Slater sublime as Melbourne storm past Eels

STILL smarting from Wednesday night's Origin disappointment, Melbourne fullback Billy Slater was the star in the Storm's 46-20 demolition of Parramatta at AAMI Park.

Slater scored two tries, set another three up and marshalled the Storm defence brilliantly from the back as the home side jumped back into the NRL top eight.

The Melbourne fullback said he didn't want to dwell too much on Queensland's loss during the week.

"It's important to come back and play well and it was disappointing on Wednesday night to not get the win but that's the way it goes," he said.

"It's good for our confidence because we haven't put a big score on a team yet and it shows we've been working on our attack.

"It was good to see the ball players picking the right options."

Slater's second try of the afternoon - and 165th of his career - allowed him to jump into equal third position on the all-time leading tryscorers list and he said it was an honour to be alongside players such as Terry Lamb.

"That's (the record) something I'll be proud of once I finish playing. Obviously Terry Lamb was a great player and he was good at backing up and I'm honoured to be in that company," he said.

The Storm hit the ground running and led 18-0 midway through the first half before a mini Parramatta fightback in the shadows of half-time closed the gap to 18-10.

Unfortunately for the Eels that would be as close as they got as the Storm raced in another five second half tries to register a comfortable 26-point victory.

It was the third successive time the Storm had scored more than 30 points over the Eels on the back of a 38-0 win in 2012 and a 64-4 rout in round 23 last year.

Second-rower Ryan Hoffman was also dangerous for Melbourne on their left edge and said they benefitted from Chris Sandow's second-half sinbinning when the result still hung in the balance.

"That's what good teams do, they capitalise on other teams' misfortune," he said.

"We had to carry on from what the boys did on Monday night against the Titans and it was great to see all the Origin boys back up again today."

Next week the Storm travel to Wollongong to tackle the Dragons on Monday while the Eels will hope to bounce back in the home surrounds of Pirtek Stadium when the Knights come calling on Sunday afternoon.

Match Details
Melbourne Storm 46 Parramatta Eels 20
Venue: AAMI Park
Crowd: 12635
Halftime Score: Melbourne Storm 18 Parramatta Eels 10

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:
3 points - Billy Slater
2 points - Cameron Smith
1 point - Jesse Bromwich

MELBOURNE STORM (46)
Tries: Sisa Waqa (2), Billy Slater (2), Kurt Mann (2), Bryan Norrie, Jordan McLean
Field Goals:
Conversions: Cameron Smith (6/7), Ben Roberts (1/1)
Penalty Goals:

PARRAMATTA EELS (20)
Tries: Ryan Morgan (2), Semi Radradra, Vai Toutai
Field Goals:
Conversions: Chris Sandow (2/4)
Penalty Goals:

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Good afternoon footy fans and welcome to AAMI Park in Melbourne for this afternoon's Round 15 encounter.

In the Holden Cup the Storm trailed 22-4 before storming home to beat the Eels 26-22.

LATE MAIL: Kurt Mann, Jordan McLean come into the run-on side for the hosts. Blues representative Ryan Hoffman drops back to the bench while Queenslander's Cam Smith and Billy Slater take their place in the starting 13.

LATE MAIL: For the visitors, NSW hero Jarryd Hayne will take his place but Will Hopoate will not back-up and he is replaced in the centres by Ryan Morgan.

Jarryd Hayne leads the visitors out on to AAMI Park and they head to the southern end.

Storm skipper Cam Smith takes his side out to a rousing reception from the home fans and they head to the northern end where they will kick off.

1: We're underway! And it seems the Eels have kicked off. Storm first use.

1: The kick-off bounces back to the Eels but luckily for the Storm Fonua was awake and grabbed possession.

1: Hampton goes to the air but Radradra takes a good catch.

2: PENALTY Eels.Hand on the ball from Tonumaipea.

3: Pauli Pauli drops the ball on the first tackle and the Storm will feed a scrum.

