The Raiders blitzed the Storm 40-12 at AAMI Park in Round 18 of last season. It was a rare shellacking for the Storm, but they were without two of their ‘big three’ players. Cameron Smith was rested and Billy Slater was injured, which left Cooper Cronk to try to hold the fort.
The Storm couldn’t handle the attacking frenzy from the Raiders out wide. Rookie Raiders winger Edrick Lee scored three tries, and on the other Raiders wing Sandor Earl scored twice.
Blake Ferguson, Reece Robinson and Jarrod Croker got the other tries for the Raiders as their outside backs ran riot.
The Raiders put the Storm under the pump in the first 30 minutes, building a 20-6 lead. The Storm got back to 20-12 down before halftime, but after the break it was all the Raiders.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy was mightily unimpressed by his side’s performance. He described their defence as “downright embarrassing”.
Canberra dominated possession 56 per cent to 44 per cent, completed 86 per cent of their sets to Melbourne’s 71 per cent, and incredibly ran eight line-breaks through the home team, while conceding just one.
