Round 2, 2013 – Melbourne turned up in Townsville fresh off their premiership triumph the previous year.
They would face a Cowboys side will plenty to be confident about having just re-signed star playmaker Johnathan Thurston earlier that week.
Coach Neil Henry had also put pen to paper, making him the third longest-serving NRL coach after Craig Bellamy and John Cartwright.
North Queensland had been touted as potential grand finalists throughout pre-season and more than 19,000 fans turned out for their home opener at the newly-named 1300SMILES Stadium.
Be at AAMI Park when we take on the Rabbitohs, Saturday 6 August, 7:30pm.
What they did not realise at the time was that they had indeed brought tickets to the Cooper Cronk show.
It started inside the opening three minutes when a seemingly normal foray up-field turned into a breakaway opportunity for Storm.
Cronk put in a short pass to Ryan Hinchcliffe on the inside, leaving the veteran with 50 metres between him and the try line.
“I put a little ‘in-the-way’ on Matty Bowen and burned him down the sideline to score in the corner,” Hinchcliffe said.
“It was pretty funny, the boys were having a good laugh. I don’t know what happened, I blacked out during it but it was good fun.”
“It was in the second or third minute, I think that’s the reason why I had enough energy to burst through the gap and score because I wasn’t tired from making too many tackles.
“If I was ever going to score a length of the field try it would have to be in the first five minutes I reckon.”
