FT: Storm 16 def Bulldogs 14
TOO MUCH ON IT!
Canterbury need to go the length though.
Dogs will have one last opportunity.
Mahoney's pass is picked off by Munster! Melbourne are almost there!
Canterbury recover the short dropout!
Clever grubber and they'll get another set
DOGS RECOVER the short!
For the lead... Meaney's kick is GOOD!
Melbourne need to put some defibs in easy access at AAMI Park. Papenhuyzen and Hughes combined nicely to break through the middle third. Munster demanded the ball off the next set and found a crashing Shawn Blore who crossed inside the last five.
Kikau tries a bicycle kick but it has more chance of being a behind across the road at the G then of staying in the field of play.
Good run from Mahoney out of acting half.
Papi runs out of space and Bellyache has a look of death on him at the moment
Kiraz driven into touch and we have a bit of a kumbaya between the players.
Coates streaks down the left, he kicks back in-field but he kicks it into Tracey and Bellyache goes down the cellar and out of sight.
On field call of no advantage will stand. JAC knocked on
SIX MORE MEL: Slow ruck
Wishart is sent back to Goschs' Paddock.
Ball knocked down by the Dogs and they get six more.
Kitione Kautoga is on for the Bulldogs.
Connor Tracey quietly providing some spark tonight for the visitors.
Melbourne have been doing all the defending, they need a spark to get home!
Papi is back and we're back 13 v 13.
Coates puts it into touch! Canterbury hang on
Storm on the attack
Bronson Xerri puts it down and he won't be thanking Helen for that one.
Hughes is back on and we're back 13 v 12 for the next two minutes.
Burton misses.
This Bulldogs team is built incredibly different and the right edge of the Storm has been EXPOSED. Burton delivered a majestic pass to Addo-Carr who crossed for his hattrick
SET RESTART CBY: Inside 10m
Grant knocks it down from the scrum.
Knock on Melbourne. On advice from Todd Smith on the line, Melbourne fail to recover the short dropout!
Melbourne are getting burnt down their right edge defensively. Bulldogs finishing really strong!
No goal and it's 10-10.
Canterbury quickly struck back when it was 12 v 12. Xerri again showcased magnificent skill to get a pass away to Josh Addo-Carr who crossed for his second try.
PAPI is GONE for 10!
VIDEO REF: Wyatt has NO TRY looking for a professional foul. Wyatt has a live call of a professional foul against Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Melbourne lose the footy on play 2...
On advice from Grant Atkins - Hughes has been dispatched to the sin-bin by Wyatt Raymond.
Hughes is placed on report for the incident.
PENALTY STORM: Christian Welch resents the tackle by Sam Hughes with the facial
Xerri tries a grubber but it's well shielded over the sideline by Warbrick.
Kiraz v Coates is won by Kiraz and he gets up and over half-way.
10-6 Melbourne. This gets very spicy at AAMI!
After Connor Tracey and Jacob Kiraz completed a Houdini act to escape from the in-goal. The Dogs exposed the lack of defensive numbers of the Storm which allowed Xerri and Addo-Carr to combine and the Fox sprinted the best part of 50 metres to score untouched for the Dogs opening try of the second half.
Bulldogs do the Houdini manouvre and escape from the in-goal.
PENALTY MEL: Hand on ball
Challenge successful for Melbourne.
Hutch and Tracey combine nicely on the inside but it's been ruled a knock on by Wyatt Raymond. Melbourne disputed this and will challenge.
Bulldogs need to start chancing their arm a little bit. Down 10-0 so far and the attacking chances are very minimal.
Grant loses the football. Melbourne cough it up.
Cam Ciraldo unhappy with completions and wants correction on Burton's time to kick the football. Craig Bellamy says the Storm were impatient with the ball and that needs to be improve.
Game underway for the second half. Really important that the Dogs show something here in half number two!
Ryan Papenhuyzen is on report for a hip drop on JAC.
HALF-TIME: Storm 10 lead Dogs 0.
Salmon recovers the loose ball.
Critta puts too much on it.
Super Coates has been on fire so far tonight. Melbourne just seem to be doing enough, especially in defence.
Dogs are challenging... challenge is unsuccessful
He atones for the error by sending Connor Tracey back to Belmore!
Critta batted it back and Coates makes his only blemish of the first half.
That is a BURTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO special.
