Melbourne have ground out a club-equalling record 15th consecutive victory in the NRL, seeing off North Queensland 20-16 in a match where they were pushed to their limit.
On a night where the Storm were comfortably expected to better their 2021 average winning margin of 25 points, the 13th placed Cowboys instead made the premiership fancies work for 80 minutes to get the result.
The Storm looked to have finally iced the game in the 71st minute when Josh Addo-Carr brought up his 100th career try, and second of the night to help his side to an eight-point buffer.
In doing so he became the second-fastest player to register the mark behind Nathan Blacklock.
But even then the Cowboys refused to concede as Kane Bradley scored off what looked to be a clear forward pass to bring the margin back to four points in the 74th minute.
The home side had two more sets of six in the match but couldn't conjure the play to get them the most unlikely of wins at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
In the first half, it seemed like business as usual when Addo-Carr cruised over to score his 99th and Melbourne had their opening try in just the third minute.
But in a bizarre half that had four disallowed tries between the two teams, the Cowboys refused to yield.
The Storm's Justin Olam had been denied in the 16th minute but only had to wait two more minutes to open his account when Nicho Hynes' cut-out pass found Addo-Carr who kicked perfectly for his chasing centre to dot down and make it 10-0.
But a try by Coen Hess on the stroke of halftime and winger Kyle Feldt in the 51st minute gave the Cowboys a shock 12-10 lead before the class of the Storm ultimately told.
It was a night of records for the Storm as they extended their unbeaten run against the Cowboys to 13 and won their 26th straight match in Queensland over a four-year span.
