A first half Will Warbrick hat-trick and a double by strike second-rower Eliesa Katoa helped the Storm come from behind to down the Dragons 38-28 and keep their top four hopes alive.
Melbourne trailed 18-4 before Warbrick crossed for two tries and fellow winger Xavier Coates scored in an eight-minute period before halftime and they again had to come from behind in the second term.
Kiwis halfback Jahrome Hughes scored a try and produced three try assists to help steer the Storm home and enable them to leapfrog the Sharks into fourth place, while the Dragons remain in danger of finishing with the wooden spoon.
Hughes try followed a jolting tackle on St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hunt by Katoa, who scored a second half double, produced a try assist for Warbrick, made six tackle breaks and 28 tackles.
Warbrick crossed for his first try in the ninth minute after quick hands from Harry Grant at dummy half and Hughes to shift the ball to the winger close to the Dragons line.
Will Warbrick try 8th minute
However, the home side quickly hit back through second-rower Billy Burns, who dummied past Grant and other defenders to score with an angled run off a pass from centre Mat Feagai.
Hunt’s conversion put St George Illawarra ahead 6-4 and they extended their lead soon after when the Test and Origin star have a short ball to fullback Tyrell Sloan, who stepped his way through the Melbourne defence to score in the 18th minute.
A try to Dragons five-eighth Talatau Amone just eight minutes later had the Storm needing to mount their biggest comeback in six years to overcome the 14-point deficit but by half-time the visitors had managed to draw level.
Billy Burns try 12th minute
Warbrick’s 30th minute try came off the back of a penalty and three six-again re-starts before Melbourne’s spine of Hughes, Cameron Munster, Bronson Garlick and Nick Meaney combined to put the former All Blacks rugby sevens star over in the corner.
The Olympic silver medallist completed his hat-trick four minutes later after an overhead pass from second-rower Katoa created space for him to race 30 metres down the touchline and evade the would be tackles of Amone and Sloan to score in the corner.
With all the action on the Storm’s right side, left winger Coates came infield looking for the ball and levelled the scores at 18-18 after a spectacular 60-metre run through the middle of the ruck before finishing in Warbrick’s corner.
The Dragons started the second half as they had played for much of the first stanza, with Burns collecting his second try in the 44th minute after Warbrick was unable to hold a Hunt cross field kick.
However, the Storm quick re-asserted dominance with Katoa scoring two tries in four minutes to put the visitors ahead 30-24 in the 55th minute.
Eliesa Katoa try 50th minute
Fiji winger Mikaele Ravalawa put the Dragons back within sight of an upset win when he scored in the 74th minute but Hunt missed the sideline conversion and the Storm retained a two-point lead.
Hughes sealed the win when he picked up a loose ball and strolled over the tryline after a heavy shot by Katoa on Hunt just two minutes before fulltime.
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Match snapshot
- The Storm completed all 19 sets of possession in a statistically perfect first half and finished the game with 36 completions from 41 sets.
- The Dragons have won only two from seven at WIN Stadium this season.
- St George Illawarra winger Mikaele Ravalawa has scored nine tries in his past seven games to take his season tally to 20 - the most by a Dragon since Brett Morris in 2010.
- Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes has scored a try in all six games against the Dragons.
- Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan has scored six tries in eight games at WIN Stadium.
- Storm fullback Nick Meaney has chalked up 200 points this season, second only to Jamayne Isaako with 220.
Play of the game
Queensland Origin winger Xavier Coates scored one of the best individual tries of the season when he ran 60 metres through the middle of the field and it was also one of the most important as the Storm drew level just before halftime.
Xavier Coates try 37th minute
What they said
"I'm sick of it for these boys because their effort is unbelievable. It wasn't anything in particular tonight, I thought we were handling their sets really well and we tackled well. It was a couple of their good guys that got us in the end. They're a fast-starting team so we put a lot of emphasis on how we were going to start the game. I thought our attitude was bang on today." - Dragons interim coach Ryan Carr.
Dragons: Round 25
"There's some things we're happy about and things we're not happy about. Our completions in the second half is what won us the game. St George Illawarra played really well. They put a bit of fatigue in us. A couple of their tries I was disappointed with. We went away from our defensive systems, but we fought back and managed to hang on. Last week we conceded two and this week 28 so I'm disappointed we couldn't back it up." - Storm coach Craig Bellamy
Storm: Round 25
What's next
The Dragons travel to Auckland to take on the Warriors on Friday night, while the Storm return to AAMI Park for the first time since the FIFA Women's World Cup to host the Titans on Saturday.
St George Illawarra then finish their season against Newcastle at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on September 2 and may need a win to avoid the wooden spoon if Wests Tigers win another of their remaining games.
In contrast, Melbourne will be hoping to secure a top four finish when they travel to Brisbane for their Round 27 match on August 31.
After recovering from a shattered patella 16 months ago, star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen is expected to make his long awaited return to the NRL against the Broncos as the Storm gear up for the finals.