Canberra kept its finals hopes alive by thrashing the Storm 40-12 in a stunning upset at AAMI Park on Saturday evening.
The Storm had no answer to the Raiders' attacking onslaught and looked every bit a side bereft of Origin stars Cameron Smith and the injured Billy Slater.
Despite Queensland half-back Cooper Cronk backing up from his Origin heroics to captain the Storm in Smith's absence, it was the Raiders who impressed in their eight tries to two demolition.
Early tries to Blake Ferguson and Reece Robinson saw Canberra race out to a 10-0 lead and although a converted Justin O'Neill effort cut the deficit to just four points, that was as close as the Storm came to reeling the rampant Raiders in.
A hat-trick to young winger Edrick Lee was the highlight for Canberra, while Sandor Earl chimed in with a double and Jarrod Croker registered his 11th try of a prolific campaign.
A dreadful night in defence gives Storm coach Craig Bellamy plenty to think about as his team crashed to back-to-back defeats at AAMI Park for the first time in the stadium's brief history.
It was also the first time a visiting team has scored 40 points at the venue as Canberra racked up successive wins for the first time this season.
More to follow.
Canberra: 40 (E Lee 3, S Earl 2, B Ferguson, R Robinson, J Croker tries; J Croker 4/8 cons)
Melbourne: 12 (J O'Neill 2 tries; G Widdop 2/2 cons)
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http://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/14159913/raiders-hammer-storm-in-upset-win/
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Geez, how did they do that? Seems that Canberra is coming home with a wet sail.
The Storm had no answer to the Raiders' attacking onslaught and looked every bit a side bereft of Origin stars Cameron Smith and the injured Billy Slater.
Despite Queensland half-back Cooper Cronk backing up from his Origin heroics to captain the Storm in Smith's absence, it was the Raiders who impressed in their eight tries to two demolition.
Early tries to Blake Ferguson and Reece Robinson saw Canberra race out to a 10-0 lead and although a converted Justin O'Neill effort cut the deficit to just four points, that was as close as the Storm came to reeling the rampant Raiders in.
A hat-trick to young winger Edrick Lee was the highlight for Canberra, while Sandor Earl chimed in with a double and Jarrod Croker registered his 11th try of a prolific campaign.
A dreadful night in defence gives Storm coach Craig Bellamy plenty to think about as his team crashed to back-to-back defeats at AAMI Park for the first time in the stadium's brief history.
It was also the first time a visiting team has scored 40 points at the venue as Canberra racked up successive wins for the first time this season.
More to follow.
Canberra: 40 (E Lee 3, S Earl 2, B Ferguson, R Robinson, J Croker tries; J Croker 4/8 cons)
Melbourne: 12 (J O'Neill 2 tries; G Widdop 2/2 cons)
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http://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/14159913/raiders-hammer-storm-in-upset-win/
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Geez, how did they do that? Seems that Canberra is coming home with a wet sail.
