Stats that matter: Round 26 v Titans

Check out all the stats that matter from Melbourne Storm's Round 26 win over the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday.

Sixth career hat trick

Xavier Coates continued his habit of dazzling the purple pride at AAMI Park, recording his sixth career hat trick.

Scoring his first triple (which quickly became quadruple) in Round 7 of the 2022 season, Coates went on to get the job done two more times that year, before racking up a bundle of tries in Rounds 6, 20 and 26 this current competition.

Meaney moves alongside Orford, Smith

With another round comes another milestone for Nick Meaney. Following six conversions against the Titans, the fullback has moved into equal second for points scored in a season by a Storm player.

Meaney's 216 points so far in 2023 has him sitting alongside Matt Orford (2001) and Cameron Smith (2019) at number two on the honour roll for points scored in a season. Matt Geyer's monumental effort of 242 points during the iconic 1999 Premiership winning season is still the best by a player in the purple jersey.

405 days

After 405 days, the long-awaited return of Ryan Papenhuyzen was finally upon the rugby league community.

The 25-year-old ran back onto the NRL field in the second half of play, spurred on by a standing ovation from a proud home crowd at AAMI Park.

Papenhuyzen went on to record 53 run metres, seven tackles and managed a tackle-break in his 18 minutes of play.