The premiership race has been shaken up after a jaw-dropping first-half onslaught from the Melbourne Storm against Canberra in the first preliminary final.
Completing 16 of 17 sets, the Storm ran in four unanswered first-half tries - three coming inside nine minutes - to establish an unimaginable 24-6 half-time scoreline.
Canberra was lucky to not have conceded a fifth after Josh Addo-Carr was robbed of what experts and fans thought was a certain try, the Raiders' season now hanging by a thread after their worst defensive half this year.
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There's not getting the rub of the green and then there's whatever the Raiders were getting served up in the opening 25 minutes of the first-half at Suncorp.
Every bounce of the ball, refereeing decision, and 50-50 call was going Melbourne's way in the opening half an hour of the contest and they more than made their opponents pay.
So precise was Melbourne's attack, their 24 points in the opening stanza came despite only having 16 tackles inside Canberra's 20-metre zone. The Raiders, on the other hand, had 29.
The determination of Craig Bellamy's men was clear from the outset with Jesse Bromwich scoring a textbook Storm try in the fourth minute after running a smart line and latching onto a beautiful ball from Cameron Smith close to the line.
The Storm's monstrous middle's in Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Christian Welch and Bromwich were completely dominant in the forward battle, but it was Melbourne's back three that began turning the screws in attack.
A swift shift to the left on the next play saw the Storm go over again. Ryan Papenhuyzen held the ball up to create an overlap and put Josh Addo-Carr away before the fullback was found in support leaving Charnze Nichol-Klokstad grabbing at air.
That was FAST! 💨#NRLStormRaiders
— NRL (@NRL) October 16, 2020
12-0 after 7 mins.#TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/7wXhtm7Iks
Melbourne found easy metres through the middle on the ensuing play and a Jahrome Hughes bomb was unable to be contained by Semi Valemei, which saw the Storm regather the loose ball through Hughes, who handed it off to Suliasi Vunivalu, the Fijian then beating two Raiders defenders close to the sideline to score one of the tries of the year.
Apparently he is an acrobat as well 🤯
— NRL (@NRL) October 16, 2020
Some Vunivalu footwork puts the @storm in for #3! #NRLStormRaiders#TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/vjocqKRqj0
Before the Raiders knew it they were down 16-0 after nine minutes.
Not long after Justin Olam was the beneficiary of another Raiders error off a kick, with Nick Cotric failing to nullify a Papenhuyzen kick in goal, allowing the Storm centre to score his side's fourth.
Premiership-winning Storm great Billy Slater told Channel Nine the advantage of the week off was evident in the way Melbourne started the clash.
"It certainly looks as if back-to-back weeks of finals has taken its toll. It would have been a huge emotional clash last week against the Roosters in a rematch of that 2019 grand final. You add the travel on the back of all of it, it seems like it's showing early in this game," Slater said.
"But take nothing away from the Storm, they are suffocating them. When the Raiders have the football, the Storm are suffocating them. When they don't' have the football, the Storm are just asking so many questions all of the field."
The Raiders have built their season on brilliant defence, but the 24-0 scoreline was the most points Ricky Stuart's men have conceded in the opening 20 minutes of a half this season.
Nick Cotric helped add some respect to the scoreboard and peg the margin back with a try in the 29th minute, as Canberra found their rhythm in the final 10 minutes of the half.
Down by 18 points Stuart's men now face the biggest fight of their season and 40 minutes to keep their premiership dream.
