Will Warbrick has etched his name into Melbourne Storm folklore, scoring a phenomenal last-ditch try at AAMI Park to send his side to a preliminary final next weekend against the Panthers.
The rookie winger, who only made his debut this season after coming across from Rugby Sevens, leaped above opposing winger Junior Pauga to give the Storm a narrow 18-13 victory against the Roosters on Friday night.
Sam Walker's field-goal with less than 10 minutes remaining looked to have given the visitors a shock upset, but Warbrick's heroics will extend Melbourne's campaign for at least another week.
Nick Meaney and Tyran Wishart - two players who would not be in the Storm's first-choice spine - both had stellar showings, with the latter filling in at halfback on short notice due to Jahrome Hughes' recent injury.
MORE: Roosters coach Trent Robinson reacts to 'heartbreaking' defeat
Craig Bellamy's honest admission after narrow Storm win
Speaking to the media after the game, Storm coach Craig Bellamy admitted his side had some 'poor' moments against the Tricolours, but was proud of the bounce-back factor after losing 26-0 to Brisbane a week prior.
“I think we made real hard work of it, to be quite honest," he said.
"It felt like the first 20 or 30 minutes, we were on top but couldn’t quite squeeze those extra points. After that, I thought we were chasing our tails for a fair bit of it.
"That 10 minutes before half-time when we were defending our try-line, I was hoping that it wasn’t gonna gas us too much, but I think it did to be quite honest.
"I think some of our options at times were poor and I think their kicking game was much superior to ours, so that’s something we’ll have to have a look at for next week.
"It wasn’t pretty, without a doubt, but we needed to come back with a display like that after last week."
With a clash against the reigning premiers Penrith on the horizon in seven days time, Bellamy will be hopeful of another improvement on their efforts despite pulling off a great escape against the Roosters.
Craig Bellamy praises Will Warbrick after late-game heroics
While there's undoubtedly areas of the Storm's performance that Bellamy will poke holes through, the try from Warbrick in the dying stages certainly isn't one of them.
“He’s scored a lot of tries for us this year Will and it’s taken him a little while to get used to our game," he said.
"I’ve been really impressed with the progress that he’s made and that was one hell of a big play there tonight. It was the only time we’d done it all night, so there might be a little message there for us as well.
"That contest would have done justice over the road [at the AFL]."
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“I thought he [Meaney] was our best player – he was outstanding tonight, especially defensively under those high kicks," Bellamy said in the aftermath.
"I don’t know whether having Paps [Ryan Papenhuyzen] around him the last couple of weeks has had him thinking that he might be moving to other positions… that wasn’t happening tonight.
"He has had one hell of a year Nick in that position and I thought he was really outstanding tonight and I’m really proud of him.
“I thought he [Wishart] did a really good job. To come into that spot in such a big game is not easy to do – he obviously had a bit of practice up there in Brisbane in the last round.
"Hughesy didn’t train all week, so he basically trained there all week and that was a bit of a bonus for him and for us. I’m really impressed with the way he went about his work."
Bellamy was hopeful of welcoming back winger Xavier Coates for the clash with the Panthers, while the status of Kiwi star Hughes remains up in the air at this stage.
