Storm secure top-two finish but ‘Bellamy might be slamming fists’ after some soft defence

Melbourne has gone a long way to securing a top-two finish and a home semi-final.

But coach Craig Bellamy won’t be too happy with some rather soft tries conceded to North Queensland on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.

The Storm did it easy for periods of their Round 18 clash, but the Cowboys managed to sneak past the purple defence on a number of occasions in the 36-20 clash.

Fox League commentators noted “Bellamy might be slamming fists” after the fourth North Queensland try and the third of the second half.

Brenko Lee was hooked from right centre, replaced by Nicho Hynes and Cameron Munster shifted to fullback to finish the game.

Still, Melbourne is all but assured of finishing second on the NRL ladder behind Penrith.

Their “home” semi final is likely to be played at Suncorp Stadium, given Victoria is out of bounds still.

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“I was a little bit disappointed with how many points the Cowboys got on us,” Bellamy told media afterwards.

“I thought we lacked a little bit of urgency at stages with our defence. It’s the time of year you want to start fine-tuning things and I don’t think we did that.

“Having said that the Cowboys kept competing for 80 minutes and they made a real game of it to be honest.

“Hopefully that was the lull we might have needed to resharpen our focus.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Cowboys opened the scoring when Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow found the line in the corner, despite Storm dominating the opening exchanges before that.

It took Melbourne no time at all to hit back as behemoth Nelson Asofa-Solomona barged his way over a few minutes later.

It came after Josh McGuire was sin binned for dissent against the referee.

The Storm scored again with McGuire off the field when Tino Faasuamaleaui went over under the posts to make it 12-4.

The Storm extended their lead through Josh Addo-Carr when he scooted under the posts in the 28th minute, and the kick made it 18-4.

Melbourne scored again when Cameron Munster walked through a gaping hole just prior to half time to make the score 24-4.

The Storm started the second half when Munster went over again, leaping over the defence to bag his second meat pie.

The Cowboys got one back when Esan Marster split the line and sprinted to finish it off to make it 30-10.

North Queensland was again next to score when Kyle Feldt latched onto a crossfield kick to snag a good try in the corner and make it 30-14.

But it was Storm who halted the momentum as Jahrome Hughes finished off a nice play to extend the lead and essentially put the result to bed.

Val Holmes hit back with a try only minutes later to keep it interesting at 36-20.