Melbourne Storm beat Wests Tigers in Toyota Cup Grand Final
* By David Beniuk
* From: AAP
* October 04, 2009 4:37PM
ENGLISH-born Melbourne young gun Gareth Widdop clinched the Toyota Cup grand final for the Storm with a 74th minute try and pressure conversion, his side downing the Wests Tigers 24-22.
Widdop finger-nailed a late grubber - his second try of the match - to draw his side level at 22-22 before calmly potting the conversion and delivering the second version of the national under-20s competition to Melbourne.
The Storm scored four of their five tries in the first half to lead 18-10 at the break before a burst of two four-pointers in three minutes from the Tigers took them to a 22-18 lead after 56 minutes.
The Tigers had looked to be coming home with a wet sail before Widdop,who missed three first-half conversions, made the difference in a match where the lead changed five times.
The match became a virtual showdown between two gun fullbacks as Wests Tigers tryscoring machine Jake Mullaney took his season tally to 29 tries from 27 games in 2009 with a double of his own.
The speedy Tigers fullback also scored a try on either side of halftime and set up five-eighth Robert Lui's four-pointer for the Tigers' second-half lead.
Melbourne, who finished third in the regular season, had held the ascendancy before that, and led 18-10 at the break with, ironically, Widdop's goal-kicking letting his side down.
The Storm had also been denied three times in the first half, twice with players held up, but scored tries through winger Matt Duffie, lock Billy Rogers, Widdop and centre Justin O'Neill.
Billy Slater clone Widdop, 20, was born in Halifax, England, and came to Australia as a 16-year-old.
Melbourne halfback and captain Luke Kelly, highly rated by great No.7 Andrew Johns, won the Jack Gibson Medal as man-of-the-match.
Tigers coach Grant Jones said the grounding of Widdop's second try "raised eyebrows", and believes in-goal officials should be replaced by video referees in grand finals.
"I didn't have a good look but there was a consensus that that may not have been a try," Jones told a media conference.
Tigers captain Darren Nicholls added: "I thought he touched it and he knocked it on."
But Storm skipper Kelly said Widdop had been certain he got the ball down.
"He put it down," Kelly said.
Melbourne coach Brad Arthur said Widdop had been his side's standout player in 2009.
"When Gareth takes the field we know exactly what he's going to give us and it's his best every week," the coach said.
" … He'll bide his time and he might play a bit of six (five-eighth) for the NRL (side in 2010)."
MELBOURNE 24 (G Widdop 2, M Duffie, B Rogers, J O'Neill tries, G Widdop 2 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 22 (J Mullaney, 2 R Curran, R Lui tries, J Mullaney 3 goals) at ANZ Stadium.
