The Melbourne Storm will take the field in their fourth successive Grand Final after a dominant 40-10 victory over the Brisbane Broncos in front of 27,000 fans in Melbourne.
The game never really reached any great heights and as I suspected, once the Broncos came up against a real top of the line outfit they were found out in a number of areas.
The Storm played very well early on but as it become apparent they would be heading towards a Grand Final showdown with the Parramatta Eels next Sunday, they shut it down and coasted to a big win.
Billy Slater was incredible in this game. For everyone that is so willing to give Jarryd Hayne the tag as the best player in the world, I’m starting to look at Billy Slater and think this is a player climbing the list of all time greats.
To come up with some many sunning performances over such a long period of time, he needs to be the Australian Fullback come the Four Nations.
Greg Inglis was also devastating in both attack and defense. He spent all game putting huge hits on the Broncos forwards, he completely shut down Justin Hodges and made him a non factor, and in attack he scored three tries including an amazing try just before half time that really broke the Broncos back.
Its an amazing achievement for a club to make four Grand Finals in a row and should they win next Sunday it will stamp this as the Melbourne Storm era.
It was pretty amazing that they managed to get 27,000 to turn out just a few hours after the AFL Grand Final. Who would have thought that when the club was founded in 1998! When they get that new stadium to use next year that is made for Rugby League I expect their crowds to be among the best in the League as Melbourne fans enjoy the closer action and better atmosphere.
Last but not least, I have to say, Channel Nines coverage was really bad.
Aside from the fact that any time they actually show the game live into Melbourne they treat the Mexicans like idiots who have never seen the game, the picture was poor and the commentary was pretty average too.
Well done to the Storm though. What an effort, they will be hard to beat next week.
