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Slater stars in Storm surge
By John Salvado
April 11, 2008 BILLY Slater took another significant step towards an Australia debut after scoring two tries and setting up another in Melbourne's thumping 26-4 NRL victory over Manly.
The game at Olympic Park had been billed as a battle for the Kangaroos full-back position in next month's Test against New Zealand, with Slater clearly taking the honours over incumbent Brett Stewart.
Storm were every bit as dominant as they had been in winning last year's grand final 34-8 over the Sea Eagles.
Slater opened the scoring in the 15th minute, stepping past former Storm centre Steve Bell and beating Michael Bani with a dummy.
The second try came just four minutes later.
Five-eighth Greg Inglis took a short ball from Cooper Cronk, before fending off Glenn Stewart and then ploughing straight over the top of Brett Stewart to score.
Centre Will Chambers was the architect of Melbourne's third try, with a blistering run down the left touch-line followed by a clever in-field kick.
From the following play, Slater exchanged passes with Michael Crocker before crossing for his sixth try of the season as Melbourne led 14-0 at half-time.
Manly rarely threatened the Storm line in the first half, although Jamie Lyon was only denied in the 22nd minute by some desperate defence.
Slater turned provider three minutes into the second half to put the result beyond doubt, throwing a flat pass for winger Anthony Quinn to score in the left corner.
Inglis then denied Bell what seemed a certain try at the other end in the 54th minute.
Video official Bill Harrigan turned the decision back to referee Tony Archer, who ruled that Inglis had prevented Bell from grounding the ball in an impressive display of strength.
Shortly afterwards, Cameron Smith - who had been having a rare off-night with the boot - kicked a penalty to put the home side up 20-0.
Israel Folau was then denied a try after Steve Turner was deemed to have knocked on while stripping Sea Eagles winger Michael Robertson of the ball.
Second rower Ryan Hoffman scored Melbourne's final try in the 65th minute, while Bani notched a consolation try for the Sea Eagles seven minutes from time.
"Thank god he plays with us," Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said of Slater.
"His first half tonight, he scored those two tries and I don't know what else I can say about him to be quite honest.
"I've said it a thousand times, with no disrespect to any other full-backs in the competition because there's such a good batch out there ... we're just glad he's playing with us."
Bellamy was also delighted with Melbourne's defensive effort.
"I suppose we've had some good ones over the last couple of years, but I can't remember too many better than that," he said.
"I just thought everyone started the game with a really good attitude towards defence.
"That was what we wanted to do and it just carried on for the 80 minutes."
Manly coach Des Hasler was disappointed with his team's performance.
"Melbourne just persevered and were just a little bit better at the important parts of the game like controlling the ground," he said.
"We just gave away too much possession, they're the last side in the competition that you want to give ball to and field position.
"We were guilty of making silly errors and giving away penalties."
Manly prop Anthony Watmough suffered an ankle injury which will be assessed over the weekend.
By John Salvado
April 11, 2008 BILLY Slater took another significant step towards an Australia debut after scoring two tries and setting up another in Melbourne's thumping 26-4 NRL victory over Manly.
The game at Olympic Park had been billed as a battle for the Kangaroos full-back position in next month's Test against New Zealand, with Slater clearly taking the honours over incumbent Brett Stewart.
Storm were every bit as dominant as they had been in winning last year's grand final 34-8 over the Sea Eagles.
Slater opened the scoring in the 15th minute, stepping past former Storm centre Steve Bell and beating Michael Bani with a dummy.
The second try came just four minutes later.
Five-eighth Greg Inglis took a short ball from Cooper Cronk, before fending off Glenn Stewart and then ploughing straight over the top of Brett Stewart to score.
Centre Will Chambers was the architect of Melbourne's third try, with a blistering run down the left touch-line followed by a clever in-field kick.
From the following play, Slater exchanged passes with Michael Crocker before crossing for his sixth try of the season as Melbourne led 14-0 at half-time.
Manly rarely threatened the Storm line in the first half, although Jamie Lyon was only denied in the 22nd minute by some desperate defence.
Slater turned provider three minutes into the second half to put the result beyond doubt, throwing a flat pass for winger Anthony Quinn to score in the left corner.
Inglis then denied Bell what seemed a certain try at the other end in the 54th minute.
Video official Bill Harrigan turned the decision back to referee Tony Archer, who ruled that Inglis had prevented Bell from grounding the ball in an impressive display of strength.
Shortly afterwards, Cameron Smith - who had been having a rare off-night with the boot - kicked a penalty to put the home side up 20-0.
Israel Folau was then denied a try after Steve Turner was deemed to have knocked on while stripping Sea Eagles winger Michael Robertson of the ball.
Second rower Ryan Hoffman scored Melbourne's final try in the 65th minute, while Bani notched a consolation try for the Sea Eagles seven minutes from time.
"Thank god he plays with us," Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said of Slater.
"His first half tonight, he scored those two tries and I don't know what else I can say about him to be quite honest.
"I've said it a thousand times, with no disrespect to any other full-backs in the competition because there's such a good batch out there ... we're just glad he's playing with us."
Bellamy was also delighted with Melbourne's defensive effort.
"I suppose we've had some good ones over the last couple of years, but I can't remember too many better than that," he said.
"I just thought everyone started the game with a really good attitude towards defence.
"That was what we wanted to do and it just carried on for the 80 minutes."
Manly coach Des Hasler was disappointed with his team's performance.
"Melbourne just persevered and were just a little bit better at the important parts of the game like controlling the ground," he said.
"We just gave away too much possession, they're the last side in the competition that you want to give ball to and field position.
"We were guilty of making silly errors and giving away penalties."
Manly prop Anthony Watmough suffered an ankle injury which will be assessed over the weekend.
