Liddle seals it late as Dragons stun Storm in gritty boilover

The Dragons have pulled off one of the upsets of the season, grinding out a 14-8 win over the previously unbeaten Storm in rain-soaked Saturday conditions at Jubilee Stadium to notch their first win under Shane Flanagan.

Hooker Jacob Liddle proved the match-winner for the $3.05 NRL betting underdogs, burrowing over from dummy-half in the 69th minute after Grant Anderson spilled the ball deep in Melbourne’s half.

Valentine Holmes converted to give the Dragons a six-point lead, and the hosts repelled a late Storm surge to seal a gutsy win.

“It was very stressful,” Flanagan admitted post-match.

“You always have it in the back of your mind that one of those errors could give them a chance. But we showed some real resolve today. Against a class side like Melbourne, with guys like Munster and Papenhuyzen on your try line, you can’t afford mistakes — and we held strong.”

The Dragons had entered the match 0-2 and coming off a bye.

After a slow start, Holmes crossed in the 34th minute off a perfectly timed Clint Gutherson pass, but the Storm hit back before halftime through Papenhuyzen to lead 8-6.

Holmes levelled with a penalty in the 62nd minute before Liddle’s decisive try seven minutes later.

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Gutherson said the bye week allowed the senior group to reset after two poor performances.

“We were disappointed with how we started the year,” Gutherson said.

“The bye gave us a chance to reflect and reset. We knew we had to be better.

“We dropped too many heads in the first couple of rounds and leaked soft tries — that can’t happen.

“Today we defended our errors and backed each other up.”

Melbourne had 46 play-the-balls inside the Dragons’ red zone but could only produce one try.

Their best chance in the second half — a Cameron Munster kick to Eliesa Katoa — was ruled no try by the Bunker due to a knock-on in the contest.

“I had a different opinion, to be honest,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.

“But there’s no point complaining. It’s been made, it won’t change.”

Harry Grant added: “We probably celebrated too early. Ellie [Katoa] thought he scored — he’s a pretty honest bloke — but we have to move on and not let it get to us.”

A massive final-minute tackle from Jaydn Su’A and Toby Couchman on Xavier Coates sealed the result and sent the small but vocal Kogarah crowd into raptures.

The loss was Melbourne’s lowest score against the Dragons since 2011 and continues their patchy recent record at Kogarah, having now lost four of their past five there.

With the breakthrough win under their belt, Flanagan’s men will look to build momentum heading into Round 5 against the struggling Eels.

The top NRL bookmakers have the Melbourne Storm still as the $2.88 premiership favourites as they prepare to go up against Manly Sea Eagles next week.

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