The Melbourne Storm overcame a first-minute sin bin and a second half fightback to overpower the Sydney Roosters 48-18 in the first preliminary final at AAMI Park. In front of the biggest rugby league crowd at the ground in nine years, masterful Storm half Jahrome Hughes ended with three tries, and his running game was a constant menace.

Yet if Melbourne are to claim the premiership back in Sydney next week, it is likely to be without enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who faces an anxious wait after his early high-tackle forced Lindsay Collins from the field with concussion.

A crowd of 29,213 – the largest at the ground since 2018 and biggest NRL turnout since 2015 – packed into AAMI Park, hours after the AFL grand final parade wound its way around the Olympic Park precinct and concluded just around the corner.

But rugby league players are known to take the direct route, as Asofa-Solomona and Collins showed in the first hit-up. The crowd was expecting a showdown between the Melbourne prop and the Roosters’ Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, but instead it was Collins who had the ball in his hands from the kick-off.

After an almighty collision none of the near-30,000 will forget, the Roosters prop stood up but was clearly not right, and played the ball the wrong way. Referee Grant Atkins sent him from the field to have his head assessed, and although the Queenslander ran off with a shrug, he wasn’t to return.

Asofa-Solomona also found himself on the sidelines from the dramatic opening, sent to the sin bin for meeting Collins’ cranium with his shoulder. Though the Storm escaped the 10-minute period having concededjust a single try, Melbourne’s middle will almost certainly face a meeting with the judiciary in grand final week if he hopes to play in Sydney.

But it was clear the man mountain was not thinking about anything past Saturday night. He played just 16 minutes in the first half, but for all of his four hit-ups he brought the crowd alive. Two offloads and two tackle breaks might have undersold his impact, and his likely absence will rob the Storm – and the NRL – of one of the game’s great tone-setters.

Melbourne’s coaching staff had clearly identified their preferred route through the Roosters, and by half-time it was a well-travelled road. The northerners just couldn’t limit the damage on their left edge, the marauding power of Melbourne’s Eli Katoa sprinkled with the snap and crackle of fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen.

Hughes was the conductor in a magic show brought to life under AAMI’s flashing lights. Despite the career-best form of Roosters backrower Angus Crichton this year, he wasn’t able to plug the gap around Luke Keary. The result was three first half tries, the best of them for Hughes, supporting Nick Heaney after a Papenhuyzen inside pass put him through.

It was a sorry night for a flock of departing Roosters. Keary, Waerea-Hargreaves, Joseph Sua’ali’i, Joey Manu, Sitili Tupouniua all have fresh starts next year. The match was passing them by down 16 at half-time but two of their lesser-known teammates wanted to give them a more fitting send-off. Terrell May forced Tui Kamikamica to miss a simple tackle and fell over early in the second half, then Nat Butcher picked up a spill from Papenhuyzen to slide over two minutes later.

Manu then came within centimetres of scoring, but in the middle of the madness, luck landed on the side of the Storm. A touch by Melbourne interchange Alec McDonald up the other end was missed by the referees, and Hughes strolled over for his hat-trick. It pushed the lead back to 12, and the Storm were not challenged thereafter, booking their place in their first grand final in four years. Two late tries for Cam Munster proved an exclamation point on a memorable night in Melbourne.

While the city will be largely consumed by Saturday’s AFL grand final between two interstate interlopers on Saturday, the Storm have guaranteed Melbourne has a football team still playing at the end of September. The clash between Penrith and Cronulla at Accor Stadium is now the focus, and the Panthers’ course towards a four-peat far from certain.