Melbourne Storm 40–12 Manly-Warringah — Preliminary Final, 2012 NRL Finals Series
21 Sep 2012 · AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC · Attendance: 25,543
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2012 NRL finals series: Melbourne Storm 40–12 Manly-Warringah, at AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC on 21 Sep 2012.
Sourcing caveat: Minute-by-minute timing of tries could not be confirmed from any source available; only scorer totals were found, though these reconcile exactly with the 40-12 final score. No sin-bin or send-off was found referenced anywhere, though a full referee's report could not be located to confirm this with certainty.
Scorers
| Melbourne Storm | Tries: Cooper Cronk; Cooper Cronk; Billy Slater; Billy Slater; Jesse Bromwich; Will Chambers; Kevin Proctor Goals: Cameron Smith (5/8 conversions); Gareth Widdop (1/1 conversions) |
| Manly-Warringah | Tries: Jamie Lyon; Jamie Lyon Goals: Jamie Lyon (2/2 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Melbourne Storm | Manly-Warringah | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billy Slater | Fullback | Brett Stewart | 1 |
| 19 | Mahe Fonua | Wing | Jorge Taufua | 2 |
| 3 | Dane Nielsen | Centre | Jamie Lyon (c) | 3 |
| 4 | Will Chambers | Centre | Steve Matai | 4 |
| 5 | Justin O'Neill | Wing | Michael Oldfield | 21 |
| 6 | Gareth Widdop | Five-Eighth | Kieran Foran | 6 |
| 7 | Cooper Cronk | Halfback | Daly Cherry-Evans | 7 |
| 8 | Jesse Bromwich | Prop | Jason King | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith (c) | Hooker | Matt Ballin | 9 |
| 10 | Bryan Norrie | Prop | Brent Kite | 10 |
| 17 | Kevin Proctor | Second-Row | Anthony Watmough | 11 |
| 12 | Ryan Hoffman | Second-Row | Tony Williams | 12 |
| 14 | Todd Lowrie | Lock | Glenn Stewart | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 11 | Sika Manu | Jamie Buhrer | 14 | |
| 13 | Ryan Hinchcliffe | Joe Galuvao | 15 | |
| 16 | Jaiman Lowe | Darcy Lussick | 16 | |
| 20 | Richard Fa'aoso | George Rose | 18 | |
| Craig Bellamy | Coach | Geoff Toovey | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Tony Archer and Matt Cecchin (two-referee system) |
Match report
Manly-Warringah entered this preliminary final as reigning premiers, hosting a Melbourne side hungry to reclaim finals glory. From the outset the Sea Eagles looked out of sorts, with handling errors and a failure to complete sets undermining their platform, compounded by injury clouds over several key players. Melbourne, by contrast, played with ruthless efficiency, exploiting quick play-the-balls with incisive inside passes. Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater each crossed twice, with further tries to Jesse Bromwich, Will Chambers and Kevin Proctor rounding out a dominant 40-12 scoreline; Jamie Lyon's two tries were Manly's only bright spots. Veteran Ryan Hinchcliffe reached his 100th game for the club in the win. The result sent Melbourne through to face Canterbury-Bankstown in the 2012 NRL Grand Final, which Melbourne went on to win.