Brilliant Billy Slater turns Broncos into whipping boys BILLY Slater reminded the rugby league world he doesn't need a karate kick to make headlines, proving the difference against a vastly improved Broncos team. In an exceptional game of rugby league, Slater's series of highlight-reel moments enabled the Storm to defeat the Broncos 32-26 at Suncorp Stadium. The Innisfail flyer scored three tries and in the process became the first NRL player to make 200 career linebreaks. Brisbane were tremendous in defeat but now have one win from four rounds while the Storm have won 13 games in a row, dating back to Round 22 last year. Broncos find flair in Storm surge On the day his Queensland understudy Ben Barba returned to rugby league, Slater proved he may have to retire before Barba gets a chance in the Maroons jersey. Broncos coach Anthony Griffin could only marvel at Slater's heroics as his team were edged by brilliance. "It was probably great to watch," Griffin said. They scored some freakish tries and that's the disappointing thing ... they don't get much better than that. Slater's triple means he has 10 tries in 10 appearances against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium. His total of 20 means he has scored more four-pointers against the team that once overlooked him as a junior than any other NRL player. Last night's match appeared as though it would be a Storm canter in the opening 20 minutes but the Broncos again showed they had an excellent team culture. They hit back and took the lead briefly in the 53rd minute when Josh Hoffman scored his third try. But Melbourne, as always, fought back to win. Slater's exceptional night began in the ninth minute when he sliced through a huge gap from a Storm scrum win, sprinting 40m untouched. Billy Slater pops a pass to a Storm teammate. He scored again in the 14th minute when he pounced on a Cameron Smith grubber to touch down beside the posts. Five minutes before halftime, Slater tore the Broncos defence apart to create one of the tries of the season. Working out of their own half, Cooper Cronk chip-kicked inside for Slater who caught the ball, sprinted 30m before finding Will Chambers who drew and passed for Matt Duffie to score in the corner. Slater's third came from a Cronk bomb, as he flew above the pack to wrestle the lead back. Storm coach Craig Bellamy said it was individual feats that won them the game. We needed that. We needed a couple things out of the ordinary to get out of this," he said. The chip and chase was right against the run of play, the Broncos were pretty much on top for the last 20 minutes of the first half. Those are not tries all teams can score.