The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Holden Cup side have gone down 38-26 to the Melbourne Storm this afternoon at Gosch’s Park, Melbourne.
In what is the side’s final hit-out before the season starts, Coach Scott Murray used 20 players throughout the 80-minutes.
It was all the Storm in the first half with the home side running out to a 22-6 lead at half-time. The only joy for the young pups came through winger Marcelo Montoya who scored in the left hand corner to finish off a slick backline move.
The second half started better for the boys in blue and white when great field position was earned off the back of two penalties. Five-eighth Brendan Cox was controlling the left hand side of the attack and provided prop forward Jake Kamire a well-timed short ball with the big boy carrying two men over the line to score the try.
The Storm ran in two further tries to extend their lead out to 38-12 at the three-quarter time break.
A good finish from the young pups saw three tries scored in the final 20 minutes. Montoya took a well read intercept and managed to run the 90m to score. That was followed by Cox who on this occasion took the line on himself and sliced through to score. The third and final try was registered by halfback Guy Hamilton who used his quick footwork to catch the Storm defence unawares to score, with the score finishing at 38-26 in favour of the Storm.
STORM 38 Def. BULLDOGS 26 (Marcelo Montoya 2, Jake Kamire, Brendan Cox, Guy Hamilton Tries; Brendan Cox 2, Guy Hamilton 1 Goals)
At: Gosch’s Park, Melbourne