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Storm rout Cowboys to claim 2017 NRL Grand Final
 Round 30
Odds by 34 - 6 Match Completed
NRL 2018: Round 30

ANZ Stadium - Sunday October 1st, 8:15 am

FULL TIME: The Melbourne Storm have defeated the North Queensland in the NRL Grand Final 34-6.

It was comprehensive in the end, although there was a brief scare early in the second half.

In the end, though, there was nothing the Cowboys could do to stop the Storm in either attack or defence.

9:49pm: Billy Slater has won the Clive Churchill Medal for the best player on ground in the NRL Grand Final.

» Read here for our full match report from the NRL Grand Final

Slater emotional after NRL GF win

78' Storm 34-6 Cowboys: Smith knocks one over the sideline to slow things down a little.




The try procession is over, and it looks as though the Storm are starting to enjoy themselves.

76' Storm 34-6 Cowboys: The conversion is successful from Smith, and the scoreline gets uglier.

73' Storm 32-6 Cowboys: TRY STORM

It's now a victory procession. The Cowboys have given it away, as evidenced by Jake Granville knocking it out of the hands of Vunivalu on his way back to the 20 metre line for a penalty.

Then Billy Slater CHARGES THROUGH THE MIDDLE to split the Cowboys open, and Tohu Harris throws a mighty cut-out pass to Josh Addo-Carr for his double.

69' Storm 28-6 Cowboys: STORM TRY!

Another error from the Cowboys close to their line gives Addo-Carr possession, who then offloads to Curtis Scott who runs over untouched. Looks bad now.

Smith misses from a similar position as his first two to make it 4-5 from the night.

Finucane crashes over

65' Storm 24-6 Cowboys: STORM TRY!

A costly knock on from the Cowboys on the 40 metre line has led to an attacking set for the storm. Consecutive short passes out of dummy half from Cameron Smith leads to Dale Finucane crashing over close to the posts. Smith converts.

You'd think that's the game.

62' Storm 18-6 Cowboys: A knock on close to the line gives the Cowboys an attacking set, but it all comes to nothing. Morgan and Smith, two much talked about players before the game, have put in some poor kicks close to the line in the second half.

58' Storm 18-6 Cowboys: Storm get their first penalty, courtesy of a tip tackle from the Cowboys. Good attacking position for them here.

56' Storm 18-6 Cowboys: Tim Glasby heads to the concussion test, as Will Chambers almost puts the game to bed. He couldn't find a support player after making a break down the right edge.

Storm starting to wrestle back some momentum here.

54' Storm 18-6 Cowboys: North Queensland look to assert themselves, but Billy Slater and Suliasi Vunivalu both diffuse a Michael Morgan bomb to blunt the attack.

Excellent defence under pressure from the Storm, though Cameron Smith has put in two lacklustre kicks in his last two efforts.

50' Storm 18-6 Cowboys: Kick sneaks through from Ethan Lowe. Life breathed into the contest!

Cowboys get first points

47' Storm 18-4 Cowboys: TRY COWBOYS

They try a few things with 12 consecutive tackles on the line, and look dangerous as they throw short balls to hard-running backrowers.

Storm concede three penalties in a minute, but repel attack after attack from the North Queenslanders.

Jake Granville goes close, but no one from the Cowboys can crack the Storm, until SOME FAST FOOTWORK from Te Maire Martin gets through the line and dots it down next to the posts. Cowboys should make it 18-6 with the kick to come

46' Storm 18-0 Cowboys: North Queensland finally find a little room to work, and Gavin Cooper earns their second penalty of the match. But you still feel that the Storm have upped their intensity even from their first half performance.

Very impressive.

Cowboys on the attack.

44' Storm 18-0 Cowboys: Cowboys are trying some enterprising play to get up the other end of the field, but so far the Storm defence is proving very strong.

Storm getting the best of the contest so far in this half.

41' Storm 18-0 Cowboys: We're back for the second half.

