The Canterbury Bulldogs have defied the odds, defeating the Melbourne Storm 28-4 on Sunday afternoon at AAMI Park in the second elimination final.
Canterbury played a finals brand of football, shocking everyone with a comprehensive hold on the match early. Melbourne’s stars were absent in the opening half and left too much to do in the second, dominated by a focused and efficient Canterbury Bulldogs side. Tim Lafai was on fire, the Bulldogs centre finishing with 3-tries.
Greg Eastwood scored under the posts in the seventh minute after an uncontested Trent Hodkinson bomb was padded back by Lafai.
Melbourne seemed rattled and played into the Dogs’ hands soon after, coughing up possession from a scrum 20 metres from their own line.
Hodkinson skipped over to score from the resulting set of six to push the Bulldogs out to a 12-point lead after 15 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for the home team only a few minutes later, after Ben Roberts threw an intercept pass in the path of Tim Lafai. 18-0 to the visitors and the season was fading rapidly for Melbourne.
After stringing a few good sets together, the Storm stemmed the flow of play for the enthusiastic Canterbury Bulldogs. They could not prevent the Dogs from scoring again before the break. Latai crossed for his second to make it 24-0 at half-time.
“We knew we had to get off to a fast start,” commented Bullodogs play-maker Hodkinson at half-time.
“The good thing is, we are holding on to the footy. We haven’t done that in a long time.”
Melbourne began the second half with the bang they needed. Cooper Cronk chipped for Sisa Waqa, who leapt highest to claim the ball and touch down for Melbourne’s first points of the match.
With the adrenaline pumping, Melbourne threw the ball around like the Harlem Globetrotters, eventually finishing with an offload to Waqa who crossed under the posts.
In a crucial decision, the video referee ruled that the ball had been knocked on by a Storm player leading up to the try. The score remained 24-4 with 10 minutes gone in the second half.
In a professional performance, the Bulldogs did not allow the Storm back into the game. Consolidating in defense, the Bulldogs forced the Storm to attempt difficult attacking plays which resulted in mistakes or a change in possession.
Canterbury demonstrated true grit in a game hampered by stoppages. They will need to display similar composure next week in the semi-final against the Manly Sea Eagles.
