NRL champions Melbourne suffered an almighty scare by a fired-up Wests Tigers before escaping with a 26-12 win at AAMI Park last night.
In a gripping encounter the home side didn't hit the front until the 66th minute, with man of the match and halfback Cooper Cronk orchestrating a brilliant final 20 minutes.
After a try by Cronk they sealed the victory, which was a club record 13th in succession, with six minutes remaining and some individual brilliance by premiership winger Sisa Waqa in his first game of the season after a hand injury.
Little went right for most of the match for the home side, who looked shell-shocked as they were out-enthused and out-played across the park.
Melbourne's usual weapons - their kicking game and their defence - let them down while their attack was uncharacteristically sloppy with credit due to the Tigers' punishing defence.
