In a fitting Storm finale from AAMI Park for the departing Cooper Cronk, the halfback was seen off as a winner by a home crowd of 28,821 as Melbourne demonstrated just how difficult it will be to stop them in the premiership decider with a 30-point preliminary final victory over Brisbane.

The Storm were pushed hard by the Broncos until the hour mark when a Billy Slater try broke the shackles of an intense affair and from there they streaked away, with the fullback collecting a second as Wayne Bennett's side was held to no score.

Head and shoulders above the rest this year it would have almost been a travesty for the runaway minor premiers had such a such a season of excellence not resulted in at least a grand final appearance. For Cronk, Sunday week will be his seventh, for Cameron Smith and Slater a sixth.

For the champion Test No.7 it carries particular significance as it will be his 323rd and final match for the Storm, and unless he is keeping something up his sleeve, his NRL farewell. A cheap shot from former teammate Adam Blair in the closing stages threatened to take the shine off the occasion but Cronk dusted himself off and completed the game.

"Obviously it was a big night for Cooper," said Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy. "He didn't want to make it a big night but he's been such a wonderful player for our club and is a wonderful clubman. For him to play his last game here, to me, I found that quite emotional myself today.

"I was a little bit on edge the first 15 minutes of the first half. For me it's something that I knew was coming but all of a sudden it was here. He ain't going to play again in the purple jumper. I found that a little bit hard to handle."

Bellamy also paid tribute to Slater, who returns to the grand final stage after missing last year's defeat to Cronulla during a long injury layoff.

"I just know with Billy how much last year hurt him," That's why Cooper and Billy play. They want to play in the big games. To see him go out there and score a couple of tries and get a chance to play in the big dance again that's a great story. He's worked so hard to get back to where he is."

The Storm weren't flawless but defended for their lives when pressed in the first half.

By the end they had put so much distance between themselves and Brisbane that another of their players leaving at the end of the season, second-rower Tohu Harris, was afforded a parting penalty goal.The match was played at an astonishing pace, particularly in a first half that featured enough twists and turns to satisfy an entire finals series.

The Storm led 8-0 at the break but their advantage could have been more healthy had a series of try-scoring opportunities not come unstuck.

The most notable was Suliasi Vunivalu's spilling of the ball with only the line in front of him after 20 minutes. The winger's fellow try-scoring machine Josh Addo-Carr overran a sublime kick from Cameron Munster, and try-saving tackles within seconds from Brisbane's Anthony Milford and Sam Thaiday earlier prevented Felise Kaufusi and then Munster going over.

As the pressure built, it took its toll. Even Slater put down a high ball inside his own 20, the footsteps of an approaching Corey Oates causing the ultimate distraction.

If that was out of character, then crucially for Melbourne a more familiar sight, that of Addo-Carr racing away for a try, finally arose just before half-time. Unleashed for his 21st four-pointer of the season by a superb pass from centre Curtis Scott, it was a major blow for a Broncos side that had hung in gamely in and had their own chances become the victim of profligacy and the persistence of the Storm's line defence.

Brisbane captain Darius Boyd was clearly feeling the impact of the hamstring injury that had sidelined him for the first two weeks of the finals, almost hopping at times but conducting himself fearlessly nonetheless.

Boyd lasted until the 54th minute before Bennett threw Benji Marshall into the fray and almost immediately the Wests Tigers premiership winner of 12 years ago turned back the clock with a mid-field grubber and chase before being caught around the chin by Slater's arm.

He got up and, cleared by the Brisbane doctor, pressed on, as did the Broncos, but nothing they threw at Melbourne did the trick.

At the other end Slater and a charging Nelson Asofa-Solomona finished them off.

Sydney Morning Herald.