Sea Eagles 10 Storm 16

CITIUS, Altius, Fortius. This was an Olympic-sized battle but lacking the Olympic-sized ideal. Forget the taking part, this was about the winning.

Make no mistake, this was a ball-tearer. More ballsy than hopping in a plane and flying to France, anyway. And it showed that there is life after Sonny Bill Williams after all. Manly threw everything at their nemeses, and yet Melbourne withstood it. Both sides showed exactly why they can win it this year.

Problem is for Manly, they showed exactly why they can't at the same time. They punished the Storm in the first half and still trailed by four points at the break. They similarly dominated much of the second, thus avoiding a blitzkrieg of Melbourne points in the latter stages, but at home, dominating as they did, it was a game they could/should have won. If this were a boxing bout, they would have won on points.

But points are harder to come by in this game. The final flourish, in which Manly battered the Melbourne defence in the dying moments, with no reward, showed that.

There were some simply wonderful passages of play: Greg Inglis's palming of Steve Menzies and later Josh Perry, Billy Slater's strength and nerve to dangle the ball over the line with 99 per cent of his body ingoal, the same player's freakish ability to set up the Storm's first two tries of the night.

Who needs Sonny Bill Williams when we've got David Williams - more hair than lair but he brought the Sea Eagles back into the contest in the second half and was lifted by Melbourne winger Anthony Quinn in one of the game's many controversial moments.

Early on, it was like the Sea Eagles just wanted to hand Melbourne the ball so they could smack them, like Bobby Boucher in The Waterboy .

First, Matt Orford's ball went loose, leading to yahoos among the opposition and a minor push-and-shove after just 40 seconds. It was a sign of things to come.

Centre Steve Matai smashed Cam Smith, then after Brent Kite was manhandled by four Storm defenders, he and Michael Crocker exchanged a few pleasantries, and flailing fists. All inside two minutes.

Back-rower Anthony Watmough, who made a remarkable recovery to play after knee surgery less than a fortnight ago, lost the ball, then Matai followed. Five minutes had passed and they hadn't completed a set.

You don't need to to send Melbourne an invitation like that. By the time they started holding the ball, fullback Slater had already sent the RVSP. After the enormous pressure of a charged opening eight minutes, the fullback was put through by Cooper Cronk and sent a luscious pass to centre Matt Geyer, who did the rest.

But despite the scoreline, the opening had rattled Melbourne, and they shook the cage after 12 minutes when fullback Brett Stewart looked to have scored when Orford's kick was grassed by Slater. Stewart was ruled to have shrugged Quinn aside just as Slater was realising his leap was badly mistimed.

But the decision had a silver lining. The Brookvale crowd erupted. There haven't been such hails of protest in these parts since the last panel van from the western suburbs tried to park in one of the northern beaches.

No matter, just five minutes later, Glenn Hall surprised everyone - the Melbourne defence and the referee - by poking his nose through and scoring a rare try. "I didn't see it," Tony Archer said. No one saw it coming.

The Sea Eagles were really humming, and they were starting to make the well-oiled Melbourne machine look like that panel van spluttering its way over the Spit Bridge, spitting oil and smoke to mark the occasion.

For the rest of the half, Manly pressured the Melbourne line, denied by some excellent defence and a few awful Orford fifth-tackle plays. Once again, his ability to lift in the big games was brought into question.

Manly might be the contenders this year, but Melbourne showed why they are the champs. With just two minutes left in the half, and Storm coach Craig Bellamy already rehearsing how to get 78 swear words into a two-minute spray, Cronk chipped, Slater magically scooped up and sent Israel Folau over. Bellamy's counterpart was left to calculate how Manly could have exerted so much pressure for so little reward. He needn't have looked far for the solution; the other dressing room.

MELBOURNE 16 (C Cronk I Folau M Geyer tries C Smith 2 goals) bt MANLY 10 (G Hall D Williams tries S Matai goal) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: T Archer. Crowd: 18,442.