Storm Stun Sea Eagles

A depleted Melbourne Storm got the job done on Saturday night against the Manly Sea Eagles, as a Cameron Smith penalty proved to be the match-winner as the Storm won a tense clash 14-13.

The visiting Storm were trailing 13-12 with just 8 minutes to go before an offside call against Manly gave Smith the opportunity to take a penalty, which he promptly converted.

Manly had largely struggled in the second half, kept scoreless by a stingy Storm defence after they had taken an early 12-0 lead following Shaun Lane's converted two tries in a four-minute span.

Josh Addo-Carr, Will Chambers, Felise Kaufusi, Cameron Munster and Billy Slater were all missing for the Storm following Origin duty, and Melbourne struggled in the first half without them, as the Sea Eagles dominated possession and field position. But they were wasteful and couldn't capitalise, taking a slender 13-6 lead into the half.

The Storm found their way over for a try at last through Suliasi Vunivalu, but there was controversy when it appeared Curtis Scott's pass was forward. Brodie Croft would then capitalise in the second half on some good work from Brandon Smith to trim the Sea Eagles lead to 13-12.

It was a close contest throughout according to Stats Insider's In-Play Win Probability, with neither team ever a more likely winner than when the Sea Eagles were at 70% in the first half. Manly held control of the game all night until their late error gave away the crucial and match-winning penalty.

The Storm had their chances in the second half but couldn't convert to points, making uncharacteristic mistakes at crucial times, and were somewhat bailed out by the Sea Eagles when the offside penalty was given away.

Nevertheless, the Storm sealed their fifth win at Lottoland in their last seven visits and claimed important premiership points without their Origin stars as they build towards yet another Finals campaign.

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