Bulldogs grind out Storm in bruising encounter

v BYE

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs relied on their defense in a rough 18-12 victory in front of 11,037 fans at AAMI Park tonight. 

These two teams met on the final day in 2012, and resumed hostilities in a Monday night bruiser. The Bulldogs seem to be the bogey side for the Storm and were in their face early which allowed Cam Smith to make it 2-nil after as many minutes. 

After defending several sets on their own line - Moses Mbye used a heads-up play to gather a kick and out paced the chasers to the try-line. Kerrod Holland who returned to the team, several weeks after his last minute heroics against Penrith. 

The try sparked the Bulldogs - coming off a disappointing performance against the Raiders at Belmore - were back to their brutal best. The forwards bent through the Storm line and a deft kick from Josh Reynolds found former Kiwi representative, Sam Perrett to touch down for a 12-2 lead after 20 minutes. 

Much like last weekend against Newcastle - the Storm looked out of sorts in attack with Cooper Cronk and Smith misfiring. It took some brute strength to get them back into the contest before half-time. Tohu Harris moved into the forwards just before the game cut inside and made it 12-8 at the break. 

Storm used the momentum from late in the first half - to post the first points of the second stanza. Young Tonumaipea collected a Cronk kick, rebounded the pass off a defender before he crossed the stripe. 

This brought some enthusiasm back into their game - the Bromwich brothers were bending the line at will but some resolute defense from a Bulldogs team that conceded 22 last weekend held firm. 

Their defense did the grunt work and once again - Holland was the man of the moment. The centre finished off a frantic movement from the Bulldogs to once again, and for the final time take the lead. 

Melbourne huffed and puffed in the final few minutes but Josh Jackson plucked the ball out of the air to earn two valuable competition points.

Next week the Storm will lick their wounds and head for an unhappy hunting ground in Leichhardt Oval against the Wests Tigers on Sunday, while Canterbury have taken a home fixture across the Tasman to Wellington, where they'll host the Warriors on Saturday evening.