4: Fabulous pass from Bromwich puts Hinchcliffe into space but Hayne comes up with a trysaver. From the play-the-ball Slater kicks into the in-goal where Radradra knocks it dead. Eels restart.

5: PENALTY Storm. Too long on the tackled player from the Eels.

5: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Sisa Waqa. Kick to come.
The Storm open the scoring through Waqa and it was Slater who delivered the money ball with a catch and pass.

7: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Smith adds the extras from a metre in from the western touchline.

9: The Storm march down the field from the kick-off and are on the attack again.

9: Trysaving tackle from Toutai comes up with a ball and all tackle on Mann 5m from the line.

10: PENALTY Storm. Hayne charges through to contest the ball with Slater but comes up with a leg pull.

11: PENALTY Storm. Norman ruled to have taken the ball off Slater illegally.

12: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Storm try.

12: No Try. Roberts ruled to have knocked on attempting to force the ball. Eels scrum.

13: Hayne ruled to have knocked on in the tackle of Tonumaipea. Storm scrum.

15: The Storm run the ball on the last and again Mann is tackled by Toutai.

15: Sandow kicks early in the count but Slater is back for the Storm to pluck the ball out of the air.

16: PENALTY Storm. Paulo slows the ruck down too much for the officials liking.

17: Fonua tries to force his way over the line before the ball comes free. Referees rule it was in the act of scoring a try before Norman is tackled in-goal. Eels dropout.

18: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Storm try.

18: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Billy Slater. Kick to come.
Hampton slices through the attempted tackle from Paulo, who slipped over, and Mannah to find his way into the back field. He found Slater in support who slid his way across for the try.

19: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Smith adds the extras from alongside the posts.

21: Hayne knocks the ball back to the Storm faithful's dismay.

22: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Billy Slater. Kick to come.
Slater is in again for the Storm! Great lead-up play from Hinchcliffe and Smith allows Hampton to chip to the corner for Fonua to bat the ball back into the arms of the fullback who improves the position.

23: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Smith again adds the extras.

26: Sandow goes to the air but Waqa comes up with the catch.

27: Sandow kicks early in the count and charges down field to force the error from Slater. Eels scrum.

28: Pauli Pauli charges down the blind side before coming up with the error. Storm scrum.

30: Smith kicks out of dummy half and the Eels again work it off their line.

30: Norman goes to the air with a wobbly attempt which Waqa puts down. Eels scrum.

31: PENALTY Eels. Storm offside from the scrum.

32: The Eels run the ball on the last and the Storm repel them with some good goal-line defence.

34: PENALTY Eels. Morgan checked off the ball which didn't allow him a reasonable chance to contest the bomb.

34: Sandow delivers a perfect pass to Terepo who went straight through but left the ball behind.

35: PENALTY Storm. Eels offside.

35: And in backplay Lee Mossop leaves the field with his left arm hanging by his side.

36: Slater chips for Waqa but Semi comes up with the ball before offloading to Hayne who is tackled by Hampton 40m from his line.

37: TRY PARRAMATTA EELS
Scored by Ryan Morgan. Kick to come.
Morgan finishes off a sublime backline play from the visitors. Norman found Pauli Pauli who flicked a pass out the back as he was falling. Sandow picked up the pass before basketballing one over the top to Morgan.

38: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PARRAMATTA EELS
Conversion attempt by Chris Sandow unsuccessful.
Sandow pulls the conversion across the face.

39: PENALTY Eels. Harris all over the tackled player.

40: TRY PARRAMATTA EELS
Scored by Semi Radradra. Kick to come.
RADRADRA scores for the Eels! Norman delivered a perfect 35-metre cutout pass from the middle of the field to send his winger across untouched on the stroke of half-time.

40: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PARRAMATTA EELS
Conversion attempt by Chris Sandow successful.
Sandow sneaks the conversion across from the western touchline.

40: Half-time at AAMI Park and the home side lead 18-10.

