Warriors coach Nathan Brown says some of his players gave up as Melbourne ran in 10 unanswered tries in the second half to post a record 70-10 victory in their Anzac Day clash at AAMI Park.
It equalled Melbourne's previous biggest score - coincidentally the last time coming in 2000 when the Storm beat the Dragons 70-10 and Brown was captaining the Saints.
And their 54-point second half haul was the most by a team in the NRL era.
The Warriors were starved of possession, completing two sets from just seven in the half and Brown said some players "looked for the easiest way out".
Asked if they gave up he replied: "Some people did - I've got no doubt at all," Brown said.
"I've been in this game a long time and it's disappointing to actually sit here and say that but some people looked for the easiest way out they could and that's sad.
"That's not a reflection of all the players - we had some that worked extremely hard and put themselves on the line."
Winger Xavier Coates scored four tries among the side's 13 but had to share star status with Ryan Papenhuyzen.
The fullback scored twice in the space of five minutes in the second half to break the back of the Warriors and put the game out of reach.
Winner of the Anzac Medal, he finished with a personal haul of 22 points from his 68 minutes before being rested.
The visitors were well in the hunt in the opening 40 minutes and only trailed 16-10 at halftime.
In the opening 40 they were hurt by two runaway tries by the Storm with the first coming in the seventh minutes as the Warriors were set to score.
Winger Ed Kosi, who had a night to forget, spilt the ball with the line beckoning with Papenhuyzen pouncing and then off-loading to halfback Jahrome Hughes, who ran 70 metres to score.
Winger Nick Meaney then intercepted a Shaun Johnson pass to also score a long-range try in the 26th minute.
The Warriors also crossed twice, but that was all their fans had to celebrate as their game completely fell apart in the second half.
Two minutes in they lost second-rower Josh Curran to a PCL injury and then were rocked by a serious injury to first-half scorer Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona put up an unscripted bomb for Papenhuyzen's first try.
But their celebrations were tempered with Watene-Zelezniak knocked out cold and taken from the field in a medi-cab.
Chasing the kick he collided with teammate Bayley Sironen and then bounced into Asofa-Solomona's knee, falling face first to the ground.
He was conscious and talking in the change-rooms after the match.
Coates scored a 22nd minute try but the magic came in an eight minute spell in the second half, crossing three times.
Prop Matt Lodge stood up for the Warriors, with 116 run metres, 42 post-contact metres while making 27 tackles.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy described the first half as an "arm wrestle" but said not much went the Warriors way in the second half.
"The Warriors had a lot of things go wrong the second half and obviously with those injuries, I don't think they had anyone on the bench," Bellamy said.
"But having said that I can't really fault too much of what we did.
"It was a really dominant performance and I'm real happy with outcome and the performance of our players."
