Storm squeak past gutsy Chooks to book Penrith showdown
The Melbourne Storm have advanced to a preliminary final for the eighth time in nine years thanks to a 78th-minute Will Warbrick pearler that dragged them past the Roosters 18-13 at AAMI Park on Friday night.
The Storm got off to a hot start with stand-in seven Tyran Wishart slicing through to open the scoring before Marion Seve joined him on the scoresheet to make it 10-0 early.
Brandon Smith snagged one for the visitors short of the break before Lindsay Collins crashed over to tie things up 65 minutes in.
Sam Walker’s 71st-minute field goal looked to have been enough to boost the Roosters to back-to-back one-point wins only for Warbrick to sky above Junior Pauga and reel in a Cameron Munster kick late for the game-winning try.
Munster assisted on the game-winning try and ran for 128 metres with nine tackle breaks whilst Harry Grant assisted on a try and made 36 tackles.
For the Roosters, Victor Radley ran for 199 metres and made 38 tackles whilst James Tedesco ran for a game-high 234 metres with six tackle breaks.
Melbourne will now make the trip to Accor Stadium for Friday night face-off against defending premiers Penrith –their third finals matchup in four years.
Warriors surge past Knights in front of frenzied Auckland crowd
Wahs Fever is storming towards its peak across the ditch with Andrew Webster’s Warriors dismantling the Knights 40-10 at Go Media Stadium on Saturday evening to punch their ticket to the preliminary finals for the first time since 2011.
Three tries in the opening 11 minutes saw the hosts burst out of the gates before the Knights wrestled back some ascendancy with a Greg Marzhew try to cut the deficit to a dozen heading into the intermission.
Dylan Lucas grabbed another for the visitors two minutes into the second period before the floodgates opened for the Warriors.
Dylan Walker, Rocco Berry, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Bayley Sironen all crossed within the next half-hour to earn returning star Shaun Johnson an early shower and send the Auckland faithful into delirium.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was immense assisting on a try and running for 299 metres with eight tackle breaks whilst Tohu Harris ran for 229 metres and made 39 tackles.
The Novocastrians’ magical 10-game run came to an end in disappointing circumstances, but their season was undoubtedly a successful one with a number of their rising stars enjoying breakout campaigns.
The Warriors will now face the Broncos with a Grand Final berth at stake on Saturday at Suncorp Stadium – the first finals meeting between the sides since 2011.
