The critics had already written off Melbourne Storm for the 2013 season.
Craig Bellamy’s side went up to Canberra having lost four of their past five games – leaving many to question whether the reigning premiers had lost their dominance.
However after an 80-minute showing of pure brilliance, the so called ‘experts’ realised they could not have been more wrong.
That certainly did not seem the case though before kick-off, as they would face a Raiders team that was yet to lose a game at home all season.
The Green Machine had already beaten Melbourne at AAMI Park earlier in the year, a defeat that knocked the men in purple off top spot.
That made what happened in this return bout even more surprising.
Storm made the ideal start through a Sisa Waqa try in the fourth minute but the Raiders hit back almost immediately through Anthony Milford.
However after a back-and-fourth opening it would be Victorian Mahe Fonua who would help break the game wide open.
Fonua collected a Brett Finch grubber kick to score his first of the day before coming up with a piece of acrobatic brilliance to knock the ball back into play, finding Will Chambers for one of the tries of the season.
The youngster then bagged his double when he gathered in a perfectly placed Cooper Cronk kick.
As the shadows of half-time approached Storm only put the foot down further and when Billy Slater and Kevin Proctor joined the party it would be the boys from Melbourne who would head for the sheds with a 32-4 lead.
A new half brought with it the same result as Fonua completed the first and only hat-trick of his Storm career before Chambers broke clean through the Raiders line to score his second in the 48th minute.
The purple procession continued as the second half went on.
