Storm 6
North Queensland's young brigade has repaid the faith shown in them by coach Neil Henry, helping the Cowboys to their first win against NRL pace-setters Melbourne since 2006.
The Cowboys looked a completely different side to the one beaten 34-22 at home in round two with Ray Thompson and debutant Kalifa Faifai Loa instrumental in their side's 34-6 win at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Monday night.
The Storm had no answers to the Cowboys' defence and had few attacking chances in the rain-soaked conditions.
Dairy Farmers Stadium had previously been a happy hunting ground for the Melbourne side, who'd downed the Cowboys by at least 14 points in their last two clashes at the stadium.
But the Storm will have left with few, if any, positives from Monday's match.
Thompson got involved early, opening up the Storm defence with his passing and kicking game, before contributing to two tries as well as forcing Sika Manu to drop the ball after crossing for a certain four-pointer for the Storm.
A try by Storm pivot Gareth Widdop six minutes from half-time kept the visitors in the match but the 10-6 deficit at the break would be as close as Melbourne got.
The Cowboys' attacking intent carried into the second period, Ash Graham scoring tries in the 51st and 70th minutes while Matt Bowen bagged a double of his own by crossing in the 66th minute following his 13th minute effort.
Graham had earlier been guilty of spurning two golden opportunities in the first-half, but he made amends by crossing twice in the corner.
Bowen, in his club-record equalling 203 appearance in North Queensland colours, showed some form of old form throughout the night.
Fellow rookie Tariq Sims put the match beyond doubt seven minutes from time to score his first try in the NRL.
Of concern to the Storm was an injury to second rower Manu, who was helped from the field in the opening minutes of the second half.
Cowboys coach Neil Henry, who was shattered after last week's loss to Newcastle, had nothing but praise for rookies James Segeyaro, Faifai Loa and Sims.
"A few of our younger players have stepped up and got some experience and tonight our more experienced players really had a hand in the game," he said.
"It's a good feeling because it's a good performance across the board."
Co-captain Matt Scott said it was a welcome change from last week.
"Defensively I thought we were good, to keep a side like that to six points I thought it was a good defensive effort," he said.
His co-leader Johnathan Thurston, who criticised his team's preparation for last week's loss to the Knights, said there was an improved focus this week.
"Our attitude and our preparation during the week, it`s a good learning curve for the boys, he said.
"They should understand now what they need to do to prepare the best they can to put in a performance like that."
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said some of his side's defence was "embarrassing" and that they had a lot of work to do on the training paddock this week.
"The first 20 minutes we did nothing that we planned to do and that was a real strong point of our first two performances," he said.
Bellamy had some concerns over Manu's injury and an apparent eye socket problem with Kevin Proctor but said it was too early to ascertain how serious both problems were.
- AAP
