LIVE: Cool Cowboys surge into finals contention

Xavier Coates plucks the footy and rockets away!

The Melbourne speedster intercepts a Sandon Smith walk and races 90 metres to people the archetypal effort of the night.

"Great worldly from the Queensland winger," says Fox League's Greg Alexander.

Nick Meaney slots the conversion arsenic the Storm instrumentality a 6-0 pb successful the 13th minute.

More stats and facts courtesy of David Middleton, Nine's rugby league statistician:

• The Roosters person scored 138 points successful their past 3 games astatine the SCG.

• The Storm person won six of their past 7 games against the Roosters.

• Roosters centre Joseph Manu has scored 4 tries successful his past 3 games.

• Storm centres Justin Olam and Reimis Smith volition play their 100th NRL games.

• Roosters guardant Nat Butcher has scored six tries successful his past 3 games astatine the SCG.

Hello to all.

It's Zachary Gates diving backmost into the unrecorded blog arsenic the Roosters' clash with the Storm gets underway.

Melbourne's Justin Olam and Reimis Smith are notching their 100th NRL games successful this SCG match.

Sydney Roosters

4. Joseph Manu 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Billy Smith 5. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii 21. Fetalaiga Pauga 6. Luke Keary 7. Sandon Smith 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Jake Turpin 10. Lindsay Collins 11. Victor Radley 12. Nat Butcher 13. Nathan Brown 14. Brandon Smith 15. Egan Butcher 16. Siua Wong 17. Naufahu Whyte 18. Drew Hutchison

Melbourne Storm

1. Nick Meaney 2. William Warbrick 3. Reimis Smith 4. Justin Olam 5. Xavier Coates 6. Cameron Munster 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. Tui Kamikamica 9. Harry Grant 10. Christian Welch 11. Trent Loiero 12. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 13. Josh King 14. Tyran Wishart 15. Tom Eisenhuth 16. Tariq Sims 19. Alec MacDonald 18. Grant Anderson

The Cowboys person claimed different scalp, defeating the Sea Eagles astatine Brookvale Oval.

After a sluggish commencement to the season, that's the Cowboys tenth triumph of the play and their 5th connected the trot.

That moves them into ninth connected the ladder, lone retired of the 8 connected points difference. They inactive person six games near successful the year, including 5 successful Queensland.

"They're successful the container spot to marque the 8 now," Maroons large Mal Meninga said successful commentary for Fox Sports.

The last people 19-8 to the Cowboys.

That would've been it for Manly. Murray Taulagi looked similar helium mightiness person scored for the Cows, but replays amusement a wide treble movement.

There are conscionable implicit 10 minutes inactive to go, and someway Manly are inactive holding on.

Scott Drinkwater ran immoderate 10m consecutive past astir 4 Manly defenders to people for the Cowboys.

That didn't look large for the hosts.

The Cowboys are looking good connected apical successful this 2nd half. Save for that effort - which was mostly done Croker's genius - they've looked the amended broadside successful this 2nd half.

"Why portion vino erstwhile you tin Drinkwater," quips Corey Parker successful commentary for Fox Sports.

This scribe loves a bully dada joke. That's up there.

The footwear is bully and the pb is backmost retired to 11 points.

They needed that, the location side. Lachlan Croker made a spectacular interruption disconnected a restart, and past it was Brad Parker who got the chocolates connected the Manly near edge.

Reuben Garrick misses his 2nd of the nighttime though - that could beryllium costly fixed it's 2 tries apiece and inactive 13-8.