Storm impressive in final trial game
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Storm's halves pairing of Cooper Cronk and Scott Hill allayed any fears the loss of Matt Orford would dull the attacking potency of the team as they were instrumental in disposing of the Brisbane Broncos 58-10 with a clinical performance at Toowoomba's Clive Berghofer Stadium.
In an explosive opening 15 minutes, Billy Slater (twice), Scott Hill and Matt Geyer all crossing the try line, with Cronk and Hill at the heart of every attacking move. Cronk's chip kick over the Broncos defence to set up Slater's second was worth the admission price alone.
When the Broncos managed to get possession, Melbourne's defence stood tall causing several turnovers.
The try of the match was scored in the 31st minute when Hill, David Kidwell, Matt King and Cronk traded passes, bamboozling the Broncos defence for 50 metres before Cronk scored underneath the posts.
However, with three minutes of the first half remaining, a retreating Storm defence was caught out by a quick Broncos break and Scott Minto crossed in the corner to give themselves a faint glimmer of hope.
The second half began with a more committed Broncos side taking it up to the Storm defence.
However, after nine minutes of to and fro between the two teams, a slick move down the Storm's right flank saw Slater evade a couple of would be tacklers before off-loading to Jake Webster who danced his way to the try line to make it 32-6, and seemingly out of the Broncos reach.
In the 57th minute a line break from new recruit Michael Crocker saw first Geyer and then Jamie Feeney have the try line in their sights. A last ditch tackle only prolonged the agony for the Brisbane team as Hill set up Inglis in the corner for the easiest of tries.
Five minutes later Inglis made it two tries in a row as constant pressure from front-rowers Adam Blair and Garret Crossman opened up cracks in the Broncos defence.
The Broncos Dennin Kemp then crossed in the corner for the Broncos before Kidwell sliced open the Broncos defence in the 83rd minute, meeting an inch perfect pass from Hill.
To rub salt into the Broncos wounds, Cam Smith took on the Broncos defence alone and easily crossed in the corner before Hill scored in the dying moments to round off a comprehensive 11 tries to two victory.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy was obviously happy with the comprehensive victory, but tempered any over-enthusiasm by stating it was only a practice game.
"Delighted for sure, but we've been in this situation before," said Bellamy.
"We're not going to get carried away. We've got a very difficult six weeks ahead of us. These are just practice games, but it's good to get good practice.
"I thought the halves of Cooper Cronk and Scott Hill looked good together for their first hit-out. Cameron Smith was his usual busy self and Billy Slater at fullback looks back to the sharp Billy we all know.
"I thought the young props of Crossman and Kaufusi were very, very good. Both of them have worked very hard on their fitness during the pre-season and it showed tonight.
"As I said at the very beginning of this, it's only February and if we're talking about these sorts of scores in April, May and June, I'll be very happy."
STORM 58 (Tries: Slater 2, Inglis 2, Hill 2, Geyer, Cronk, Webster, Kidwell, Smith; Goals: Inglis 5, Smith 2) def. BRONCOS 10 (Tries: Minto, Kemp; Goals: Ennis)
