Maguire reflects on disappointing Storm defeat

Wests Tigers Coach Michael Maguire said his side were handed a lesson in how to control momentum by their opponents — beaten 66-16 by the Melbourne Storm on the Sunshine Coast.

"We learned a lot from the performance played in front of us," Maguire said of the example set at both ends of the field by ladder-leading Storm.

"Melbourne have set a standard across the competition for quite some time and we know exactly what it is. 

"We just got blown off the park to start with. Everything just went against us but you've got to be able to unrest that and stop the momentum.

"That's where we weren't smart around the smarts of our game in what we were doing. Melbourne ran harder and created momentum and had us on the back foot.

"They're very disappointed and gutted, obviously," he added.

"Melbourne jumped us at the start and, as we know, they can be fairly ruthless. It was a pretty tough night for all of us."

Young forward Shawn Blore looked to have suffered a serious ankle injury when he was helped off after just seven minutes, but the post-match diagnosis was more promising for the talented 20-year-old after previous injuries in his career.

"It's a bit of a different injury [rather than anything systematic]," Maguire said.

"He stood on the side of Munster's foot and just twisted his ankle so I don't think it's major but we'll have to get scans and go through the rehab."