},"modified":"2024-03-08T12:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T12:03:43","slug":"storm-cement-remarkable-run-in-nail-biting-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=373957","title":{"rendered":"Storm cement 'remarkable' run in nail-biting thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a> has kept their incredible round one winning streak intact, defeating reigning premiers Penrith<\/a> in a brutal low-scoring clash on Friday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Craig Bellamy<\/a>'s perfect record as a head coach in the first round continued, extending their unbeaten run to 23 years in a row following a blockbuster at AAMI Park.<\/p>\n

The visitors had plenty of opportunities in the final 20 minutes of the contest, but the defence from the Storm was as resilient as ever in a historic victory.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Gritty' Hynes effort leads Sharks to comeback win\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Warriors coach explains 'clunky' second-half collapse<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Joey's warning as 'rumours' circle $800k Dragons gun<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

N\ufeffathan Cleary<\/a> almost scored from a desperate effort, chasing through to the dead-ball line from a scrum trick play, before the Panthers held out the Storm down the other end.<\/p>\n

After the break, the try-less deadlock was finally snapped in the 49th minute when Reimis Smith crossed for the hosts, taking their lead beyond a converted try.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It looked as though Melbourne was in again through Tui Kamikamica, but the Fijian international bobbled the ball over the line in a moment that left his coach stunned.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"He actually tried to plant it down with the fingers … he just had to roll the arm over big Tui," former teammate Cameron Smith said on Nine.<\/p>\n

"The big props don't get too many opportunities to score tries.<\/p>\n

"Is there a shot of Craig Bellamy?"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The side continued to defend their own tryline as carnage ensued, with a plethora of forced dropouts and bodies flying \ufeffall over the place as the Panthers attacked.<\/p>\n

"Melbourne Storm have tackled themselves to another opening-round win, and it continues this remarkable statistic," Mat Thompson said on Nine. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"This is as good a defensive performance as we've ever seen. With what we have seen tonight, they are going to be frighteningly hard to beat."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Despite missing star five-eighth Cameron Munster<\/a> and key enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona, the Storm were able to hang tough and aim up without the ball in hand, turning in one of their most gritty recent performances.<\/p>\n

"I can't think of a tougher victory from the Storm over the past couple of years," legend Andrew Johns said at full-time.<\/p>\n

\ufeffDespite being on the wrong end of possession and making 13 errors, the Storm were able to keep turning up and turn away a star-studded Panthers outfit.<\/p>\n

After the game, returning fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen described the match as a "dog fight" during an interview with Nine.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWe're just working for each other and when things go wrong, we aren't complaining … when you've got that mentality, it will go a long way," he said.<\/p>\n

Both sides will now nurse their tired and sore bodies before their respective round two match-ups against the Warriors and Eels. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne has kept their incredible round one winning streak intact, defeating reigning premiers Penrith in a brutal low-scoring clash on Friday night.\ufeff Craig Bellamy's perfect […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":373959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=373957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373962,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373957\/revisions\/373962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/373959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=373957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=373957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=373957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}