Melbourne applies the blowtorch as Eels suffer 'baffling' loss

The Melbourne Storm’s Round 1 winning streak lives to see another year following a demolition of the Parramatta Eels at AAMI Park.

Their 52-4 win on Thursday night would extend their undefeated streak in the opening round of the season to 24 games in a row.

It was a dominant performance by the boys in purple, who benefited from the error-laden Eels committing 17 penalties compared to Melbourne’s eight, alongside eight ruck infringements compared to the Storm’s five.

This was despite Sean Russell crossing over for the first score of the match to give Parramatta a 4-nil lead whilst having 12 men on the field following J’maine Hopgood being sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Alec McDonald.

But following that, the Storm were brutal in their performance with the likes of Harry Grant, Sua Fa’alogo, Moses Leo, Will Warbrick and Jack Howarth all scoring tries.

Fa'alogo and Stefano Utoikamanu in particular would lead the charge on the running front, having combined for 415 metres.

Speaking on SEN League towards the end of the match, Chad Townsend would give a frank assessment of the Eels’ performance.

“Ill-disciplined all night from the Parramatta Eels,” the 2016 Premiership player noted.

“A really disappointing performance. Their ball control, a 63 per cent completion rate, is just diabolical, it’s awful.

“You are not going to win any game with a 63 per cent completion rate in the NRL.

“Defensively, they have been poor. They have given far too much ball to the Melbourne Storm, and they have made them pay. The class of the Melbourne Storm have made them pay tonight.”

And following the conclusion of that performance, Townsend only doubled down in his analysis.

“Honestly, I don’t think you can (take any positives),” he said.

“I look at the scoreline, 52 points to four. Off the back of pre-season, your Round 1 game should be at your freshest, your most focused.

“It’s really baffling to me how they can toss this up in Round 1, and I honestly don’t think there is any positives that you can take out of this game.

“The thing they need to do is sit through this, watch it all back, and then we need to fix it and fix it quickly.”

Melbourne's win did give fans slight concern with Grant having hobbled off the field during the early stages of the second half.

The hooker had been electric throughout his 58-minute performance, having managed four line breaks which saw him score two tries.

But according to the captain, his hobble was only due to cramps, giving Storm fans plenty of relief.

Debutant Cooper Clarke would come off the field with a rib injury a minute after Grant did.

The victory also marks the second time in as many years that the Storm have put up 50+ points against the Eels during the first round of the year.

Parramatta’s tough run is set to continue as they face the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium next Thursday to kick off Round 2.

Melbourne will head to Wollongong for their clash against the Dragons at WIN Stadium on March 14.