A late Cameron Smith penalty goal has helped Melbourne come back from the brink to avoid an upset NRL loss and beat arch rivals Manly 14-13 at Lottoland.
After the Sea Eagles jumped out to a 12-0 lead early and Daly Cherry-Evans kicked a field goal just before the break, the Storm scored tries either side of halftime to reduce the margin to one.
The game remained at 13-12 for a high-quality 20 minutes during the second half before Trent Hodkinson was penalised for picking up the ball in an offside position with nine minutes to go.
Without five of their Origin stars in Billy Slater, Cameron Munster, Will Chambers, Josh Addo-Carr and Felise Kaufusi, Smith then kicked the Storm to victory with a penalty goal.
Smith’s availability through the Origin period again paid dividends as the Storm went 6-0 through the representative weeks for the first time in the club’s history.
The win moves Melbourne to second on the NRL ladder ahead of St George Illawarra, who have a game to play against the Wests Tigers this weekend.
Any chances of a rematch between Storm centre Curtis Scott and Manly’s Dylan Walker, who came to blows two months ago in Melbourne, were rubbed out before kick-off when Walker was sidelined with a knee injury.
But Scott had the last laugh regardless, putting on an offload that appeared to go forward for Melbourne’s first try through Suliasi Vunivalu in the 34th minute.
After Brodie Croft crossed nine minutes after halftime, Scott looked as if he was going to give Melbourne the lead when he charged over on his right edge.
However, the bunker ruled he had dropped the ball in a tackle from Manly’s Joel Thompson just as he went to get it down.
Cherry-Evans was impressive for Manly just days after his best performance in a Queensland State of Origin jersey.
He forced two dropouts with the boot, kicked a field goal and laid on the first try for second-rower Shaun Lane.
It was Lane’s second of the night after he ran onto a ball from hooker Manase Fainu in just the seventh minute following a Martin Taupau offload that broke the Storm open.