The Melbourne Storm consolidated their place at the top of the NRL standings after beating the Brisbane Broncos 42-12 in Brisbane.
Jesse Bromwich. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Suliasi Vunivalu, Curtis Scott and Josh Addo-Carr bagged doubles as the Storm ran amok in front of 41,471 people to ensure the Broncos have not beaten Melbourne at Suncorp Stadium since 2009.
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett would have been forgiven for having flashbacks as his side capitulated in almost identical scenes to their club record 48-6 loss to Melbourne in the corresponding match in 2016.
It snapped Brisbane's run of seven straight home wins.
Brisbane lost a vital cog to concussion early on Friday night after lock Josh McGuire came off second best in a seventh minute tackle on Melbourne giant Jesse Bromwich.
McGuire was in bad shape after the hit but initially refused to leave the field and had to be coaxed off by trainers.
Melbourne showed no mercy, bouncing back from their last round golden point loss to Sydney Roosters to notch their 11th win in 12 games against Brisbane, including seven straight.
Brisbane halfback Ben Hunt had a mixed night in front of Queensland coach Kevin Walters.
Vying for a bench utility role when the Queensland team is named on Monday, Hunt made some errors but did steamroll Melbourne fullback Billy Slater to score in the 21st minute and finally get the hosts on the board.
Fellow Maroons aspirant Cameron Munster was in everything for the Storm as Melbourne scored eight tries to two.
The win was Cameron Smith's 348th NRL game, moving him past Broncos legend Corey Parker into outright fourth on the all-time appearance list.
Melbourne led 20-6 at halftime after a double by winger Vunivalu.
Brisbane threatened to hit back when winger David Mead scored in the 53rd minute after Melbourne's Tohu Harris was sinbinned.P
But they couldn't take a trick against Melbourne, having three tries disallowed.
Gold Coast beat St george Illawarra 20-10 in the other Friday night game.
AAP
