Cooper Cronk was the inspiration but three of the Melbourne Storm's emerging stars proved the heroes in a compelling 20-14 Anzac Day win over New Zealand Warriors at AAMI Park on Tuesday night.
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Cronk scored a try and created the break in front of 22,153 supporters that lead to the Storm taking the lead but young forwards Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Felise Kaufusi, as well as winger Josh Addo-Carr, were the headline acts. Asofa-Solomona and Kaufusi tackled strongly - Kaufusi with a team-high 46 tackles - and each scored a try, while Addo-Carr skirted with the sideline for his four-pointer.
Asofa-Solomona won the Spirit of Anzac medal as best player on ground.
With Cronk due to leave for Sydney next season, the play of five-eighth Cameron Munster and the other young Storm players showed the next generation is slowly starting to put their hold on the side.
The Storm found themselves under pressure early as Kieran Foran and the Warriors forced them into a repeat set. The Warriors went hard to their left before moving rapidly to the right and finding themselves with good numbers as Blake Ashford passed to David Fusitua for the first try.
Shaun Johnson's kick went in off the post to make it 6-0 on 10 minutes.
With Foran and Johnson pulling the strings in attack, the Warriors were the dominant team on the park.
But at the half-hour mark the Storm forced two consecutive penalties and found themselves 10 metres from the line with a full set.
They quickly put the ball into the hands of the towering Asofa-Solomona and he powered over the line and under the posts despite attention from three tacklers. Smith chipped in the conversion to tie scores at 6-6.
Still the Warriors remained the controlling party to close out the half and the Storm gifted them another scoring opportunity with more repeat penalties. Johnson converted one of them to make it 8-6 on 38 minutes.
But the Storm managed to pull even right on half-time after Asofa-Solomona broke the line and set up Billy Slater to run the ball deep into their half. Cameron Munster was pulled down by an offside defender 15 metres from the line and Smith took the penalty kick to tie the scores 8-8 at the break.
The Warriors made the perfect start to the second half with fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck setting up Fusitua for his second try, although Johnson missed the conversion to leave the scores at 12-8.
Once again, the Storm reacted in the best possible way, with Will Chambers showing outstanding power to break down the right before passing to Cronk for a try in his last Anzac appearance for the Storm.
Smith's kick also missed, leaving the scores tied at 12-12 at 50 minutes.
Johnson had the chance to regain the lead just minutes later and he did it via a penalty goal to put the Warriors ahead 14-12.
The Storm needed something special to break the game open and as expected Cronk was the man to do the honours.
The halfback made a run, then put in a perfect grubber kick for Suliasi Vunivalu. The speedy Fijian couldn't get to the line but, after he was caught, the Storm switched play to the left side, where Kaufusi and Cheyse Blair combined to set up Addo-Carr for the try. Replays showed Addo-Carr's foot was perilously close the sideline but the try stood.
Smith's conversion missed to leave it 16-14 with 14 minutes to play, then Kaufusi scored a try with three minutes to play to extend the lead to 20-14 after Smith's conversion again went wide.
Storm second-rower Kenny Bromwich missed the game due to his partner going into labour on Tuesday morning with their first child - Joe Stimson was his replacement.
There was no word from the Storm on whether the baby had arrived.
The Storm play St George-Illawarra Dragons at WIN Stadium on Sunday at 4pm.
