Earl ends try drought as Storm beat Titans, Garrick inspires Manly win

Sandor Earl scored his first NRL try in almost six years as ruthless Melbourne Storm beat Gold Coast Titans and Reuben Garrick grabbed a hat-trick in Manly Sea Eagles' win over Parramatta Eels.

Leaders Melbourne stretched their winning run to nine matches at Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday, outscoring the Titans by seven tries to three in a 38-18 triumph.

Cameron Smith and Brodie Croft produced inspirational displays in another commanding victory for the Storm, although Suliasi Vunivalu and Joe Stimson were both placed on report.

Stimson was penalised for a late tackle on Gold Coast’s Tyrone Roberts, while Vunivalu could be in trouble for a hit on Phillip Sami.

Earl celebrated his first score since joining the Storm after serving a four-year ban for breaching the NRL’s ant-doping policy, while captain Smith ended a try-drought of over 12 months, with Vunivalu bagging a double. Stimson, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Justin Olam also touched down.

Welcome back Sandor Earl! #NRLTitansStorm#TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/BrrPJYm2Gf

— NRL (@NRL) July 21, 2019

Converted tries from Brenko Lee and Jarrod Wallace gave bottom side the Titans an early 12-0 lead, but Melbourne came roaring back to go six points clear at the top.

Manly sit ahead of the Eels in fifth spot after a 36-24 win at Lottoland, Garrick notching a treble as he scored 20 points in a fine individual display. There were also tries for Daly Cherry-Evans, Tom Trbojevic, Brad Parker and Addin Fonua-Blake.

Ethan Parry scored a debut try for Parramatta and they crossed the whitewash a further three times, but their three-match winning run came to an end.