The Melbourne Storm have pulled off a miracle come-from-behind 24-22 win over Wests Tigers in a pulsating match at AAMI Park on Thursday night.
Storm centre Will Chambers scored in the 77th minute to give the home side the victory after they appeared headed for their third consecutive loss to the Tigers.
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Melbourne backrower Kenny Bromwich bounced off a Mahe Fonua tackle and managed to get the ball away to Chambers, who showed some neat footwork before shrugging off a Moses Mbye tackle to plant the ball over the line.
Melbourne's 54-point win over Parramatta during 'Magic Round' looked long forgotten with the Tigers dominating for most of the match.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy predicted an arm-wrestle rather than a try-fest and his words rang true with the first four scores of the match coming from penalty kicks.
The Tigers opened up an eight-point lead midway through the second half, but a try by Storm centre Marion Seve closed the gap to just two with 10 minutes to play to set up a thrilling finale.
It still looked like the Tigers would sneak home with the win until Chambers' late moment of brilliance.
The Tigers led 12-8 at halftime with Josh Aloiai crashing over in the 33rd minute while rookie Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen backed up his hot stint off the bench against the Eels.
The 20-year-old slipped through three Tigers defenders and raced untouched 80-metre in a superb solo effort in his first NRL start.
Putting a dampener on Melbourne's win was a serious knee injury to Queensland Origin hopeful Christian Welch.
The prop limped off at halftime with a suspected ACL injury in the same knee that saw him miss the Storm's 2017 premiership-winning campaign.
AAP
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