Papenhuyzen field goal rescues Storm in golden point after Latrell magic

Ryan Papenhuyzen slotted a one-point field goal in golden point to clinch a 25-24 victory for Melbourne in a scrappy, seesawing encounter with South Sydney on Saturday night.

Alex Johnston crossed for four tries at Accor Stadium to move to 206 first-grade tries, just six shy of Ken Irvine's record, and Latrell Mitchell produced an immaculate grubber to set up a score-levelling Tyrone Munro try in the 77th minute.

But Papenhuyzen knocked over a field goal from 15 metres out in the first half of golden point to steal victory for the Storm.

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Despite surging to a 12-0 lead in the opening seven minutes, the Storm found themselves trailing on two occasions in the second half.

Trailing 20-18 in the 69th minute, Melbourne regained the lead on the back of a brilliant play by diminutive winger Sualauvi Fa'alogo, who did well to take a Mitchell high ball before making a line break and linking with Tyran Wishart, who ran away to score.

Papenhuyzen converted to leave South Sydney trailing 24-20 with just under 10 minutes to go.

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But Mitchell, one of five players backing up from State of Origin in Saturday night's match, came up with a play that few in the game could pull off, or would even think of attempting.

The superstar No.1 opted for a kick on the third tackle and executed to perfection, threading a grubber behind Melbourne's defensive line for Tyrone Munro to chase, collect and score.

Mitchell then had a chance to put the Rabbitohs two points ahead with a conversion attempt from just inside the right sideline, but sprayed his kick left to leave the scoreline locked at 24-24.

The Souths fullback tried to snatch victory with a field goal attempt from 45 metres out in the dying seconds but the kick was wayward.

Papenhuyzen fired off two field goal attempts in golden point, the first of which was charged down 28 metres out.

Handed a fresh set of six deep in Souths territory, Melbourne set up Papenhuyzen for another shot and the fullback nailed the task.

"You've got to give Souths a lot of credit for coming back," Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said in his press conference.

"It would have been easy to say, 'This is going to be too hard tonight', but they just kept hanging in there, [and with] 10 minutes to go it looked like they were going to win the game.

"I think we were really fortunate to get out of it at the end."

Three of Johnston's tries were set up by Mitchell dishing off beautiful passes on the left edge.

He completed his hat-trick shortly after half-time to grab the 16th of his career. In doing so, he drew level with Irvine and Frank Burge for most hat-tricks in Australian first-grade history.

Johnston bagged his fourth when he picked off a Jahrome Hughes pass and raced away. He had four tries in only 53 minutes of football.

Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett revealed a short exchange he had with Johnston at the break.

"I said to him at half-time, 'Have you got another try in you?'. He said, 'I've got another couple in me'," Bennett said in his press conference.

"That's the first time ever he's scored four tries in a game.

"He's had a long and remarkable career, so he's pretty pleased with himself, and we are too for him."

Mitchell set up four tries, while front-rower Keaon Koloamatangi registered 232 run metres and 34 tackles to bolster his credentials for an Origin recall in the decider.

The Rabbitohs will take on the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium next Saturday, while the Storm are set to face the Sharks at AAMI Park the following day.