After being stripped of all competition points and forced to play for pride alone this year after repeated salary cap breaches, Melbourne have had the most up and down season of any of the teams.

Newcastle are also out for the season officially finishing 11^th on the ladder.

On Sunday the purple brigade were on fire from the first blow of the whistle right until the final minute of play, storming home with a super six-tries-to-one victory.

Greg Inglis, heading off to the Brisbane Broncos next season, opened the try scoring seven minutes in and Cameron Smith converted so the home side lead by six.

In our Match Preview we had tipped Inglis to score first for Melbourne and we enjoyed a nice payout from SportsBet, as did any punters that took our footy tip!

Punters that took our Footy Tip and bet on Inglis to score first enjoyed a nice payout from SportsBet

Just three minutes later Ryan Hinchcliffe flew over for Melbourne’s second of the night and another beautiful kick from their skipper saw them up by 12 after just 11 minutes.

Smith’s conversion gave him 1000 points, the first Melbourne player to reach the milestone.

With no more points scored after the opening blast, the Storm took their 12 – nil lead to the sheds.

Back from the break Newcastle finally opened their account in the 46^th minute when Zeb Taia got over, but without the conversion they still trailed by eight and it would be a long end to the match for the Knights.

Answering back quickly, Melbourne’s Ryan Hoffman, another departing player, scored again in the 52^nd minute, the kick extending their lead to 18 – 4.

In the last half hour the Storm would play for 2010, they ran in another three unanswered tries with other departing players Brett White (69^th) and Aiden Tolman (73^rd) scoring within four minutes of each other, White’s first of the season and last for the club, before Inglis made it a match double in a stunning show for the Storm with three minutes left on the clock.

Smith converted Tolman’s try while Jeff Lima who is also leaving the club was given the honours of the final goal kick and booted it over so Melbourne won 34 – 4.

Eight teams remain for the September finals and what cracker week one will be! Make sure you show your support by backing your favourites at SportsBet, who guarantee better odds than the TAB on every team every match!