We have our first grand finalist with the Melbourne Storm proving too strong for the visiting Sydney Roosters in their Preliminary Final at a packed AAMI Park,
Here's three things we learned from the game:
High shots prove extra costly at this time of the year
The opening hit-up in the big games always carries some extra venom. Both sets of forwards are keen to set the tone and make an early claim for superiority. The kick-off is usually fielded by one of the backs, while the big prop forward charges from the dead ball line to take a pass on his chest at full steam. He then fearlessly meets whatever the defence has sent to greet him in a collision that rattles the stadium. It is a highlight of the game, one that sees the fans gasp in awe at the courage and commitment of these players.
On Friday night in Melbourne the ball was passed to Roosters and Queensland prop Lindsay Collins who charged fearlessly into three Storm players including big Nelson Asofa-Solomona. With his height and the players around him, Asofa-Solomona could barely help but make high contact, but it was forceful and hit Collins square in the jaw.
Asofa-Solomona was placed on report and sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. Collins was clearly wobbly on his feet and left the field for a HIA, which he failed, with a category 1 concussion ruling. It meant that Collins would not only miss the rest of the game, but would be ruled out of the grand final had the Roosters made it, meanwhile the most likely result of the report will be that Asofa-Solomona will now be scrubbed out for next week.
Still the Storm enjoyed the not insignificant contribution of Asofa-Solomona, once he had served his ten minutes. The Roosters had to rearrange their entire bench rotation.
You have to wonder whether the punishment fit the crime. Surely there will be no protest from the Storm if and when Asofa-Solomona is rubbed out of next week's decider for the indiscretion.
Papenhuyzen still one of the sharpest in the game
He has spent quite a bit of time on the sidelines in recent years with a spate of horror injuries, but Ryan Papenhuyzen proved in Friday night's Preliminary Final that he is still as sharp and dangerous as he ever was. He scored the first try of the night for the Storm, running on an angle to the the right hand side of the field and accelerating through the Roosters line virtually untouched.
The Storm's next try came from a similar run. Only this time, as the defence converged to snuff out the danger, he flicked the ball inside to Nick Meaney who drew James Tedesco and sent Jahrome Hughes on a run to the line.
Next up Papenhuyzen backed up a quick 20 metre tap by Xavier Coates, felt the presence of Dominic Young closing in from behind, and sent the ball to Jack Howarth who beat the tackles of Young and Tedesco to dive over in the corner and take the score to 16-6.
He did drop a bomb early in the second half to allow the Roosters to score their third try of the game, as they mounted a second-half fightback, but he soon made up for that by running in behind Harry Grant close to the Roosters line, receiving an inside pass and crossing for his second try of the night.
He even attempted a field goal with the Storm leading 42-16 within the final four minutes of the game. Fortunately for the Storm the one point was not needed.
Possession is king in the big games
It has been long said that the big men win the big games, but they don't come any bigger than the man with the whistle. The Roosters started the game against the Storm with three successive penalties, and kicked their way to a 2-0 lead before scoring the first try of the game to go ahead 6-0.
From that point on it was all Storm as they took advantage of a mountain of possession, fed by six again calls to run the visitors ragged.
The Storm are clearly one of the best teams in the competition and will be well-deserving of the title should they win it next week, but they are absolutely unbeatable if they dominate possession.
The quality of defence required to stop their attacking raids is exhausting when facing a six tackle set, but when that ticks over, often with no end in sight, the defence has no chance.
The Storm took a 22-6 lead into halftime before facing an early second-half fightback from the Roosters. But once that effort fizzled out, the Storm ran away with the game to book their spot in the 2024 grand final. Whether it is the Panthers or the Sharks, their opponents next week cannot allow the Storm to have so much back-to-back possession.