Storm too good for disappointing Dragons

The match won't feature in too many highlights reels at the end of the season, but it won't bother Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy.

In a dour affair which only saw three tries, his side opened their 2015 account with a hard-fought 12-4 victory at Jubilee Oval on Monday night which became their 11th straight round one success.

It was an affair dominated by defence where pieces of attacking flair were few and far between.

Storm forward Jesse Bromwich was content with their defence, but conceded their discipline needed to improve.

"Belly would be very happy with the defence and it was a solid performance but we made it hard on ourselves with penalties and dropped balls," he said.

He said they would need to be much better when they travel to Brookvale to tackle Manly next Saturday night

"They are always big games we have against them so we expect them to be tough. It's another big week on the road," he said.

Dragons coach Paul McGregor would be concerned about his sides lack of creativity in attack which saw them come up with just one try from a kick despite having more than 40 tackles inside the Storm 20-metre zone.

Taking over from Sisa Waqa on the right wing, Young Tonumaipea opened the scoring in the fourth minute after a clever chip kick from halfback Cooper Cronk.

It would prove to be the only points of a dour first half which had a flashpoint when Melbourne forward Felise Kaufusi was reported for attacking the legs of Benji Marshall.

The tackle is sure to be scrutinised by the match review panel when they meet to discuss the game tomorrow.

The Dragons were offered a lifeline in the 49th minute when winger Eto Nabuli won the race to the ball after halfback Benji Marshall drifted across field looking for support.

His deft grubber kick sat up just inside the dead ball line for the Fijian to win the race to the ball and score his first try on debut.

Melbourne centre Will Chambers secured the two points for the visitors when he burrowed over from close range in the 60th minute to round out the scoring.

Next week the Dragons will tackle the Tigers.