Melbourne Storm

Latrell magic powers sizzling Souths; Storm Achilles heel masks Munster class: 3 Big Hits.

“Some of the younger or less experienced players are down on confidence. “The left-handed flick was beautiful. Alex Johnston scored another double against the Storm to take his record at Accor Stadium to a remarkable 79 tries in 79 games at the venue. The seventh placed Rabbitohs need to win to cement their top eight spot, while the Storm desperately need to prevent a fourth straight loss to keep in touch with the top four. “He has scored nine tries in his last four games and the reason why Isaiah Tass is shining the shoes of Johnston is because every time he gets the ball down that left flank, he uses his speed and acceleration and just his finishing ability to put the ball down. “Only Latrell after he grubbered the ball into the legs of Marion Seve, he picked the ball up and made sure Johnston was on side and in position for the flick pass,” Alexander said. Mitchell had his grubber charged down, before he scooped up the ball and produced a brilliant flick pass to put the ball on a platter for Johnston. It was billed as the battle between superstars Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Munster and while the Storm five-eighth was excellent, the Souths fullback proved the difference in the end. Jaxson Paulo finished off try in the corner to get in on the party after another cutout pass from Mitchell created the space. Marion Seve scored a long-range try just before the break after some poor defence from Cody Walker to get the Storm back in the contest. The Rabbitohs have handed the Storm their fourth loss on the trot in a 24-12 victory inspired by a masterclass from Latrell Mitchell and another Alex Johnston double. The Rabbitohs scored five tries to two with Mitchell the difference between the two sides, despite a gutsy display from Cameron Munster.

Souths have continued their exceptional run of form, battering Melbourne 24-12, drawing level with the Storm on the ladder in the process. It's hard to believe that, after Round 9, these two sides were eight positions, half the comp, apart.

Meaney kicked from the touchline to reduce the deficit to two converted tries. His pass was slightly behind Johnston, but the winger had enough about him to stop, catch and then make space for himself at the corner. Souths’ tendencies to shoot themselves in the foot had not disappeared. It’s hard to read too much into the opening two minutes of any game, but the way that Melbourne ceded field position through a Asofa-Solomona high shot and then utterly failed to defend a simple right shift seemed ominous. My job is to coach the team and the players that we’ve got at the moment. Souths raced 50m and changed the momentum. He refused to be drawn on Reece Walsh, but said that he was in the market to cover their injury issues.“We’d like to do that, but we’re running out of time,” said Bellamy. “There’s clubs that have players but they don’t want to release them. Where earlier in the season, he and Cody Walker had split kicking nearly 50/50, tonight it was 95 per cent Ilias. We just need to get better and look at that during the week.” They move to 11 wins and require just one victory from their remaining five fixtures to reach the 12 that should keep them playing into September. “Player changes and personnel have a big difference to your defensive resolve. “We’ve got to have that resolve.

'We don't pick them off the street': Bellamy blasts players as Storm left at 'crossroads'

“We are probably at the crossroads at the moment. “Defensively they are at sixes and sevens. They are brittle at best. “Tonight we give a penalty away early and that’s how it is, but then he could have walked over in the corner. “For parts of our game we can’t seem to do that. “The first two losses we were really poor.

Coming off three straight losses, Melbourne is trying to get its season back on track against South Sydney, after the Panthers backed up their only loss of ...

But the Raiders scored 26 unanswered points to run over the top of the visitors and become the fourth team on 20 competition points in a race for eighth spot. That sparked a rush of points for the Territorians, with Corey Harawira-Naera scoring a double as the Raiders put on 18 points in eight minutes. The New Zealanders shot out of the gates with tries to Jack Murchie and Daejarn Asi in the opening eight minutes and backed it up with staunch defence and a penalty goal to take a 14-0 lead into half-time. And they took the lead immediately after coming back out, as Dylan Edwards slid over on the end of a 60-metre attacking raid to end their first set of the half. The game remained an arm-wrestle in the pouring rain, with Ronald Mulitalo at one stage threatening to strike back with a match-turning intercept, but Luai crossed in the dying minutes to seal the win. But the experienced Panthers did not panic and eventually found their rhythm in attack, sending centre Izack Tago over in the 34th minute and potting a penalty goal on the stroke of half-time to only trail 10-8 at the break.

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy is not confident his side can turn their fortunes around and save their...

"We've lost four in a row now. I thought the first two losses we were really poor, but I thought we made some real steps last week and I thought we had some good parts of the game tonight, but if you keep making errors and you don't back up with defence, well you're going to lose the game." "That first half took a lot of petrol out of us, and if you're going to make errors, you've got to be able to defend them," he said.