Junior Rep Report: Round 7

Melbourne Storm’s three-game winning streak unfortunately came to an end at the hands of the ladder-leading Canberra Raiders on Saturday, going down 24-16 at Seabrook Reserve. 

It was the visitors that got the jump over Storm in the Round 7 fixture, Canberra opening the scoring in the 3rd minute before Storm responded with a try of their own ten minutes later with Matthew Hill going over. 

Despite a shift to lock to accommodate the return of last year’s Jersey Flegg Leading Points Scorer Keagan Russell-Smith, De’Ontae Perese once again had his fingerprints all over Storm’s first try, putting in yet another pinpoint cross field kick that Hill plucked from the air to score. 

Tries to the Raiders either side of the break saw the visitors jump out to a 24-6 lead before Storm scored back-to-back tries in rapid succession to set up an exciting end to the contest. 

This time it was Russell-Smith who executed the perfect chip kick for their next try, Siulagi Pio showing some fast hands to catch the football and pass on the inside for Liam Williams to score.

Rolling up their sleeves and marching downfield, Storm bullied the Raiders big pack of middle forwards to immediately put themselves back on the attack. 

Making it three tries from kicks, Russell-Smith once again executing the perfectly weighted chip for Hill who steamed through to grab his second try.

Unfortunately, despite an improved end to the second half, Storm were unable to reel in the Raiders lead, with their attention now turning to next week’s clash against the Wests Tigers in Sydney. 

Originally published on melbournestorm.com.au