Tiny bit anti-climatic that.
Canterbury's last tackle options leaving a lot to be desired.
JAC with some rare open space
Jaeman Salmon limping.
King crunches Sam Hughes in a big tackle. Canterbury decide to run it on the last, Xerri bombs a 2 on 1 cuz Warbrick came in.
COATES! He can't do a single thing wrong tonight. Immortal energy from the PNG and QLD winger.
Bailey Hayward onto the ground for his NRL debut
Melbourne throwing everything at the Dogs but they are holding pretty firm
SIX MORE MEL: Slow peel
Dogs recover
SIX MORE MEL: Inside 10m
FOX TROT! Crunched Nick Meaney
COATES IS AWAY! But brought down by Mahoney.
Blore looking like a burner to the collarbone region.
Meaney failed to add the extras.
Xavier Coates is just an absolute freak. There's no denying it anymore. A clever cross field kick was marked by Xavier Coates. Despite Jacob Kiraz doing all he could, Coates somehow got the boot to it and it was miscued by Drew Hutchison and Reimis Smith was alert to the ball to cross.
Dominant tackle by Turpin!
Kikau imposing himself but that offload was just a fraction high to Burton and he goes without the footy.
Katoa puts it down ! Great defence by the Dogs, Bronson Xerri did a great job.
Reimis Smith almost getting to the line. Amazing scramble defence by the Dogs on their own line!
Alec MacDonald off for a HIA and he'll be replaced by Welch.
Melbourne force a line dropout following an inside banana/bomb kick hybrid.
Sam Hughes on for Patolo
Hutch throws it forward to Hughes. Canterbury really struggling with completions - something they did so well with.
No return for Tui tonight - Storm suspect a calf injury.
Kick is inside the 40m but nothing doing.
Canterbury working their way back into it. They have had some chances but just not working out at the moment.
NO TRY
VIDEO REF: Wyatt has NO TRY and Addo-Carr looked to go out.
PENALTY DOGS: Inside 10m
Xerri breaks through down the left. From the switch, Dogs shift it and grubber into the in-goal. Line dropout avoided as Coates escapes.
Melbourne force a mistake, Grant recovers it!
Burton kicks early and Coates takes no chances. Goal-line dropout
PENALTY DOGS: High tackle against Alec MacDonald.
Tui Kamikamica OFF > Alec MacDonald ON!
Meaney converts and it's 6-0.
TRY! Papenhuyzen gets through some would be defence and crosses for the Storm. Capitialising on some poor errors from the Bulldogs.
VIDEO REF: Wyatt has NO TRY looking to confirm a knock on from Papenhuyzen.
Crichton knocks it out of Grant's hands... Curran dives on it but then it's taken from him. Melbourne get it back! Ridiculous scenes here.
SIX AGAIN MEL: Ruck infringement
Jake Turpin puts it down on play 3. Was an awkward pass from Mahoney but he should've taken it.
GAME ON! Wyatt Raymond blows his whistle in the NRL for the first time and we are underway. Bulldogs will get first use of it!
A special moment tonight at AAMI Park for the referees. Match official 156, Wyatt Raymond will make his NRL debut as a centre referee! An amazing and meteoric rise after making his touch judge debut in just 2021! We wish him the best of luck tonight in his initial referee appointment. He's assisted by Todd Smith and Tyson Brough on the sideline while Grant Atkins is in the bunker tonight.
Welcome to AAMI Park for Round 6 of the NRL season. Tonight sees Melbourne play the Canterbury Bulldogs. Both sides coming off last start high-scoring victories, but it is the visitors who have a significant injury toll. On the team front, Melbourne are unchanged headed into this fixture with Jack Howarth deputising as the 18th man. For Canterbury, Max King is out with a hand injury, Josh Curran moves to prop, Jaeman Salmon moves to the second row while Jake Turpin starts at lock. Liam Knight won't play tonight, Toby Sexton is the concussion sub.
Referees & scorers:
Referee: Wyatt Raymond
Touch Judges: Todd Smith, Tyson Brough
Video Referee: Grant Atkins
MELBOURNE STORM (16)
Tries: Ryan Papenhuyzen, Reimis Smith, Shawn Blore
Conversions: Nick Meaney (2/3)
CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS (14)
Tries: Josh Addo-Carr (3)
Conversions: Matt Burton (1/3)