Storm 40
Warriors 6
With all the hoopla over Melbourne Storm's salary cap cheating, it's easy to forget that the Warriors have a fair few issues of their own.
Awful against Penrith a week ago, the Warriors last night fumbled and flapped their way to a new low against an inspired but injury-depleted Storm side.
Not much came of pre-match talk that the Storm stars whose contracts are at the centre of the salary cap rort might not front. Greg Inglis, Luke MacDougal and Dane Nielsen were all scratched from the listed team.
There was no intrigue in their absence, but it did mean a Storm side seeking to avoid a third straight defeat for the first time since 2002 took the field with two debutants in a heavily rearranged backline.
When senior prop Aiden Tolman limped off after just five minutes it seemed the gods truly were out to do a number on the Storm. But if that were the case, they wouldn't have sent the hopeless Warriors to finish the job.
The now free-falling Warriors completed just four of their opening 10 sets, handing a Storm side still boasting the supremely dangerous trio of Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith a surfeit of possession.
Smith struck first, shrugging off befuddled markers Micheal Luck and Wade McKinnon to score a try that would rate as one of the softest of his career.
After that it was all the Cronk show, with the halfback teasing and tearing at the clueless, tiring Warriors defence.
Storm wing Matthew Duffie was denied a debut try when he stepped on the sideline chalk in the 21st minute, but his disappointment was brief, with Cronk sending him over following a familiar Jerome Ropati fumble.
Unable to doing anything meaningful with the ball, the Warriors imploded on defence. Cronk sent Adam Blair over after back-to-back penalties and Brett Finch waltzed through a gaping hole to create a try for Ryan Tandy to push the Storm to a 22-0 lead at the break.
The interval provided a brief respite, the Storm pouring on more pain after the break, with Duffy crossing for a second try before creating one for William Isa.
Slater dotted down from a Cronk grubber shortly after Ben Matulino had pole-axed the halfback with a tackle that could attract the attention of the judiciary.
Ukuma Ta'ai scored a meaningless consolation try, but the match was all about Melbourne.
"Stop feeling sorry for them," Luck complained to referee Gavin Badger after a rash of early decisions went the Storm's way. The way the Warriors played, Badger might well have retorted "you too".
The reality is that, after their five-year cheating spree, sympathy for the Storm is in short supply in league circles. But, on last night's evidence, at least they can't be accused of wallowing in self-pity.
Whether that lasts into the dog days of winter, when the reality of their pointless predicament sinks in, remains to be seen.
The Warriors will doubtless reflect upon the luck of a draw that pitted them against the Storm at a time when the dethroned champions' motivation levels were almost certainly at an all-time high.
But that would merely distract from their own deficiencies.
The Warriors are playing low-percentage, low-intensity football. The feelgood factor created by their away wins at Brisbane and Canterbury has evaporated.
Saturday's match against the Raiders at Mount Smart looms as a watershed. If they don't turn things around then, they may not do so at all this season.