HALF TIME! Storm 18-0 Cowboys: Some entertaining footy to finish the half! The Storm go on the attack after the kick off, but Kyle Feldt almost breaks away to score. He's finally brought down 40 metres out from the line.

Storm look well in control here.

The stats say as much. The Storm have made over 1000 metres in the first half, while the Cowboys have made just over 700.

They've offloaded 10 times to the Cowboys 0.

Smith himself has almost run for more metres in one half than his best running performance so far this year. 95 metres for the Storm skipper.

Also an update on Cowboys backrower Shaun Fensom, a broken left fibia. That's the smaller bone on the bottom of your leg. Really feel for the guy.

39' Storm 18-0 Cowboys: Smith is successful with the conversion from almost the exact same angle. 3-3 for the skipper.

37' Storm 16-0 Cowboys: Antonio Winterstein puts his team under immense pressure here. He runs at a Cooper Cronk grubber 'like a bull at a gate' and spills it. Storm on the attack.

SLATER CAPITALISES AND CROSSES for the Storm's third try.

36' Storm 12-0 Cowboys: Some outrageous football being played by the Storm - as if it's a hot potato! Terrifically entertaining stuff.

Cowyboys get a chance down the other end, but are wasteful with their kick chase. Difference between the two sides right there.

Storm score second try

29' Storm 12-0 Cowboys: Felise Kaufusi scores! Melbourne tighten the screws indeed and the forward crosses after a ball from Cooper Cronk.

Smith converts from a similar position. 12-0. Test for the Cowboys now.

27' Storm 6-0 Cowboys: Billy Slater defuses the Michael Morgan bomb and puts the Storm in an attacking position with a seven-tackle set.

It comes to nothing with a bit of disorganisation at the end of the set.

No such story in the second attacking set in the follow up, though, with Cameron Smith forcing a repeat set through a grubber. Gus says Melbourne are starting to turn the screws.

23' Storm 6-0 Cowboys: First penalty of the game - for a high tackle on Gavin Cooper from Dale Finucane.

Cowboys get another attacking chance.

21' Storm 6-0 Cowboys: Cameron Smith converts from halfway between the posts and the sideline.

Addo-Carr scores first in NRL grand final

20' Storm 4-0 Cowboys: No score, no penalties yet. Both teams starting to even up here - Cowboys getting some forward momentum after a period of Storm dominance.

And after a dangerous kick - the Storm has streaked away to score!

It's been tapped back by the Cowboys, and Will Chambers has broken away, shovelled it to Josh Addo-Carr to streak away 75 metres to open the scoring.

16' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: Nothing comes of the Cowboys' attacking set. Melbourne still playing with plenty of energy. Smith scheming.

13' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: Tohu Harris finds a chink in the armour, and the Cowboys are saved by the upright. The ball striked the right post, otherwise it was into the arms of Billy Slater for a try.

Storm on the attack again, but Ethan Lowe rescues the Cowboys on the line. North Queensland struggling out of their own area.

Now Vunivalu loses it on the 30-metre line. Big chance for Cowboys here.

10' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: Smith puts a masterful kick and the Storm muscle up to put a shot on Coote. You could feel it in your living room. Nasty.

Michael Morgan opts for the sideline. Some respite. It's been fast.

7' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: The teams swapping sets, with no errors so far. The Cowboys have gained a little bit of ascendency in defence, but the Storm's kicking game through Cronk and Smith is exceptional. Nothing being given by either team.

4' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: After about ten minutes of delay, Fensom has been taken off the field in the medicab. You can't help but feel for him, but he does give the crowd the thumbs up on his way off.

4' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: Fensom, who hasn't played a Grand Final after years with the Raiders, has finally got his chance with the Cowboys. He's had immediate medical attention and we're hearing it's an ankle, but will confirm when we're told.

He's being moved with caution, as it should be.

Cowboys will have the ball after the Bromwhich knock on in the tackle from Jake Granville upon resumption.

4' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: Storm get the first field position, and Jesse Bromwich has borderline bombed a try here. Shaun Fensom has also gone down. This looks really bad after he's collided with a teammate, making some nasty impact around his knee and hip... He hasn't moved, it looks really quite bad.

2' Storm 0-0 Cowboys: The Cowboys open with an enterprising set, troubling the Storm around the fringes. The STorm answer back with no-nonsense play up the middle. It's immediately obvious we have a style clash tonight.

7:33pm: We have kickoff! The NRL Grand final is live, so keep it locked here fore the scores, highlights and everything else you'll need for the night

7:28pm: Players are out on the field, and the national anthem is about to be performed. Plenty of Storm fans in the crowd - they take up the entirety of one side of the stadium. Impressive effort.

7:25pm: Not far away from kickoff here. The anticipation is building! For those wondering, the Storm played the Cowboys twice this year, both times scoring wins, 23-22 in Round 15 and 26-8 in Round 22. It looks lopsided, but that seems a long time ago now.

7:20pm: Cowboys coach Paul Green is backing his charges. He gives away no signs of nervousness in his interview ahead of the biggest match of his coaching career so far.

Says there's no one he can turn his attention to out of Smith, Cronk and Slater, but insists the Cowboys are ready.

7:13pm: We leave it to the experts to make the big calls. One of our regular contributors Tony Jones has called this one in a points decision to the NRL over the AFL's The Killers. Almost everyone I've seen on Twitter agrees with him.

7:09pm: Glorious to finish - it's been good. Not often you can say that pre-final entertainment is really great, but this has been a welcome exception. One of the teams will be hoping for a Glorious finish tonight.

7:07pm: It doesn't seem so controversial when they're actually singing it. Same Love from Macklemore is what we'll finish with (surely...). Nope, there's one more.

7:05pm: No footy tip from Macklemore. But let's never forget the moment JT and Macklemore high fived before the NRL Grand Final.

7:03pm: Downtown next... The hotly anticipated song surely next. The pre-show band usually only has three or four in them...

7:00pm: Can't Hold Us first. Now his Hottest 100 #1 hit Thrift Shop. The guy's a walking bag of hits.

6:55pm: One of the more anticipated elements of the NRL Grand Final this year - Macklemore is on the stage.

6:46pm: With Melbourne losing just four games over the course of the year, it's hard to see them losing.

But Craig Bellamy talking to Brad Fittler says he's nervous ahead of the decider. He said it will be critical to keep Taumalolo as quiet as possible - they're targeting 10 metres a run.

Bellamy relaxed before NRL GF


Teams for the NRL Grand Final


1. Billy Slater 2. Suliasi Vunivalu 3. Will Chambers 4. Curtis Scott 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Cameron Munster 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Cameron Smith 10. Jordan McLean 11. Felise Kaufusi 12. Tohu Harris 13. Dale Finucane 14. Kenny Bromwich 15. Tim Glasby 16. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 17. Slade Griffin


1. Lachlan Coote 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Justin O’Neill 4. Kane Linnett 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Te Maire Martin 7. Michael Morgan 17. Shaun Fensom 9. Jake Granville 10. Scott Bolton 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Ethan Lowe 13. Jason Taumalolo 14. Ben Hampton 15. Coen Hess 16. Corey Jensen 8. John Asiata

6:12pm: Going through the tips of our experts, it's mostly Storm. Even the PM has weighed in on the decider, but I don't think he's brave enough to alienate any electorates by going with a side.

6pm: Melbourne Storm have won the toss and captain Cameron Smith has elected to kick off. Gavin Cooper elects to run left to right as he's looking at the field. I'll leave it to Matt Cecchin to figure out just what that means...

Tune in for our live scores and coverage of the NRL Grand Final from 6:30pm, with the game scheduled to kick off at 7:15pm AEDT.



Emotional Billy Slater breaks down after Grand Final win
