Both of Storm’s SG Ball and Jersey Flegg sides were on the road for their respective Round 5 and 9 clashes, with SG Ball playing their final round of the 2023 season.
Jersey Flegg
Storm have suffered its third defeat of the 2023 Jersey Flegg season, going down 38-10 to the undefeated Sydney Roosters at Waminda Oval on Sunday.
A strong showing in the first half from the home side put them in the box seat for a majority of the contest and despite an improved effort from Storm in the second half, the Roosters would hold on for the win.
The Roosters got the jump over Storm, running in three tries in the opening 15 minutes before extending that lead before the break, heading in ahead 28-0 at halftime.
Storm produced an improved effort in the second half, limiting the Roosters to just 10 points while scoring two tries of its own.
Young Storm Academy product Stanley Huen quickly made his impact known off the bench, registering a try assist merely minutes after taking the field.
Storm put on a shift down the left edge and Huen took the ball right up to the line before finding fullback AJ Gudgeon who sliced through to give Storm its first points of the afternoon in the 47th minute.
Storm then made it back-to-back tries when De’Ontae Perese dove over from dummy half in the 63rd minute.
The Roosters would have the final say however, with Isaac Guba racing away to put the icing on the cake for the ladder leaders.
Storm will look to bounce back when it faces the last placed Canberra Raiders on Friday.
SG Ball
Storm’s SG Ball side have gone down 32-14 to the Parramatta Eels on Saturday.
In its final round of the 2023 season, Storm put in a solid performance but ultimately were outclassed by a Parramatta side looking to secure a spot in the top four.
After the Eels opened the scoring, Storm hit back through Nisifolo Fauonuku who dove over in the corner in the 17th minute after fullback Ioane Lui showed great persistence to pop an offload around the corner despite plenty of Eels jerseys looking to bring him to ground.
Unfortunately for Storm, Eels would go on to score a further four tries and despite a late flurry of points from the away side, Storm would fail to reel the hosts in.
After his two try performance last week against the Balmain Tigers, Matthew Logopati was once again in the thick of the try scoring action, showing great desperation to win the race to a Rua Ropoama grubber in the 48th minute.
Storm hooker Clayton Tapelu would then register the game’s final four pointer, diving over from dummy half in the 63rd minute.
