Flyer’s form hands Bellamy big headache; tale of two halves: What we learned

The Melbourne Storm have defeated the New Zealand Warriors 38-24 at Go Media Stadium, extending their winning streak over the Auckland side to 16 games.

After 20 minutes of this match it appeared as if it would be one of the easiest victories of Andrew Webster’s tenure, after his side led 14-nil after 18 minutes.

A first set penalty and a string of cheap set restarts from the Storm allowed the Warriors to entrench themselves deep inside Melbourne’s 20.

Adam Pompey crashed over after four minutes and before a wonderful flick pass from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad somehow found Marcelo Montoya for his first of the night.

After 15 minutes, the home side had 82% of the ball and had been tackled 19 times in the Storm’s 20. By comparison, at that stage Melbourne completed just three teams and had made four times as many tackles.

However, once the Storm organised themselves, minimised their errors and brought their discipline into line, the momentum was all in their favour.

Jahrome Hughes imprinted himself on the clash increasingly throughout the first half, and ended the opening 40 minutes having assisted three of his side’s four tries.

Fox League’s Corey Parker applauded the Storm No.7 on commentary, stating Hughes is “single-handedly picking apart the defensive line of the Warriors.”