Live updates: NRL - NZ Warriors v Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park, Melbourne

Warriors - 10           Storm - 70    

FULLTIME - Thank goodness that's over. Click here for a full wrap and all of the tries.

80th min - TRY STORM to Justin Olam

Yep, another one. Please make it stop.

78th min - TRY STORM to Jesse Bromwich

Browmwich charges through some awful defence to equal the Storm's largest scoreline at AAMI Park. (Storm 66-10)

75th min - TRY STORM to Jahrome Hughes

Hughes steps inside the cover defence and goes in under the crossbar. (Storm 60-10)

70th min - TRY STORM to Xavier Coates.

Yep, you read it right. Three tries in eight minutes for the wing, this time cashing in on a superb long kick from Hughes. (Storm 54-10)

67th min - TRY STORM to Xavier Coates

Skip pass from Papenhuyzen sends his wing in for his first career hat-trick. 

61st min - TRY STORM to Xavier Coates

Papenhuyzen lays a grubber for his wing to collect and score out wide. (Storm 44-10)

59th min - TRY STORM to Harry Grant

Far too much room for the hooker, who takes on his marker Walsh and powers over the line. This is getting pretty ugly. (Storm 40-10)

57th min - NZ yet to complete a set so far this half, another dropped ball costs them. Good news on the DWZ front, he's fully conscious and responsive after his earlier collision.

Storm launch from 20m out.

54th min - TRY STORM to Ryan Papenhuyzen

All too easy for the fullback, who fends off some weak defence and burrows his way to the line for his second try. (Storm 34-10)

51st min - TRY STORM to Nick Meaney

Storm make the Warriors pay for their mistake again, Munster completing the set play with a deft wide ball for his wing to claim his second of the night. Papenhuyzen converts from the touchline. (Storm 30-10)

49th min - Walsh sends the restart out on the full. Not ideal. More attacking ball for the Storm.

48th min - Lengthy delay here to tend to DWZ, who has barely moved after being involved in a nasty collision. He's stretchered off on the cart and that will be the end of his night.

47th min - TRY STORM to Ryan Papenhuyzen

That one has to sting. NZ defence did well to have the Storm scrambling on the last tackle, only for Nelson Asofa-Solomona to drop a pinpoint bomb on the tryline for Papenhuyzen to leap and collect AFL style and score. Converts his own try. (Storm 24-10)

45th min - Lovely pass from Johnson looked to have set DWZ free to force another set with a grubber, but the pass is called back and deemed forward.

44th min - Set restart for the Storm, then another restart. Storm 30m out. Kaufusi back on the angle, tries to force an offload, NZ clean it up.

42nd min - 80m set to start capped by an awkwardly bouncing chip kick, NZ looked to have survived but Storm want to challenge the handover call.

They'll get a penalty, early tackle by Curran on Grant. Early chance here for the Storm. 

Curran has twisted his ankle in the process, limps off with two helpers. That doesn't look great.

Papenhuyzen opts to cash in the two points. (Storm 18-10)

41st min - Here we go, can the Warriors pull off an almighty upset here? Walsh gets us restarted.

Second half underway...

HALFTIME

40th min - Olam breaks a tackle, takes off down the left. High tackle by Walsh coming across, penalty Storm. Papenhuyzen will have a shot with time expired, acute angle from 20m. Bends it back around. (Storm 16-10)

38th min - Frantic passage of play. Coates breaks and finds Papenhuyzen who's taken in a beautiful tackle by Aitken to save the try. Walsh makes a half break, NZ back near halfway.

Uh oh, looks like a shoulder to the head by Aaron Pene in the tackle. Escapes a spell in the bin. Storm back to halfway.

36th min - Walsh comes inches shy of forcing a 40/20. So close.

35th min - Powerful run by Brandon Smith puts the Storm on the front foot. Papenhuyzen tucks it on the final tackle and dives for the line but the NZ defence holds on to force the turnover.

30th min - TRY WARRIORS to Wayde Egan

Johnson gambles with a chip kick on just the second tackle and gets a perfect bounce, evading all three Storm cover defenders and sitting up perfectly for Egan to dive upon. Walsh converts (Storm 14-10)

30th min - Penalty gives NZ a chance to launch from 40m out.

27th min - TRY STORM to Nick Meaney

Risky no-look pass from Johnson floats up for Meaney to grab with ease and go 60m to score. Another NZ mistake leads directly to points.

26th min - Poor pass by Papenhuyzen is spilled by Coates. NZ will feed a scrum 40m from the line.

22nd min - TRY STORM to Xavier Coates

Kosi's rough night continues, spilling a grubber that should've been grounded and allowing Coates to run through and dot down.

21st min - DWZ looked to have fielded the grubber and kept it in the field of play but the ref says no, off to a dropout.

19th min - Mistake by the Storm gifts NZ great field position. 30m out now. Walsh kickson the 2nd play but can't get it through the line, Hughes pounces on the rebound. 

17th min - Walsh fields the clearing kick at his own 10m. Set restart after the failed strip, they pin the Storm back at their own 10m.

