Welcome to live coverage of the Warriors vs Storm from Melbourne.
The Warriors are looking to go 7-1 with a first win in the traditional Anzac Day clash since 2014. The Storm are riding a two week win streak in which they have piled on 70 points.
Tohu Harris and Jessie Bromwhich are non-starters.
Earlier tonight the Dragons cemented their spot atop the NRL ladder with a 24-8 win over the Roosters.
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Storm 50 10 Warriors
Fulltime: Clinical from the Storm. A mixture of remarkable first half attack from the Storm with some awful Warriors defence. The NZ side did well in the second stanza and they won a bit of respect back but the Storm lacked intensity after running out to such a big lead. The Warriors need to bounce back next Saturday night against the Tigers or the season has the potential to unravel after a performance like tonight. Thanks for joining me.
78mins: Warriors do well to work the ball into attacking territory but Papali'i fumbles on the last and the chance is blown.
76mins: Storm shutting up shop. Textbook set and Smith slams the ball into touch on the last. Warriors scrum on their own 30.
73mins:Try Storm: Riley Jacks - Too easy. Munster breaks down the right hand side....Switches back to the left and puts Kasiano into a gap..he finds Slater who throws a forward pass to Jacks but the ref doesn't care and awards the try. Stevie Wonder could see that was forward. C'mon man. Smith converts.
71mins: Great cover from Slater. Lino looked to have created a tr8y for Maumalo with a georgeous grubber but Slater out of nowhere wins the race to the ball. Another set for the Warriors.
70mins: Warriors witha fresh set inside Storm half after Smith gives away a sill penalty.
68mins: Storm kinda going through the motions with ball in hand...one-out stuff the last few sets.
65mins: RTS creates space for Gelling who is away..but ge runs away from Maumalo and is well covered by the defence. Wasted last tackle play then comes to nothing as young Vuna ends up with the ball and fluffs his kick.
63mins: Try Storm: Josh Addo-Carr - Lovely from the Storm. Textbook. 4th tackle try...Smith at dummy half on the left hand side..switch pass to Slater confuses Hiku and Lino who over-read the play and Addo-Carr goes over untouched. Smith converts.
62mins: Tevaga loses the ball forward on halfway as the Warriors were rumbling again..Storm on the attack.
60mins: Try Warriors: David Fusitua - Another superb finish from Fus. That's 10 for the season. Good set again from the Warriors..they look like a different side this half...Lino skips past Cam Smith, throws a great cut pass to Hiku who draws and passes to Fus who crashed over in the corner. Lino can't convert.
59mins: Warriors have a fresh set inside the Storm 20.
57mins: Injury break here. The impressive Storm centre Curtis Scott looks to have a pretty serious ankle injury and is leaving the field.
56mins: Another mistake. Tevaga this time. Warriors have had the same amount of ball as the Storm did at this stage of the first half but only six points to show.
54mins: Warriors go super close again. Cross kick to Fus who climbs high but can't get to it..Lino snaps up the rebound and tries to crash over in the corner but a great tackle from Munster. Warriors will have the scrum 5m out as Addo-Carr lost the ball forward.
52mins: And there is the mistake. Lino tries to skin Munster but can't and loses the ball in the tackle.
50mins: Another penalty for the Warriors...that's four in a row.
49mins: Goal line drop out. Another good set but the defence is up to it. Green tries to find Fusitua on the last with a bomb but Slater is there to bat the ball over the line.
47mins: Warriors a different side here. Great scramble from the Storm however on a couple of occasions..another set for the Warriors here..that's three in a row.
45mins: RTS with a break..awesome run as he turns Slater inside and out but is covered well by Munster. Lino kicks on the last for Fus but he can't gather...Munster loses the ball on the first tackle.
44mins: Try Warriors: David Fusitua - Perfect football. Great finish from Fus. Good set Warriors...on the 4th a nice run around from RTS, Lino takes it to the line and finds Hiku who shifts quickly to Fus who does very well to get the ball down in the tackle from Slater. Lino converts.
43mins: Storm have the ball on their own 30 as Green's last tackle kick finds touch.
41mins: Not a great start....Vete finds himself at dummy half on the last and fires a woeful pass that bounces behind Lino...the young half does get the kcik away but straight to Slater.
Second half: Isaac Luke won't return for the second 40...The Warriors only completed two sets in the last half hour...missing 24 tackles!!!!. Cam Smith gets us back underway, Let's hope the Warriors muster enough pride to at least win the half.
Halftime: As a fan since 1995 I have seen some pretty awful 40mins in my time but that's up there as the worst ever. Blake Green at halftime just told Brett Finch that they haven't shown up and he is embarrassed by that 40...I agree Blake. As I said earlier, all the good work of the first seven weeks has vanished with 40mins of sublime Storm football and woeful Warriors defence. Ill be back in 10 mins...maybe...
39mins: Smith makes no mistake.
38mins: I have to say the referee's are doing no favours to the Warriors tonight. That's the seventh in a row and very questionable for offside....Cameron Smith offers mercy and the Storm will take the 2 points from in front.
37mins: Storm make just their second mistake off the half....Chambers loses the ball forward on the last with a man unmarked outside..but the Warriors cough the ball up on tackle three...I have no words.
