Hughes masterclass after hand surgery beats Manly

In just two weeks since his return from surgery, Jahrome Hughes has transformed from being under the knife to slicing through Manly’s defense, guiding Melbourne to a resounding 48-24 victory at Brookvale Oval.

Just two weeks after breaking his hand, Hughes shone brightly for the Storm on Sunday, contributing to three tries in their dominant victory over the Sea Eagles.

His halfback teammate Cameron Munster also stood out, while winger Grant Anderson notched a hat-trick, aiding Melbourne in remaining within the top four of the NRL standings.

The sole worries for Melbourne revolved around precautionary early departures for fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen and winger Xavier Coates due to a lumbar strain and hamstring stiffness respectively.

Alternatively, this match was one to cherish, as the Storm bounced back from their unexpected defeat against St George Illawarra to demonstrate once more why they remain a formidable contender for the title.

Melbourne dismantled Manly in two distinct seven-minute bursts, turning a 2-0 deficit into an 18-2 lead without Manly even touching the ball early in the first half.

Although the Sea Eagles narrowed the gap to 18-10 at halftime, the Storm extended their lead in the second half by scoring another three tries, leaving Manly without a single opportunity for a play-the-ball.

The current holder of the Dally M Medal, Hughes, was right in the middle of everything.

His first moment of magic came in the first half when he laid on a perfectly lofted ball for Anderson, putting it out in front of the winger to run on to and score.

With the game back in the balance after the break, the Kiwi No.7 fooled the defence when he looked left and threw a long cut-out ball to the right for Anderson to score again.

In the next set Hughes did the damage from inside his own half, throwing a dummy before running downfield and helping send Papenhuyzen over.

"He's a big part of (the turnaround from last week)," Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said.

He is certainly skilled and intelligent on the field, yet he also presents a formidable challenge.

To perform tonight following the surgery on his hand. Nobody pushed him within the club either medically or from fellow players.

He raised his hand and expressed interest in playing. I believed the odds were stacked at thousands to one against him joining. As expected, he holds significant importance for our team.

Muster was equally involved in the punishment, having Stefano Utoikamanu cross over for Melbourne's initial try, followed by him scoring the subsequent one himself.

Since the beginning of 2021, Manly’s performance without the injured Tom Trbojevic stands at 16 victories out of 48 matches, whereas they have won 38 out of 58 games when he was available.

The fullback, who suffered a knee injury, is expected to return within a month; however, it’s doubtful that his presence would have changed the outcome on Sunday.

The Sea Eagles performed admirably in managing to return to the game by halftime and persisted strongly during the initial seven minutes following the restart.

However, when Ben Trbojevic partially knocked the ball forward and was deemed to have handled it improperly, Melbourne gained possession, capitalized on their opportunity with a score, and the home team failed to cross the try line again until they trailed behind at 48-10.

Manly suffered the loss of Jason Saab due to an ankle injury later in the game; however, they believe it is just a slight issue as they prepare for their match against Cronulla in Perth on Saturday.

"The match was secured in just two sets," stated Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold.

In those six instances where they consecutively capitalized on their opportunities, we provided them with better field positioning either via penalties or fundamental mistakes. They proved to be quite skilled, hence they took advantage of our errors.