Cronk had two late field-goal efforts foiled as the Storm collected a fourth straight win, Smith piercing the posts from 37 metres out with barely a minute on the clock to help his side leapfrog the Warriors into fourth spot.

After a dour struggle, the game came to life midway through the second half as both sides scored a try, before Latrell Mitchell missed a penalty goal from in front with 10 minutes to play which would have edged the Roosters ahead

Having played 323 games for the Storm in his stellar career, Cronk was forced to go up against good mates Cameron Smith and Billy Slater for the first time and looked for a moment to have orchestrated a win over his old club.

He lined up a field goal in the 76th minute only for veteran Ryan Hoffman, another man Cronk has played alongside for most of his career, to charge down his effort.

Following Smith's decisive kick, the Roosters regathered the ball from the kick-off, giving Cronk one last shot but this time Tim Glasby got between him and the goal posts.

"It was a little bit weird the build-up. I tried to take it as not emotional as possible but it's pretty hard when you've got some of your best mates on the other side of the field," Cronk told Channel Nine.

"People play against their brothers and their best mates all the time. Banter only goes too far until they start running over the top of you and you've got to tackle them as hard as they're running.

"I've got friendships that will last a long time over the other side of the field and I've got new friendships that will last just as long as well. It's a bit of a weird one."

Both sides wasted good field position late in the game in a bizarre game of football at the unfamiliar surrounds of Adelaide Oval before the Storm prevailed.

In the process, Smith joined Hazem El Masri as only the second NRL player to score more than 2300 points.

"[I] got a bit lucky with that one [the field goal], it snuck under the kick pressure and went over, the gods were with us tonight I think," Smith told Channel Nine.

"The Roosters did a really good defensive job on us tonight, they must have done a lot of homework on us. The best thing for our side is we know we can perform better than that over the 80 minutes."

Cronk played his usual game against the Storm, without setting the world on fire.

His kicking game was solid and he directed his troops in a game where neither side generated much in attack.

He'll wake up sore on Saturday, though, thanks to his old mate Billy Slater, who collected a kick early in the second half and ran straight and hard at Cronk. The former Storm man stood his ground and stopped Slater's surging run with a strong tackle.

Other than that, he barely came into contact with Slater or Smith.

It was Smith who put on the first try, but the Adelaide fans were made to wait an hour before they saw their first four-pointer.

With Roosters forward Victor Radley sin-binned for his high, late shot on Christian Welch, Smith sniffed an opportunity close to the line and Nelson Asofa-Solomona was the beneficiary. He bullocked his way over from close range, proving too strong for Sio Siua Taukeiaho and debutant Sitili Tupouniua.

That was the spark the Roosters needed, and soon after they were level when Matthew Ikuvalu touched down in the right corner when NSW winger Josh Addo-Carr rushed in off his wing and failed to defuse the situation.

MELBOURNE 9 (N Asofa-Solomona try C Smith 2 goals, field goal) bt SYDNEY ROOSTERS 8 (M Ikuvalu try L Mitchell 2 goals) at Adelaide Oval. Referees: Gavin Badger, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 17,728.