After a tumultuous week relocating to their new Sunshine Coast base, Storm coach Craig Bellamy said he was "very proud" of the fight shown by his side in a comeback 27-25 golden point win over the Roosters.
Cameron Smith's extra time penalty in the 85th minute at Suncorp Stadium seemed a distant dream just 14 minutes earlier when the Storm trailed by 10 points.
The physicality of Melbourne's defence – where huge shots by Justin Olam and Brandon Smith led directly to tries for the Storm – inspired Bellamy to state it was one of the club's best defensive displays by his side in recent memory.
After moving states during the week in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis in Melbourne, it made the performance extra special.
"It makes me real proud of them. Having said that, had we been beaten by 10 points I still would have been fairly proud of them," Bellamy said.
"We got 10 behind against a team that has been head and shoulders above every other team since the break, so it would have been easy for our blokes to say it was going to be too hard.
Match Highlights: Storm v Roosters
"To their credit they kept fighting.
"It was a physical game, especially in that first half. It was a real arm wrestle."
The Storm's relocation has been a major upheaval on several fronts, but Bellamy said his squad would adapt.
"It has been a topsy turvy week with moving up to the Sunny Coast, but having said that they haven't moved us to the moon," Bellamy grinned.
Even the great ones get nervous
"We've had to relocate the families… and it looks like we are going to be up here for two or three months.
"We don't want to use that as an excuse and we still want to prepare well, but we are going to have to make a few adjustments to when we train and how we do it because our routine has been turned upside down."
There were plenty of heroics for the Storm, none more so than Ryan Papenhuyzen's field goal with seconds remaining to level it up at 25-all.
"We basically thought that without Munster there that most of the pressure would have been on Cameron Smith to kick a field goal," Bellamy said.
"Paps, since he has been with us, practices a lot kicking field goals so we thought 'let's give him a shot'. He has had a couple of attempts during games that haven't been successful but it was a nice one to kick tonight after Keary kicked one with 30 seconds to go.
"Obviously all that practice has counted tonight and he is a very happy boy.”
What a game. Papenhuyzen sends us to golden point
Cameron Smith had an outstanding game in the halves with Brandon Smith starting at hooker. Cameron did move back into dummy half late on in the match but the switch mostly worked a treat.
"[In the halves] he has to do more running but he has to do less tackles," Bellamy said.
"I asked Cameron's opinion and I thought that was the best way to go and perhaps he was a bit nervous, which sounds strange for a guy who has played so many games but to his credit he said 'OK, if that is best for the team that's what I will do'. I thought he played a steady hand for us out there.
"Brandon's aggressive running game was good for us but that guile from Cameron going back in [to dummy-half] helped us in the last half hour."