Ryan Papenhuyzen was showing a little bit of rust in his return from a calf injury, failing with the boot on three occasions before being “hooked” from the goal-kicking duties.
The 27-year-old had missed the past month of action for Melbourne but was back in his fullback role as the premiership favourites held on for a 16-10 win over Parramatta.
After a back-and-forth opening 17 minutes, it was the visitors who opened the scoring through Eliesa Katoa as his incredible season on the right edge continued.
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But despite crossing right next to the posts, Papenhuyzen was unable to convert as the ball hit both uprights and bounced out in a bizarre moment.
As he was lining up the attempt, lead caller Brenton Speed described the conversion as “straightforward” and said he was kicking at 84 per cent this season.
Ryan Papenhuyzen misses a conversion. Nine
After the fullback missed the goal, Cameron Smith took the opportunity to take a cheeky swipe at his Nine broadcast partner.
“That is as good a commentator’s curse as I’ve ever seen … you got him a beauty,” the Storm legend said through laughter.
Paramatta would soon level the scores through Josh Addo-Carr, who produced a remarkable effort to stay in the field of play and plant the ball down.
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In a tough first half, Cameron Munster was penalised on two occasions for high tackles, while Mitchell Moses also found himself in hot water for a similar incident.
Melbourne moved ahead on the scoreboard heading into the break after bench prop Tui Kamikamica burst through a wide-open gap in the Eels defensive line.
Papenhuyzen wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, nailing the two points with ease.
But right on the stroke of half-time, Papenhuyzen missed a long-range penalty goal as his tough night with the boot continued at CommBank Stadium.
“We have a bit of a laugh whenever we do something silly,” Munster said on Nine.
“I just spoke to him about golf handicaps and told him he had 10 points after nine. He’s a back-nine specialist, so hopefully he can get 20 points for us in the back-end.”
Munster’s hopes of a turnaround from Papenhuyzen and the rest of his teammates didn’t come to fruition as Parramatta caught the defence napping early in the second half as back-rower Charlie Guymer bustled his way over.
The hosts levelled the scores with a penalty goal from Zac Lomax, but it looked like Melbourne would regain control soon after as an escort penalty went their way.
Unfortunately, things continued to go from bad to worse as Papenhuyzen couldn’t add the two points, and this time, the reaction from Craig Bellamy told the story.
Craig Bellamy fumes in the coaches’ box. Nine
Bellamy would then inject Jonah Pezet into the contest with 13 minutes left on the clock and the young halfback made an immediate impact, featuring in the lead-up to Xavier Coates’ try in the corner as the Storm winger soared high in trademark fashion.
After missing three goals earlier in the game, Papenhuyzen was relieved of his duties and Nick Meaney replaced him, nailing the conversion from the sideline.
“Surprise, surprise – someone has been hooked,” Andrew Johns said.
Papenhuyzen’s horror night out continued with seven minutes remaining, spilling the ball in the ruck and gifting the Eels field position to potentially level the scores again.
But as they so often do, the Storm managed to hold on in the dying stages and walk away with a hard-fought victory at CommBank Stadium.
Speaking to Nine post-game, Papenhuyzen revealed there was even talk about handing the tee over to Meaney before the second half even began.
“I sort of had one of those games and got the hook, so there’s plenty of practice coming up in the next week,” the former Clive Churchill Medal winner said.
“I walked in at half time actually and our kicking coach actually told me it was a good idea if we swap, so that’s probably not the best message to get at half time.
“When you’ve got a kicker like Means in your side, he can slot them and clutched it for the game … I guess I will be reserve kicker now, but you’ve still got to be ready.”
When asked if he would get the first-choice duties back, Papenhuyzen conceded that the reaction from Bellamy after his third miss was all the proof he needed.
“I don’t think I have a say – I think we can see it right there,” he said.
Bellamy confirmed that assessment in his post-game press conference.
“I think we will go back to Nick next week, to be quite honest … we’ll have a chat about it and go from there,” the veteran coach said.
