Hughes, Warbrick score hat-tricks as Storm surge against Broncos

The Melbourne Storm machine rolled on with a powerful performance against the Broncos, scoring nine tries in their 50-12 victory.

Coach Craig Bellamy had rested 11 of his stars last week against the Cowboys and they were only defeated by an eight-point margin, but there was no mercy against an embattled Broncos side with the cavalry returning to get an important game under the belt before finals.

The Storm started the game in relentless and free-flowing fashion, with some some end-to-end play seeing powerful winger Will Warbrick start the scoring, surging from 40 metres out with a stepping run. 

He was over for his second not long after with another strong run, with a play that started on the left-hand side of the field, before sending the ball out to the right,  with Warbrick getting on the outside of Corey Oates to score. 

The Storm - who made 10 line breaks in the opening half - had their third try in the 16th minute, and while Warbrick didn't score this time, he was heavily involved in the lead-up. In-form halfback Jahrome Hughes both started and finished it, getting the ball out to Warbrick who went for a run, before passing it back inside to Nick Meaney, who went back out to Hughes to streamed ahead to score. 

It was four tries in 21 minutes, with the forwards getting involved this time. The Storm had found success going out to their right side and after finding no luck going out to the left, they came back around and it was second rower Eliesa Katoa who got the result, running through some shell-shocked Broncos defence to score.

In front of their home crowd, the Broncos finally gave their fans something to cheer about when they got on the board 10 minutes from the halftime break after some nice interchanging of passing, with interchange hooker Blake Mozer in the thick of it. Putting together a wrap-around play, the found Josh Rogers who ducked over to score, with Adam Reynolds kicking the conversion to trail 22-6. 

However, that joy was short-lived after the Storm got a seven tackle set from a poor kick and made it count, bursting down the field to go straight on the attack on Brisbane's line. Harry Grant then took advantage of some tired defence and was able to simply run straight through the arms of Martin Taupau and Patrick Carrigan to go over under the posts. With Nick Meaney's fourth successful conversion, the Storm took a 28-6 lead to the sheds. 

The try-scoring continued in the second half, with Hughes getting his second in interesting circumstances, before electric fullback Sua Fa'alongo showed he can do more than run, putting in a clever kick for a Xavier Coates - who was making his injury return - to touch the ball down. 

Hughes scored his hat-trick as drama was happening down the field, with Sua Fa'alogo down battling a leg injury, but the Storm had continued to work their way to the tryline, with the halfback collecting a batted-down ball to get his third of the night. 

The Broncos interrupted regular programming with Jesse Arthars going over on the left wing - a result that came after the Storm had lost Katoa to the sin bin, with Reynolds converting. 

However, the game belonged to the Storm and not to be undone, Warbrick became the leading try-scorer of the year for the Storm when he went over for a hat-trick of his own, taking in a great pass from Hughes to then run just inside the sideline to cross for another four-pointer to bring their score to 50. 

This match saw the season over for the Broncos, but the Storm will be in action next week for the first week of finals.