The Cowboys have beaten a Storm side without 11 regulars but the hosts were made to work for the 38-30 victory in Townsville on Thursday night.
It was hardly a performance that will fill North Queensland coach Todd Pyten with confidence on the eve of finals, but they got the job done.
The win puts the Cowboys in the box seat to host a final and that will be confirmed if the Sea Eagles lose to the Bulldogs on Friday night.
Melbourne were impressive considering the numbers of stars coach Craig Bellamy rested and then losing Ryan Papenhuyzen (cork) and Marion Seve (syndesmosis) in the opening 15 minutes.
Bellamy is expected to roll out close to a full-strength squad against the Broncos next week in the minor premiers last hit-out before finals.
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Melbourne opted to rest 11 players on Thursday and one of the fresh faces – Lazarus Vaalepu – crossed for the game’s first try in the third minute.
Vaalepu found space close to the Cowboys line and powered over for his first NRL try, kicking the understrength Storm into gear early.
However, their lead would not last long, with Cowboys great Kyle Feldt crossing for a try in his final home game in the 10th minute.
Attacking the Storm line, the Cowboys shifted right, finding fullback Scott Drinkwater, who jinked between Storm defenders before flicking a beautiful offload into Feldt’s hands.
Murray Taulagi crossed two minutes later to give the home side the lead.
Melbourne received a scare when fullback Papenhuyzen was taken from the field, though it was later confirmed the fullback had only suffered a cork. He didn’t return.
The visitors got themselves back into the game through some determination from Alec MacDonald in the 26th minute before Tyran Wishart snuck over to score via a delightful scrum play in the 34th minute.
A Drinkwater bombed forced a late error from Sualauvi Faalogo, filling in at fullback for Papenhuyzen, offered the Cowboys a way back into the game just before halftime.
The hosts took it, with Feldt crossing for his second of the game right before the interval, returning his side to the lead.
Four minutes into the second half, Valentine Holmes crossed for the home side, extending their lead ever further.
However, a fortuitous bounce of a Cowboys short drop out fell the Storm’s way, with Wishart the quickest to pounce on the loose ball for his second try of night.
Wishart nailed a 49th minute penalty goal to level the scores, before a Reece Robson try extended the Cowboys lead just before the hour mark.
Cowboys backrower Jeremiah Nani and Storm debutant both crossed in the final 12 minutes.
“It was a really scrappy game, not a good spectacle from both teams to be fair,” Payten said.
“In the end we had some bigger moments than they did and that’s what got us over the line.
“At the start of the game there was a team ready to roll its sleeves up and one wasn’t. That’s the message I gave at halftime and I thought we were much better in the second half.
“Across the team there were too many missed tackles and we need to sharpen that up quickly.”
Here are some of the biggest talking points out of the match from Newswire’s Patrick Woods
BELLAMY’S UPDATE
Craig Bellamy confirmed after the game that club officials are not worried about Papenhuzen’s injury and he also praised utility Tyran Wishart.
“The medical staff don’t seem to think it’s too bad,” Bellamy said.
“He’ll have a scan tomorrow, and then we’ll go from there.”
Papenhuyzen had his shorts pulled down during the early stages but it was the Cowboys’ defence that was exposed in the first half by a lack of intent and poor efforts.
North Queensland missed 28 tackles to Melbourne’s four before halftime and a better side would have put the lacklustre Cowboys to the sword.
Melbourne fans got a glimpse of an exciting future with Wishart and Sua Fa’alogo dazzling with the ball in hand, combining for three linebreaks and 13 tackle busts.
“You can play (Wishart) basically anywhere, he’s proven that,” Bellamy said.
“He sees himself in the halves or fullback. He’s just so valuable to us at the moment. He’s a really good athlete, he finds space and when he finds it he can take advantage of it.”
FELDT FLIES DURING FAREWELL
Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt crossed for two tries in the first half to set a new personal best with his 20th four-pointer of the season.
It was the first time the legendary finisher reached 20 tries in one season, becoming just the fourth Cowboy to achieve the feat alongside Matt Bowen, Matt Sing and Ashley Graham.
North Queensland’s most prolific tryscorer has scored nine tries in his past five games with at least one in each.
Feldt was being celebrated alongside Jake Granville as it was the final guaranteed home game for the pair of premiership-winning players.
DOUBLE STORM INJURY BLOW
Melbourne was dealt a double injury blow inside the first 15 minutes as superstar fullback Papenhuyzen and right centre Seve both helped from the field.
Papenhuyzen succumbed to a corked lower leg and did not return while Seve was downed by a syndesmosis injury in the process of attempting to score.
The disruption allowed livewire rookie Sua Fa’alogo to shift to his preferred position at the back with Tyran Wishart moving into the halves and Grant Anderson back out to the wing.
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