The Melbourne Storm are into the 2017 Telstra Premiership Grand Final after an emphatic 30-0 defeat of the Brisbane Broncos on Friday night at AAMI Park.
Cameron Smith's side scored three second-half tries to run away with the preliminary final in a physical contest.
Both teams showed enterprise in attack and commitment in defence but errors crept into the contest with 24 in total.
Smith's penalty goal opened the scoring in the 18th minute after a Broncos infringement in the play of the ball.
Both sides missed scoring opportunities as Broncos winger Corey Oates and the Storm's Suliasi Vunivalu dropped the ball with the try-line in sight.
It looked like the Storm would hold their two-point lead until Curtis Scott offloaded to Josh Addo-Carr in the 39th minute to extend Melbourne's lead to eight heading into the break.
The Storm struck again midway through the second half when second-rower Felise Kaufusi slipped a pass for fullback Billy Slater to score down the right flank.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona barged over from close range in the 64th minute and Slater scored his second from a Cooper Cronk inside pass eight minutes from time to wrap up the victory, with Tohu Harris completing the rout with a penalty goal after Smith was given an early mark with the result in the bag.
Melbourne Storm 30 (Billy Slater 2, Josh Addo-Carr, Nelson Asofa-Solomona tries; Cameron Smith 6, Tohu Harris goals) defeated Brisbane Broncos 0 at AAMI Park. Crowd: 28,821.
