Josh Addo-Carr has lit up Indigenous Round with a two try performance, helping the Melbourne Storm to a 28-6 victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs in front of a 13131 strong crowd at Belmore Sports Ground this afternoon.
Not a lot separated the two teams in the opening half with Melbourne the only team to trouble the scorers with their eight points coming within a three minute period.
Not long following a Cameron Smith penalty goal, it was the flying fox - Josh Addo-Carr who lit up the field with a slashing long range try which began 70 metres from his own line.
Upon collecting a pass from Jahrome Hughes at the back, Addo-Carr used his speed and a left foot step to get on the inside of Josh Jackson before using the left again to beat Nick Meaney at fullback and race away to score under the posts.
Smith's conversion opened up a handy 8-0 lead after 15 minutes which they would ultimately take into the sheds at halftime.
It was again proud Indigenous man, Addo-Carr who fired early in the second stanza for the Storm. After cleaning up a Bulldogs kick, the Fox streaked clear down the left flank before being taken down on halfway. That run put his team on an immediate roll and he was on the spot at the end of the set to take advantage of an offload from centre Will Chambers to cross for his double in the 47th minute.
Smith nailed the sideline conversion giving his team a dominant 14-0 lead.
It wouldn't take the home team long to breathe some life back into the contest when interchange forward Sauaso Sue burst onto a ball from Dylan Napa to crash over next to the posts in the 52nd minute.
Rhyse Martin converted to reduce the deficit to eight and the Belmore faithful were again in good spirits.
That would prove as close as the home team would get.
A pair of penalty goals from skipper Smith extended the margin to two converted tries with less than 15 minutes on the clock and a try to Chambers running onto an early ball from 100th gamer Cameron Munster proved the knockout punch in the 74th minute.
A late try to big man Nelson Asofa-Solomona just before the final siren rubbed further salt into the Bulldogs wounds in what ended up a dominant Storm victory and saw them move to outright second on the premiership ladder.
They will enjoy a week off with the bye before setting their sights on a clash with the New Zealand Warriors on a Saturday afternoon at Mt Smart Stadium following Origin one.
The Bulldogs will look to regroup quickly before playing host to the Canberra Raiders next Saturday night at ANZ Stadium.