A remarkable defensive effort against Melbourne has kept Sydney Roosters' hopes of back-to-back minor premiership titles alive and set up a virtual play-off with arch rivals South Sydney next Thursday night for a guaranteed top two finals berth.
Despite being forced to make 35 more tackles than the Storm, the premiers came from behind to score three tries in the final 15 minutes and snatch a 24-12 win that has all but killed off Melbourne's chances of a top four finish and a guaranteed second chance in the play-offs.
While Roosters coach Trent Robinson was disappointed with his side's 14 errors - compared to just seven by the Storm - and a 63 per cent completion rate, he had nothing but admiration for their defensive effort before powering home through tries by Mitchell Pearce, Aidan Guerra and Daniel Tupou.
The win puts the Roosters in second place behind Souths by just two points on for-and-against.
Manly can regain the lead by beating Penrith at Brookvale Oval on Sunday, but if the Sea Eagles lose or are beaten by North Queensland next weekend, the minor premiership will be decided at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night.
Regardless of other results, a win over the Rabbitohs by more than two points will guarantee the Roosters a top two finish after recording their sixth win in the last seven matches.
After beating the Warriors 46-12 in Auckland last Sunday, it appeared that the Roosters had timed their run at back-to-back premierships to perfection and the opening stages of their match against the Storm did nothing to dispel that belief as Tupou scored their 100th try of the season.
Tupou scored untouched in the fifth minute off a perfectly placed grubber kick from Jake Friend, who had noticed the lack of defence out wide after Sonny Bill Williams offloaded in front of the posts.
James Maloney's sideline conversion gave the premiers a 6-0 lead, but a kick out on the full by the former NSW five-eighth in the 13th minute was an indication that not everything would go to plan for the Roosters and a string of penalties led to Slater's first try eight minutes later after he ran at the line from close range and reached out to score.
With the error count mounting, the Roosters were their own worst enemies but despite being forced to make 36 more tackles than the Storm after completing just 10 of their 16 sets of possession and conceding five penalties to two, their defence held strong and the scores remained 6-6 at halftime.
A 44th minute Maloney penalty goal gave Roosters supporters in the 13,879 crowd something to cheer about but the additional tackling the premiers had done in the first half appeared to have taken its toll when Slater roared through a yawning gap created by a sideways Cameron Smith dummy-half run to score his second try after Maloney spilt the ball from the kick off.
However, it was a rare Storm error that eventually decided the match after winger Sisa Waqa put down a pass by Smith from a scrum win and Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce picked up to race 30 metres and score under the posts with just 15 minutes remaining on the clock.
Queensland forward Guerra secured the win when he outpaced second-row partner Williams to pounce on a Pearce grubber kick and score in the 73rd minute and Tupou got his second try six minutes later.
