Melbourne Storm 12–26 Sydney Roosters — Major Preliminary Semi-Final, 1998 NRL Finals Series

Major Preliminary Semi-Final, 1998 NRL finals series: Melbourne Storm 12–26 Sydney Roosters, at AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC on 30 Aug 1998.

Sourcing caveat: Melbourne's named scorers (1 try, Craig Smith's 2/3 goals) total only 8 of the team's 12 points; a second Melbourne try appears to be missing from the available sources and could not be attributed to a specific player despite checking multiple sources — recorded as "Try scorer unconfirmed" (still counted for score reconciliation). Ivan Cleary's Sydney City kicking (5/6 successful) is shown as 4 conversions + 1 penalty goal, the only split consistent with the team's 4 tries (which allow at most 4 conversion attempts) — deduced from arithmetic, not directly sourced. Sydney Roosters were officially branded "Sydney City Roosters" in 1998, recorded here under this project's canonical "Sydney Roosters" string. Melbourne's home venue is recorded under its modern name (AAMI Park) rather than the period-correct "Olympic Park", per this project's established convention.