NRL: Storming home after blast

Billy Slater of the Storm is tackled by Chris Houston and Kurt Gidley of the Knights. Photo / Getty Images

Storm 42
Knights 12

The frequency of Craig Bellamy's verbal assaults on his players must dull the message after time but he had every reason to give them a blast at halftime last night.

They went into the break leading 18-12 over Newcastle but they weren't playing well and were in danger of losing consecutive home games for the first time since 2005.

They were loose, ran wayward lines and even made offloads more commonly seen by sides playing catch-up. They also conceded a soft try to Newcastle hooker Matt Hilder, who took advantage of some poor defence close to the line.

Bellamy clearly didn't like what he was seeing and gave his players a serve, presumably an expletive-laden one, while his players chomped on their oranges. Something clicked, because the Storm clocked up 24 unanswered points in the second spell to run away with the match.

It was tough on the Knights. They hadn't played particularly well, making too many errors and giving away too many soft penalties to build any pressure.

But they defended well for 60 minutes to keep one of the competition's front-runners in check.

But the critical moment of the half occurred in the 37th minute when five-eighth Kurt Gidley dislocated his left shoulder when he landed on it awkwardly trying to snipe through a gap.

Newcastle have had a horror run with injuries this season but, critically, their two playmakers - Gidley and Jarrod Mullen - had remained injury-free.

Gidley had been expected to be named in the Australian squad to face the Kiwis on Friday night but must now be a major doubt.

Newcastle battled manfully for 60 minutes but they lacked the class without Gidley to put Melbourne under any real pressure. It didn't help when they continued to make simple errors, like an incorrect play-the-ball just a metre from Melbourne's tryline.

The Storm played more controlled football and it was only a matter of time before they took control. It eventually came on the hour when winger Matt Duffie crossed for his sixth try in six games and centre Dane Nielsen followed five minutes later.

Billy Slater and Todd Lowrie added further tries as the score began to mount. Not that Bellamy looked particularly happy about it.

Storm 42 (B. Norrie, B. Champion, A. Quinn, M. Duffie, D. Nielsen, B. Slater, T. Lowrie tries; C. Smith 7 gls) Knights 12 (A. Uate, M. Hilder tries; K. Gidley 2 gls). HT: 18-12.