One of the contenders for the feel-good moment of the season occurred during Melbourne’s routine 28-6 victory over Wests Tigers on a freezing Saturday night at Campelltown Sports Stadium.
Tigers’ prop Alex Twal – so often the butt of the joke about his try-scoring drought – finally crossed for a four-pointer to send the crowd delirious and nearly causing Fox League commentator Andrew Voss to go hoarse.
One small step for man, one giant leap for Alex Twal.
“Even if he didn’t leave earth to score the try, it’s a miracle on Fox League on a Saturday night.
“Everyone at Campbelltown knows it. Unbelievable!
“Twal has scored – the world is beautiful!”
Twal’s teammates swarmed all over him in celebration as the 26-year-old looked on in disbelief after scoring with just his second touch of the match, following his introduction off the interchange bench.
“Campbelltown is rocking and they are going berserk,” Mick Ennis said.
“If the Bunker dare take it off him, they’ll bloody burn the joint.
“We have joked for years commentating saying tonight is the night.
“I am actually so happy I was here the night he scored.”
Brandon Wakeham’s cross field kick caused issues for the Storm defence, with Will Warbrick spilling the catch in a contest, leaving a free run for both Twal and David Klemmer.
Twal’s front row partner went to pounce on the pill, only to pull away at the last second as Twal dived on it instead.
“This is a moment folks, 116 games in and its finally Twal time,” Voss said.
“I’m coming down from cloud nine. I can’t believe I was in the privileged position of calling Twal’s first try.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Twal’s try in the 24th minute proved to be their only score of the evening with Warbrick scoring four tries in the best game of his short career to date.
“I wished he’d have scored two more,” Tim Sheens laughed when asked about Twal’s try-scoring exploits.
“But in saying that, good luck to him. He’s an honest, hard-working player. He was a front-rower chasing the ball and it bounced back for him, so well done to him.”
“I don’t think he knew what to do when he scored the try,” John Bateman added.
Tim Sheens reacts to Wests Tigers loss to Melbourne at Campbelltown
“I’m not going to whine about how our spine has disintegrated after the last game, but it has something to do with it,” Sheens said.
The Tigers struggled to notch points in the match despite making plenty of inroads through the Melbourne defence.
The loss of Api Koroisau and Luke Brooks to injury proved critical to their chances of snatching a win.
“There was some good footy…but in the big moments, we would drop a ball, make a mistake or not defuse a kick and they’ll make you pay.
“We haven’t got a lot of options at this point,” Sheens added when asked whether he would look to alter his halves pairing of Wakeham and Starford To’a in the future.
In the week when Brooks made headlines by rejecting a two-year contract offer from the club, Sheens dismissed the prospect of the halfback’s impending departure as a reason for his side’s loss.
“What Brooksy does is what Brooksy does,” he said.
“I don’t think it impacted the team one bit. All of these boys have done contracts over the years and made decisions about their careers – that’s not an issue.
“Our main issue was about trying to put together a new combination [in the halves].”