40: Both sides out on the park, ready for the second 40.

40: Cam Smith gets us underway for the second half.

41: Forward pass from the Eels in their first possession. Storm scrum.

43: A scrappy end to the set from the Eels as Roberts goes to the air. Parra players looked at each other before Semi dived on the ball.

44: PENALTY Storm. David Gower is on report for allegedly performing a crusher tackle. He won't have a case to answer.

45: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Storm try.

45: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Sisa Waqa. Kick to come.
Sisa finishes off Slater's sublime work to score in the corner. The Qld fullback stepped off his feet to drift across field before kicking in behind the defence.

46: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Smith raises the flags from the eastern touchline.

48: PENALTY Eels. Ben Roberts comes in late straight at the knees.

49: The Eels shift the ball to the left and Waqa races out of the line to put a hit on Hayne who is slow to his feet.

50: PENALTY Eels. Storm slowing the ruck down again.

50: Norman goes to the line before he delivers a cutout pass which is knocked down by Waqa.

52: Sandow passes to Paulo who tries to catch and pass but gives the ball back to the Storm.

54: PENALTY Eels. Storm offside.

54: TRY PARRAMATTA EELS
Scored by Vai Toutai. Kick to come.
Toutai scores in the corner to close the gap. On the back of a lot of possession, Hayne delivers the final pass for his winger to crash across.

55: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PARRAMATTA EELS
Conversion attempt by Chris Sandow successful.
Sandow floats the ball from left to right to add the two.

57: PENALTY Storm. The Eels threw the ball around on the last tackle before De Gois put the kick in to Slater. Slater then was dragged down by Paulo to prevent the quick play the ball.

58: Slater kicks into the in-goal and Radradra bats it dead. Eels dropout.

60: PENALTY Storm. Hayne disagrees with the decision as Smith leaves the ball behind.

60: SIN BIN
Chris Sandow is sent to the sin bin.
Sandow is being given a stint in the bin for allegedly giving the referees a spray.

61: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Storm try.

61: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Kurt Mann. Kick to come.
Kurt Mann scores for the home side after Tonumaipea batted Roberts' kick back into the centre's arms who dived across in the corner.

62: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Smith brings it back from outside the left upright to extend the lead past two converted tries.

64: The Storm kick the ball on the last and it rebounds back into the arms of Norman.

66: End to end footy first starts with the Storm and then ends with the Storm. They lost the ball on their own line before Hayne returned with interest and then threw the ball away.

67: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Kurt Mann. Kick to come.
Roberts kicks in behind the line for Mann to score his double and secure the two competition points for the Storm this afternoon.

68: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith unsuccessful.
Smith pushes the conversion across the face.

70: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Bryan Norrie. Kick to come.
Brian Norrie scores his first try of the year! Hinchcliffe went straight through some terrible Eels defence off a Hoffman short ball. He drew Hayne to put the front rower across.

71: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Smith brings up the 40 for the home side and they're not done with yet.

71: Cam Smith gets an early mark from coach Craig Bellamy.

72: Hampton kicks on the last and Hayne fumbles and bumbles possession over the dead-ball line. Eels dropout.

74: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Jordan McLean. Kick to come.
McLean now puts his name on the scoresheet. Roberts chipped to the posts for Slater who juggled the ball a couple of times and bats it back to his forward to dive over under the sticks.

75: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Ben Roberts successful.
Roberts adds the extras from in front.

77: Kenny Edwards throws the ball out the back but it's ruled to have been knocked out by the Storm. Eels scrum.

78: TRY PARRAMATTA EELS
Scored by Ryan Morgan. Kick to come.
Morgan scores his second try off the scrum. Sandow found Hayne who straightened up to send his centre across.

79: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION PARRAMATTA EELS
Conversion attempt by Chris Sandow unsuccessful.
Sandow misses the conversion.

80: Sandow kicks for Norman but Mann wins the race.

80: Roberts drives the ball into touch and that will do us today.