Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy rated his teams 23-16 grand final win over Parramatta his sweetest triumph as the Storm joined the list of great teams with their second NRL premiership in three years.
Looking to put an exclamation point on four straight grand final appearances that had yielded one victory to date, the Storm withstood a furious Eels fightback to confirm their standing alongside the Parramatta sides of the early 1980s and Brisbane sides of the 1990s.
Bellamy said (quote) the win did not prove anything in his eyes, rather it was just icing on the cake of what was already an extraordinary effort. To make these four grand finals was a huge effort greatness is for other people to judge, I just know tonight I could not have been more proud of what this club has done the last four years. They produce when it counts whether we won tonight or not I could not be prouder of them. As far as a coach goes this is probably the best feeling I have had as a coach to be honest. To me it is the sweetest. Back in 2007 we went through as minor premiers easily and we had a wonderful side that year. This is a wonderful side too but there is a lot of unknowns. It is nice to prove people wrong when they are not saying nice things about you or they are not giving you any chance. (end quote)
A controversial decision by referee Tony Archer to penalise Eels prop Fuifui Moimoi in the 76th minute for holding down Billy Slater in a tackle when the Storm fullback spilled the ball proved a killer when Parramatta was on a roll after two quick tries.
But Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson admitted his side had given Melbourne too much of a start as the Storm surged to 22-6 after 58 minutes.
Storm went into the break leading 10-0 thanks to scores through Ryan Hoffman, who blasted past halfback Jeff Robson in defence and then it was no surprise when Cooper Cronk found a gap and put Adam Blair over.
The Eels came out strongly after the break with Moimoi leading the way with some punishing defence and it carried through to their attack with Eric Grothe slamming it down for a 10-6 scoreline. Melbourne were not about to give it away however and they hit back with a double wammy through their two superstars, Inglis and Slater scoring thanks to some sensational lead-up work by Cronk.
Eels centre Joel Reddy pulled down a bomb to score and get the Eels comeback underway in the 70th minute before Moimoi crossed two minutes later.
But the Storm were not going to let this match slip after being smashed 40-0 by Manly in last year’s decider. Stout defence taking them through to the fianl score of:
Storm 23-15 Eels
