Melbourne Storm have restamped their title claims with a dominant 40-12 win over Manly Sea Eagles in the opening match of the NRL Finals on Friday.
The defending champions shot out of the gates with three tries in the opening 15 minutes and never looked back, controlling possession (60 percent) and field position in a trademark performance to move within a win of their second consecutive grand final appearance.
The Storm will also be breathing a sigh of relief, with linchpin Kiwi hooker Brandon Smith escaping serious injury, after a nasty head clash with Josh Aloiai.
After another star opening turn that included two try assists, Smith left the game in the 17th minute with a suspected facial fracture.
On Saturday, Smith allayed those fears, taking to social media to confirm he'd been cleared of any break.
"Great result last night, even greater result from the doctor there was no facial fractures," Smith wrote in an Instagram post.
The 25-year-old will have the benefit of an extra week to recuperate before their preliminary final.
Star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen continued his rich vein of form since returning from long-term injury, scoring two tries and adding a two-point field goal to twist the knife late in a 24-point haul.
"What we know [Papenhuyzen] can do, we didn't know how long that would take physically [to return]," said Bellamy.
"But the mental part... no one had any certainty on how long that would take to come back. The last two weeks he's been pretty close to what we expect of him and what we know of him.
"He was tremendous tonight. He came up with the big play of the game with his try right on half-time. Manly were sort of getting back into the game there.
Manly crossed twice in the second half through wing Jason Saab but it was mere consolation. The Sea Eagles have another playoffs life and have plenty of room for improvement, with nine errors and 36 missed tackles against the Storm.
