Footy is a simple game sometimes.
Get the ball. Hold on to it. March up the field. Put it down over the line.
Those four simple steps have eluded Melbourne Storm in patches early on season but on Friday night against Newcastle it all came together.
On the back 58 per cent possession, which was as high as 80 per cent after the opening 20 minutes, Storm enjoyed their highest completion rate of the season.
So it came as no surprise to the coach that his side managed to run in seven tries in the match for a convincing 40-14 win.
“We had scored one try in two weeks and all of a sudden we’d scored seven tries tonight,” Craig Bellamy said.
“We completed 87 per cent, the last four weeks we’d been completing at 60 per cent. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out what works.”
Ever the perfectionists, this side is always looking for areas to improve on their performance.
A lapse towards the end of the first half allowed the Knights to run in two of their three tries in the game.
That period from the 28th minute to the 40th will likely be a focus of the review for the upcoming week.
“I was extremely pleased with the way we started the game, there was no doubt about that, that was more like the team I know we can be,” Storm skipper Cameron Smith said.
“I agree with Craig, I am a little bit disappointed in some of the efforts in defence. We made some special efforts to hold the Knights up on the line but a couple of their tries were soft tries.
“That was certainly something we have to address quite quickly, that is something we have always had high standards on, our defence, particularly on our goal line.”
