Dallas Cowboys

Late Wests try spoils Slater's 300th NRL game for Melbourne

Published Mar. 18, 2018 6:17 a.m. ET

SYDNEY (AP) Luke Brooks scored a late try to lead the Wests Tigers to a 10-8 win over defending champions Melbourne, spoiling Storm fullback Billy Slater's 300th National Rugby League match.

''I thought we deserved the win,'' Tigers coach Ivan Cleary said. ''Lucky enough, the boys hung in there and got a crack at the end.''

Storm skipper Cameron Smith said he was disappointed with his team's basic errors - 17 for the match - and giving away 18 penalties.

''We had plenty of opportunities but we weren't good enough and that's about consistency,'' Smith said. ''The Tigers were very good, very resilient.''

Slater has played all 300 games with Melbourne.

''They beat us to the jump on everything tonight, they had a lot more intent, especially with their running,'' Storm coach Craig Bellamy said. ''We need to be better than that for a guy who has played 300 games for our club.''

On Sunday, the Manly Sea Eagles had one of their biggest wins over archrivals Parramatta, thrashing the Eels 54-0 with nine tries. Newcastle remained undefeated after two weeks, beating Canberra 30-28.

Brisbane edged North Queensland 24-20 after the Cowboys nearly scored the leveling try. Reserve prop Scott Bolton looked set to cross the tryline in the 79th minute, only to slam into a goalpost while being tackled and lost the ball.

''We were due some luck,'' Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett said, smiling.

Elsewhere, Penrith beat South Sydney 18-14, the New Zealand Warriors beat Gold Coast 20-8, the Sydney Roosters defeated Canterbury 30-12 and St. George Illawarra overcame an early 14-0 deficit to beat Cronulla 20-16.