Words by Stephen Marson‌, Melbourne Correspondent , NRL.com
The Bulldogs have continued their fine run of form in Melbourne with an 18-12 win over the Storm in front of 11,037 fans on Monday night.
The Dogs have now won their last six against the Storm and past three matches at AAMI Park, and in doing so handed the Storm their first home loss of the season.
Canterbury's first-half defence set the tone from the outset as they made numerous try-saving tackles to keep a determined Melbourne Storm side at bay early.
The Storm took an quick lead off the back of a 40/20 from Cameron Smith on the opening set, but chose to take the two points after a penalty under the posts.
A 2-0 lead to the home side was the result, but only minutes later the Bulldogs hit the scoreboard after Moses Mbye ran the length of the field to score in the corner.
Mbye blocked a grubber kick from Blake Green and picked it up 10 metres out from him own line, and the speedy halfback was untroubled by a Cooper Cronk chase to put his side into the lead.
The Bulldogs would stretch the margin out to 10 soon after as Sam Perrett caught a perfectly-weighted Josh Reynolds kick to score in the corner.
Kerrod Holland converted the try from the sideline for the second time of the half, and the Dogs had a commanding 12-2 lead.
As well as in in attack, their defence was also firing on all cylinders early, as several last-ditch attempts from the Canterbury backs saw off certain tries from Cameron Munster and Marika Koroibete late in the half.
The Storm finally found a gap in the Canterbury line as Tohu Harris bustled his way over with three minutes to go in the first half to trim the Bulldogs' lead to just four at the break.
It only took the home side nine minutes to level the scores, as winger Young Tonumaipea found the corner, after some inventive play from the Victorian.
Tonumaipea collected Cooper Cronk's kick and regathered his own misguided pass to Kevin Proctor to push his way over the line and lock the scores at 12-all.
Melbourne continued to assert their second-half dominance after a crucial line break from Jesse Bromwich saw Cameron Smith through, only to be stopped by another fantastic tackle from Will Hopoate who held the captain metres out.
The momentum was well and truly with the home side, but a frantic final tackle play from the Bulldogs saw Holland cross over in the corner to return the lead to his side.
Two offloads and multiple switches of play eventually led to the Dogs outnumbering the Storm on the wing and Holland was able to find the line. He converted his own try, and the Bulldogs had an 18-12 lead with 20 minutes remaining.
The Storm had chances late to extend the game into golden point territory, but the defence of the Bulldogs won through again as another last-ditch tackle on Cronk denied the halfback what would have been a certain try.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 18 (Mbye, Perrett, Holland tries; Holland 3 goals) defeated Melbourne Storm 12 (Harris, Tonumaipea tries; Smith 2 goals) at AAMI Park. Half-time:Bulldogs 12-8. Crowd: 11,037.
This article appeared first on NRL.com
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