Craig Bellamy has delivered his fair share of half-time sprays over the years and the Melbourne Storm coach used another one of his trademark tirades again on Friday night to help ignite his team against the Sharks.
The Sharks were the better side for the opening 40 minutes and led 8-6 at half-time, but Bellamy's stern half-time team talk sprung his side into action as they cruised to a 40-14 triumph.
"It was a little one, but probably the biggest one they have had in a bit," Bellamy said after the win.
"I don't know if they needed to hear it, but I needed to say it.
"I am probably a bit mellow in my old age these days so it probably wasn't one of the sprays they would have got 10 years ago.
"There were a couple of things we needed to fix up and I just wanted to make that point pretty strongly and they responded in good fashion."
Match: Storm v Sharks
Round 8 -
home Team
Storm
5th Position
away Team
Sharks
13th Position
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Harry Grant showed his class in his first Melbourne start and Reimis Smith scored a hat-trick in the comfortable victory as the reigning premiers rose to third ahead of next week's clash against the Rabbitohs.
Inserted into the starting line-up at hooker for the first time under Bellamy, Grant helped the premiers make it five wins on the trot with yet another impressive home performance.
The Sharks dominated much of the opening 40 minutes, but the Storm flexed their muscle after the break courtesy of Grant's skill and sublime decision-making out of dummy half.
Grant dished off the final pass on three second-half tries in a superb individual performance, while Smith put the polish on the effort with three tries of his own to send the Sharks stumbling to a fourth straight loss.
Josh Addo-Carr, Tom Eisunhuth, Tui Kamikamica and Jahrome Hughes also managed to cross in a dominant display, while Kiwi dummy half Brandon Smith didn't miss out completely with a try starting as lock.
Bellamy remains unsure as to whether he will continue using Grant and Brandon Smith in the starting side together for the remainder of the season, or whether one of them will play off the bench.
"One of his strengths is being able to play 80 minutes and we wanted to see how he and Brandon went starting together.
"We will mix it up a bit and do what we think is best for the team each week and I am sure the players will be happy with that.
Briton Nikora and Connor Tracey scored the only tries for the Sharks in what was a disappointing night for the Shire club, with injuries to Braden Hamlin-Uele (ankle) and Wade Graham (head knock) putting a further dampener on the night.
Addo-Carr picks up a Johnson error and sprints away
The opening try of the contest came against the run of play, with the hosts crossing over in the 19th minute courtesy of a trademark 90-metre run from Addo-Carr.
A sloppy pass from Shaun Johnson was swept up by Kenny Bromwich and the Kiwi set the flying Addo-Carr on his way as the Storm hopped out to 6-2 advantage.
But the visitors hit back quickly as Johnson redeemed himself with a pinpoint pass to put Nikora into a hole and the back-rower accelerated away to score.
Nikora runs a perfect line
The Sharks narrow advantage at half-time could have easily been greater if it some better options were taken on the final tackle and it looked costly when Grant set up Eisenhuth after the break to put the hosts back in front.
Grant helped Kamikamica double the dose moments later and all of a sudden the Storm were up by double digits with a little over half an hour remaining.
The Sharks battled hard to get back in the contest, but the gaps were opening up for the premiership fancies and Reimis Smith didn't need a second invitation as he crossed over with ease.
Reimis Smith secures his hat-trick
Grant then found Jahrome Hughes for his third try assist and Hughes and Brandon Smith helped themselves to four-pointers as the margin continued to grow.
Reimis Smith scored two easy tries in the space of six minutes to complete his hat-trick, before Tracey got a late consolation for the visitors right on the final siren.
