First came Robbie Ross, then Billy Slater, Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Sualauvi Fa’alogo.
In a scintillating performance against the St George Illawarra Dragons in Wollongong on Saturday afternoon, the latter left no doubt that he is set to continue the Melbourne Storm‘s envied production line of phenomenal fullbacks.
Fa’alogo, 22, scored a hat-trick of tries at WIN Stadium to almost single-handedly propel the Storm to victory over the Dragons.
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St George Illawarra were leading 20-18 at the hour mark.
Then, in a jaw-dropping spurt of individual magic, Fa’alogo, best known as “Sua”, ran in tries in the 63rd, 66th and 75th minutes.
Dally M-winning halfback Jahrome Hughes grabbed his own four-pointer in the 70th minute.
Fa’alogo’s third try had the Storm sitting pretty with a 40-20 advantage, before centre Moses Leo got in on the fun in the 80th minute as Melbourne tied a bow on a 46-20 triumph.
Sualauvi Fa’alogo celebrates one of his three tries. NRL Imagery
All three of Fa’alogo’s tries were pieces of individual brilliance, but particularly the first, so eye-catching was the footwork he produced to embarrass Dragons centre Mathew Feagai on the Storm’s right edge.
Catching a pass from dummy-half Harry Grant, he beat Feagai all ends up with footwork that surely had Benji Marshall standing to applaud, shuffling on the 10-metre line like a hip-hop dancer and then burning Feagai with a wicked step off his left.
He left Feagai flat on the deck — did the Dragon even get a finger to him? — and then jerked off his right to bamboozle Queensland State of Origin gun Valentine Holmes as he hurtled toward the try line.
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“The first try he scored was mesmerising,” rugby league great Greg Alexander said on the Fox League broadcast.
For his second try, Fa’alogo received the ball from Munster on the left edge 25 metres out and cannoned through a gap between Jaydn Su’A and Moses Suli.
And for his third, he received the ball from Munster on the left edge just inside the 20-metre line, performed a goosestep of sorts, did a 360-degree pirouette, and left defenders clutching at thin air as he rocketed over the try line.
Fa’alogo also racked up 152 run metres, three line breaks, 10 tackle busts and a try assist.
Alexander declared the arrival of Melbourne’s newest superstar fullback.
“Well, the new era has dawned, hasn’t it, for the Melbourne Storm in terms of their No.1s?” Alexander said.
He also admitted the young gun had left him “speechless”.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy gave Fa’alogo an enormous rap in his post-game press conference.
“I’ve got no doubt he could be our fullback for a long time,” Bellamy said.
“He’s got one of the best teachers in Billy Slater, that does a lot of work with him during the week.
“… There’s not too many players I’ve seen that can go from not being real quick, or off the mark, to top pace [like Fa’alogo]. He is lightning-quick over a short distance, and that’s hard to handle.
“… He’s a really exciting player, he’s a great kid to have around, he’s always up and about, and there’s only improvement in him because, as I said, he’s got a great mentor in Billy. You know the attention to detail Billy’s got, so he couldn’t be in better hands.”
Fa’alogo began his NRL career on a wing but an opportunity at fullback opened up when Papenhuyzen made the bombshell decision to quit the game with a year to run on his contract.
Fa’alogo is contracted to Melbourne until the end of 2028.
Melbourne’s 46-20 win over St George Illawarra follows a 52-4 thrashing of Parramatta in round one.
Bellamy’s team will next face the Broncos at AAMI Park on Friday night in a rematch of the 2025 grand final.