14th min - TRY WARRIORS to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak

Great response from NZ. Chanel Harris-Tavita reads the rush defence and throws a perfect skip pass for DWZ, who finishes aerially one-handed in the corner. Walsh can't convert. (4-4)

11th min - Storm break immediately from the restart down the left edge. Chip over the top fielded by Kosi. Penalty NZ, that'll help.

8th min - TRY STORM to Jahrome Hughes

Incredible counterattack from the Storm. Kosi spills the ball with some space in front of him, Papenhuyzen collects, bolts down the right edge then finds Hughes inside to peel off the final 60m. Conversion hits the post. (Storm 4-0)

7th min - Walsh taken high, another penalty. Great chance here inside the Storm 20m.

5th min - NZ defence holds up, grubber recovered on their own 10m. Penalty relieves the pressure, back to the 50m to start their set.

4th min - NZ under pressure, three tackles inside their own 10m. Walsh kicks well, but Storm return to halfway.

3rd min - Kosi does really well to slide and take a towering Munster bomb. Walsh returns on the 5th tackle, Storm carry to their 20m.

1st min - Matt Lodge carries strongly to get us started. Egan bursts for a 15m gain from dummy half. Clearance taken just outside the Storm 10m. 

We're underway....

8:55pm - Evening, Warriors faithful. There's a pretty heart-wrenching pre-game Anzac memorial underway at AAMI Park. NZ and Aussie anthems belted out with a little extra vigour.

Don't forget, you can watch tonight's action live and free on Three. Or just stay and hang out with us, that's cool too.

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Kia ora and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the annual Anzac Day clash between the Warriors and the Storm at Melbourne.

The Warriors enter tonight's clash - as they do most years against the perennial title contenders - as firm underdogs. The Storm have won all but one of their six games to start the season and could move into second on the NRL ladder with a win tonight.

But the Warriors have proven to be no rollovers this season, with three wins from their past four games to hint at a team on the rise.

Join us for all of the action at 9pm, or tune into Three for full live and free coverage of tonight's match from 8:30pm.

TAB betting odds:

NZ Warriors - $6.50         Melbourne Storm - $1.09

Team line-up:

NZ Warriors: 1-Reece Walsh, 2-Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 3-Jesse Arthars, 4-Adam Pompey, 5-Edward Kosi, 6-Chanel Harris-Tavita, 7-Shaun Johnson, 8-Addin Fonua-Blake (c), 9-Wayde Egan, 10-Matt Lodge, 11-Euan Aitken, 12-Bayley Sironen, 13-Josh Curran

Interchange: 15-Bunty Afoa, 16-Aaron Pene, 17-Eliesa Katoa, 18-Taniela Otukolo

NZ Warriors coach Nathan Brown doubles down on defence of referees against Sydney Roosters

By Grant Chapman

NZ Warriors coach Nathan Brown still refuses to offload the blame for his team's loss to Sydney Roosters last weekend, despite growing claims of favouritism among NRL match officials.

Warriors fans have long complained of a perceived trans-Tasman bias against the Auckland-based club, but now other small-market teams have joined the chorus, insisting referees unconsciouly favour the competition's leading sides, leaving the underdogs frustrated at their inability to get an even break.

That suspicion gained momentum, after a series of marginal calls seemed to sap the spirit from the Warriors, as they let a halftime lead slip in a 22-14 defeat.

Among the most obvious were Roosters captain James Tedesco - also NSW State of Origin skipper - escaping the sin bin for a blatant professional foul with the Warriors hot on attack, while Warriors centre Jesse Arthars had a try disallowed for a knock-on in a tackle that could just as easily have been a strip.

Warriors star Reece Walsh.
Warriors star Reece Walsh. Photo credit: Photosport

The Warriors are believed to have asked for a 'please explain' from NRL bosses, but afterwards, Brown would not point the finger at officials and, four days later, he's still not prepared to let his team off the hook that easily.

"If you look at us, in the past 11 years, the club has played only one finals game of football," reflected Brown. "I think our main focus has got to be, as a coaching staff, what could we do better last week and what can we do better going forward.

"The players need to look at 'how can I do better, what can I be better at, how can I prepare better, how can I play better?'

"I personally can't help a referee get any better - that's not my forte - and I can assure you none of my players can help the referees get better neither.

"When you look at where we've been to as a club and where we want to go, if we put more focus into what we can do, we'll have more chance of becoming a top club, as opposed to worrying what the referee might be doing."

Brown insists the Warriors can better influence referees by becoming a better team, rather than vice versa.

"There's no doubt some 50/50 [calls] can influence the contest, but I also know, if we get ourselves going consistently well and keep challenging opposition sides... the outcomes will work out a lot better for us," he said.

"When you're getting better outcomes and winning more games, the ball tends to bounce your way a little more - that's the way sport is, I suppose."

The Warriors continue their quest for consistency against another of the NRL's glamour sides, Melbourne Storm, on ANZAC Monday.

Faced with a spate of injuries last year and with nothing to lose, Brown tossed rookie Reece Walsh into a first-grade debut in the halves and he immediately impressed.

"We're going down there with a far different outlook this time," he said. "There's two points up for grabs and we want to get those two points.

"Last year was a very different situation where we were at, as a club. We've got to attack the game to get those two points."