NRL: Towering Storm irresistible

Storm's Sika Manu is tackled by Scott Prince. Photo / Getty Images

Storm 40 Titans 12

To paraphase Led Zeppelin, the game remains the same for the Melbourne Storm.

There were widespread predictions of doom and gloom ahead of 2011, especially from Sydney, but the way the Storm demolished the highly-rated Titans last night suggests all is well for Craig Bellamy's side.

The Storm lost Greg Inglis, Jeff Lima, Brett Finch, Ryan Hoffman, Brett White and Aiden Tolman in the off-season but were as efficient as ever, scoring four tries in the first 30 minutes to kill the game off.

The Titans usually struggle away from Skilled Park, but the manner of the capitulation will be of great concern for coach John Cartwright. After a creditable effort against the Dragons last week, they were flimsy on defence and didn't look like scoring a try until the last five minutes.

If the Storm were solid against Manly, they were spectacular last night in a game that was tipped by most pundits to be close. To put the icing on the cake, Billy Slater's brace took him to 114 career tries and a record for the franchise.

Despite the massive changes in their roster, the three musketeers of Cameron Smith, Slater and Cooper Cronk remain together and they are developing into one of the most influential trios the game has ever seen. Perhaps it is time to compare them to the 1990s Raiders combination of Ricky Stuart, Bradley Clyde and Laurie Daley or Allan Langer and the Walters twins at the Broncos; Maybe even the incomparable Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny and Ray Price at the great Eels side of the early 1980.

With players of the calibre of Smith, Slater and Cronk, and their finely tuned attacking systems, it is just a matter of inserting a new crop of fast, agile runners around them.

The Storm also retain an aggressive, solid forward pack and their ability to dominate at the ruck, albeit often with questionable tactics. They have a defensive pattern second to none - in each of the last five years they have been in the top two defensive teams - and were equally miserly last night.

The match started with a Bill Harrigan-type penalty, as one of the Titans players was caught all of one metre ahead of Scott Prince at the kick-off. It was a ridiculous ruling - it was maybe an issue in the game back when Ricky Stuart's ugly Roosters team made an art form of domination from the kick-off - but is not now and the punishment hardly fits the crime. However it did set the tone for the Titans, who would endure a night to forget.

The Storm managed an early contender for try of the season in just the seventh minute; Cooper Cronk chipped from inside his 22 and then half-volleyed from halfway for winger Anthony Quinn to re-gather and score in the corner.

The human bulldozer Sika Manu dotted down eleven minutes later, running off a perfectly timed flat ball from Gareth Widdop. Then New Zealand-born second rower Kevin Proctor ran right through Scott Prince before setting up Cronk to sprint for the posts.

Prince has often been seen as unlucky to miss out on representative selection, especially when Cronk and Todd Carney were preferred ahead of him. But he was targeted effectively last night, and showed a distinct lack of commitment on defence.

Slater made it four tries within the first 30 minutes, leaving Preston Campbell for dead with a 55m sprint from dummy half. Smith dived over from dummy half four minutes before half time. Slater and Justin O'Neill added four pointers in the second half, before Capewell and Zillman scored consolation efforts for the Gold Coast.

Storm 40 (B. Slater 2, A. Quinn, S. Manu, C. Cronk, C. Smith, J. O'Neill tries; C. Smith 6 goals) Titans 12 (L. Capewell, W. Zillman tries; S. Prince 2 goals.). Halftime: 28-0