33mins: I'm so over this...all the good work from the first seven games is being flushed down the toilet...no aggression in defence,,woeful with the ball in hand and missing tackle after tackle.
32mins: Try Storm: Josh Addo-Carr - 60m effort from the speedster. Addo-Carr from dummy-half scoops the ball up..breaks through a couple awful tackle attempts from Maumalo and Green...he skins RTS and scores in the corner.
30mins: Pretty awful set from the Storm this time...they are trying to score off every tackle...Warriors get decent field position.
28mins: Gelling loses the ball forward in a three man tackle in the 2nd and that is just criminal.
27mins: Mannering with an offload is lost forward by Tevaga..nope it was touched by Hoffman..Warriors scrum 30m out.
26mins: Finally a mistake from the Storm. Slater from dummy half to Chambers and he loses the ball forward....Scrum Warriors on halfway.
25mins: Praise the lord the Warriors have the ball for the first time in 11 minutes.
22mins: Try Storm: Y.Tonumaipea - This is getting depressing. Storm shift down the right this time..Kaufusi skips past Green with a hige fend..draws RTS and Tonomaipea is in under the posts. This has 60 points written all over it. I can't quite beleive this.
20mins: Try Storm: Billy Slater - Three tries on four sets, Warriors haven't touched the ball in that time. Storm shift the ball on the second tackle....Scott skips past Lino and Hiku..draws RTS and Addo-Carr is away..Fusitua covers well but he gets the ball inside to Slater he scores under the posts. This is deja vu.
19mins: Isaac Luke is off injured...Jazz Tevaga is on.
18mins: Try Storm: Christian Welch - Gee wiz. That's 2017 like Warriors defence. Munster again the try maker....runs to the line..short pass to Welch and he busts through Mannering and runs 10m to score close to the posts. Oh oh.
17mins: Storm have the roll on now...they win a penalty as Afoa is pinged for coming in late on a tackled player.
15mins: Try Storm: Ryan Hoffman - Soft defence. Storm with a fairly plain attacking set...comes to the last and Munster grubbers through..Fusitua can't gather the ball..there is a scramble and former Warriors captain Hoffman is there to pick up and crash over. Smith converts.
13mins: Penalty for the Storm now...Warriors offside. Smith finds touch 30m out.
11mins: Another penalty for the Warriors...this time inside theor own half for Riley Jacks holding on to the ball. Green finds touch 30m out. Another early set turnover from Blair this time as he tries to offload in the tackle.
10mins: Warriors go close twice..RTS almost pinged for double movement at the line but thinks better of it..next tackle and Afoa is over the line but he is held up. Penalty Warriors but they turn it over on the 1st tackle.
8mins: Luke makes a nice bust through the middle..offload from Blair...Munster pinged for holding down. Warriors on attack.
6mins: Another good set for the Storm..This time Chambers with the little kick through the defensive line but this time RTS covers it well. Warriors make nothing out of their set and the Storm bring it back through Addo-Carr.
4min: TRY STORM: Riley Jacks - Scott makes a break down the left but it's well covered by Mannering. On the last Slater cross kicks and Tonumaipea plucks it out..kicks ahead and Jacks beats RTS and thats an early try for the Storm. Smith converts.
2min: Classic set from the Storm...five tackle hitups, get to Jacks on the last and he kicks....Fusitua brings it back and is tackled on the 20.
Kickoff: Isaac Luke gets the game underway. Storm will have the ball first.
8.58pm: Time for both anthems and then we will be underway.
8.56pm:Moment of silence greeted with respect from all in attendence.
8.53pm: Lights out in the stadium as the 'Last Post' plays...Lest we forget.
8.51pm: Players making their way out onto AAMI Park...there will be about 8-10 minutes of pre-game stuff with both national anthems and an Anzac day tribute.
8.48pm: The Warriors haven't won seven of their first 10 games since 2003....so they can create history tonight with a W. The boys will be wearing their heritage jersey tonight..the same strip they wore in defeating the Roosters a few weeks back.
8.40pm: Of course tonight is the only time this season the New Zealand national anthem will play in an NRL game.
Covered this fixture last season and the Anzac tribute was spine tingling ... and the game was outstanding with the Storm running out winners late.
8.30pm: About 30 minutes from kickoff - Lovely, cool conditions in Melbourne...great night for footy as they say. Young Joseph Vuna, a second rower will make his debut off the bench for the Warriors tonight.
Lineups
Storm
1.B.Slater, 21.Y. Tonumaipea, 3.W.Chambers, 4.C.Scott, 5.J Addo-Carr, 6.C.Munster, 7.R.Jacks, 8.T.Glasby, 9.C.Smith, 10.N Asofa-Solomona, 11.F.Kaufusi, 12.R.Hoffman, 15.C.Welch
Bench: 13.K.Bromwich, 14.B.Smith,16.S.Kasiano,17.J.Stimson
Warriors
1. R.Tuivasa-Sheck, 2.D.Fusitua, 3.P.Hiku, 4.A.Gelling, 5.K.Maumalo, 6.B.Green, 7.M.Lino, 8.B.Afoa, 9.I.Luke, 10.A.Paasi, 11.S. Mannering, 12.I.Papali'i, 13.A.Blair
Bench: 14.J.Tevaga, 15.S.Lisone, 16.A.Vete, 20.J.Vuna
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