Melbourne have put on a show their fans will never forget, crushing South Sydney 54-6 at AAMI Park.
The 15,000-strong crowd were treated to a rugby league masterpiece as Storm ran in nine tries to record their greatest ever win over the Rabbitohs.
Scintillating winger Suliasi Vunivalu and Josh Addo-Carr both scored hat-tricks while Billy Slater scored a try, had an assist and electrified the crowd with three line breaks.
However this was a dominance shared all 17 men wearing purple and a great confidence boost heading into the final home game of the season.
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What a start it was for the Melbourne boys as two tries inside the first five minutes had the purple faithful in dreamland.
The first came via some fancy Cooper Cronk footwork that was immediately followed by a perfectly timed pass by Billy Slater who found Suliasi Vunivalu.
Off the very next set the Rabbitohs failed to cope with a high ball deep in their own territory as Cameron Munster pounced to send Storm 12-nil to the good.
It went from bad to worse for the Bunnies who lost halfback Adam Reynolds after just nine minutes due to concussion. To their credit, they worked their way into the contest with some steadfast goal line defence.
However the resistance was once again broken in the 28th minute when Vunivalu made it a double as he dove over the line from dummy half.
South Sydney’s defence was constantly under siege and as they tired before half-time the Storm attack put the foot down with another three tries in the final 12 minutes.
Cameron Smith and Josh Addo-Carr joined in before Vunivalu made it a first half hat-trick to become the joint leading try scorer in the NRL with 22 for the season.
After half-time the purple party continued with Billy Slater finding his way over and Josh Addo-Carr sending Storm fans on their feet with a 60 metre run for his second of the night.
Tim Glasby and Tohu Harris also scored while Addo-Carr notched his hat-trick with two minutes remaining to make it 10 tries on a night that will long live fondly in AAMI Park history.
Melbourne Storm 64
Tries: Suliasi Vunivalu 3, Josh Add-Carr 3, Cameron Munster, Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Tim Glasby, Tohu Harris
Goals: Cameron Smith 9, Cameron Munster
South Sydney Rabbitohs 6
Tries: Tyrell Fuimoano
Goals: Adam Reynolds
