Gutsy.
That was the word that was fittingly used to sum up Storm’s win over the Raiders on Saturday night.
Despite losing skipper Cameron Smith and fullback Billy Slater early in the second half, Melbourne rallied to run out 10-point winners and maintain their place atop the NRL ladder.
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Two tries to Dale Finucane and a mountain of teamwork told the tale of a side who once again showed their refusal to lay down.
“Smithy went off, Billy went off and we had a few other guys that were wounded as well so it was a really gutsy performance,” Craig Bellamy said.
“It wasn’t our most polished performance but it was really gutsy.”
The skipper was equally impressed with what he saw,
“I just thought it was a brilliant effort by the whole side,” Smith said.
“Kenny Bromwich played in three different positions. He played on the edge, he went into the ruck and then when I went off he played dummy half.
“A lot of players had to play in a lot of different positions so it was just a really gutsy effort up here.
“It was very pleasing to see the effort that everyone put in to get a victory tonight.”