Melbourne Storm 12–32 North Queensland Cowboys — Preliminary Final, 2015 NRL Finals Series
26 Sep 2015 · AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC · Attendance: 29,315
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2015 NRL finals series: Melbourne Storm 12–32 North Queensland Cowboys, at AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC on 26 Sep 2015.
Sourcing caveat: Try-scoring minutes could not be confirmed from any accessible source. The Koroibete sin-bin detail is sourced only from a single club retrospective and was not independently corroborated by a second source, though the sin-bin itself is plausible. No official player-of-the-match award could be confirmed for this fixture.
Scorers
| Melbourne Storm | Tries: Cronk; Harris Goals: Smith (2/2 conversions) Sin bin: Marika Koroibete — reported for a punch (lightly sourced) |
| North Queensland Cowboys | Tries: Cooper (2 tries); Morgan (2 tries); O'Neill (2 tries) Goals: Thurston (4/6 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Melbourne Storm | North Queensland Cowboys | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameron Munster | Fullback | Lachlan Coote | 1 |
| 2 | Marika Koroibete | Wing | Kyle Feldt | 2 |
| 3 | Will Chambers | Centre | Justin O'Neill | 3 |
| 4 | Kurt Mann | Centre | Kane Linnett | 4 |
| 5 | Matthew Duffie | Wing | Antonio Winterstein | 5 |
| 6 | Blake Green | Five-Eighth | Michael Morgan | 6 |
| 7 | Cooper Cronk | Halfback | Johnathan Thurston (c) | 7 |
| 8 | Jesse Bromwich | Prop | Matthew Scott (c) | 8 |
| 9 | Cameron Smith (c) | Hooker | Jake Granville | 9 |
| 17 | Jordan McLean | Prop | James Tamou | 10 |
| 11 | Kevin Proctor | Second-Row | Gavin Cooper | 11 |
| 12 | Tohu Harris | Second-Row | Ethan Lowe | 12 |
| 13 | Ryan Hinchcliffe | Lock | Jason Taumalolo | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 10 | Tim Glasby | Rory Kostjasyn | 14 | |
| 14 | Kenny Bromwich | John Asiata | 15 | |
| 15 | Dale Finucane | Scott Bolton | 16 | |
| 16 | Nelson Asofa-Solomona | Ben Hannant | 17 | |
| Craig Bellamy | Coach | Paul Green | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ben Cummins (with assistant referee Matt Cecchin) |
Match report
Melbourne hosted North Queensland at AAMI Park in a preliminary final that decided the second Grand Final berth, with Brisbane having already beaten Sydney Roosters the previous night. The Cowboys, playing with an inspirational but physically compromised Johnathan Thurston managing a groin issue, overwhelmed Melbourne's left-edge defence, scoring six tries to two through braces to Gavin Cooper, Michael Morgan and Justin O'Neill. A signature moment came when Thurston's low, curling cross-field kick bounced favourably for Cooper to score before half-time, helping the Cowboys to a 16-12 lead at the break before pulling away in the second half. Melbourne's tries came from halfback Cooper Cronk and back-rower Tohu Harris, with Cameron Smith converting both, but the Storm were undone by their inability to contain the Cowboys' attacking edges. The 32-12 result sent North Queensland through to their second-ever Grand Final, where they beat Brisbane in golden-point extra time to claim their maiden premiership.