Tyson Frizell ended his St George Illawarra career a winner with two tries as the Dragons ended their sorry NRL season with a 30-22 win over a depleted Melbourne.
With 12 of their main players still back in their Sunshine Coast camp ahead of next week’s finals, Melbourne led 16-6 before letting the game slip in the second half.
Both sides scored five tries, but the Storm were left to rue four missed conversions from stand-in skipper Ryan Papenhuyzen who was otherwise their best.
But even while fielding the second least experienced side in the NRL era with just 547 games between them, there were still concerns for the Storm before the finals.
Max King was placed on report for a hip-drop tackle on Blake Lawrie, that prompted ex-players like Greg Alexander in commentary to call for him to be sin-binned.
Tui Kamikamica could also be under the microscope for a first-half shoulder charge on Jayden Sullivan after he’d passed, despite it going unpenalised on field.
Making matters worse, Kamikamica finished the game off the field with an ankle injury.
Both players will now face a nervous wait ahead of Saturday’s qualifying final against Parrramatta at Suncorp Stadium.
Despite their missing stars, Melbourne at one stage looked like they were going to pull off an unlikely win after a dominant first half from Papenhuyzen.
The fullback set up their first when he sliced through the Dragons’ left-edge defence and put Paul Momirovski over.
He also threw the last pass for Chris Lewis to score another, this time catching the Dragons’ right edge short with his speed.
But after Sandor Earl and Isaac Lumelume also both crossed off kicks, Frizell’s farewell party began in his 165th and final game for the Dragons before moving to Newcastle.
He ran onto a Matt Dufty ball to make it 16-12 at the break, before the Dragons were given the lead in the second half via a penalty try to Zac Lomax.
McInnes was the man who laid the grubber on Lomax was chasing, as well as the Dragons’ next when he burst down field and put Dufty over.
Then after Nicho Hynes put the Storm back in the game when he grubbered for himself, Frizell cemented the Dragons’ win by claiming a Sullivan kick and scoring.
It meant the Dragons finish 12th, in a season where coach Paul McGregor walked and interim Dean Young was beaten out by Anthony Griffin to be the replacement from next year.