Melbourne Storm 40
Gold Coast Titans 12
Melbourne boss Craig Bellamy was left smiling while Gold Coast mentor John Cartwright was shattered as the Storm crushed the Titans 40-12 at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Titans skipper Scott Prince described the performance as "embarrassing" and said they let down veteran Preston Campbell, who was playing his 250th NRL game.
The Storm effectively had the game won by halftime as they blew the Titans away, scoring five unanswered tries to lead 28-0.
"It's very disappointing, something I didn't see coming," said Cartwright.
League legend Laurie Daley, who was commentating on the match, said the first half was the worst 40 minutes the Titans had delivered since they entered the competition in 2007, and Cartwright didn't disagree.
"It got mentioned at halftime," he said.
"We'll have another look but it was basics, markers doing the wrong thing, guys not sticking to rules ... and they really made us pay for every little basic error we made defensively, they turned it into points."
Melbourne could do no wrong as they bullied the Titans in defence and then shredded them in attack.
Backs and forwards shared the spoils, with Anthony Quinn, Sika Manu, Cooper Cronk, Justin O'Neill and Cameron Smith the tryscorers.
Fullback Billy Slater also scored a try in each half to claim the title as Melbourne's greatest try-scorer, the new mark of 114 eclipsing retired winger Matt Geyer.
The Titans, meanwhile, were penalised at the kick-off and it took them until the 77th minute to get on the scoreboard, through rookie five-eighth Luke Capewell.
"Our preparation was first class, I don't think anyone saw it coming," Prince said.
"From the start, it was just one of those days when what could go wrong did go wrong.
"From the players point of view we were just embarrassed, the way we finished in the scoreline."
That exceeded Bellamy's expectations as they reaped the rewards of constant pressure on Capewell, fullback William Zillman and Prince.
"Every week you prepare for a tough game," Bellamy said.
"It was a good performance, we obviously started the game really well and those first 10 minutes really set the platform for us.
"We got into the groove because we defended well early."
The Titans have to rebound quickly, facing the Broncos on Friday night and are likely to be without winger Kevin Gordon, who will undergo scans on a knee injury.
Melbourne secondrower Manu also has a knee injury.
- AAP
