Melbourne Storm vs Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs NRL Trial Match - 21/2/2015

Doomacheal
Feb 22, 2015
2 min read

AAMI Park

I'm a huge Melbourne Storm fan, just ask anyone who knows me. So it was no surprise that I was at the teams' final hit out before the start of the 2015 NRL season. This was my 1st game for 2015 & I went into the match hoping for the boys to put in a strong performance.

The team warming up before the game.

The opening half was quite an equal contest, but it was the Bulldogs who struck 1st blood through Brett Morris from a Curtis Rona grubber kick. The Storm hit back quickly through their own grubber kick from Ben Hampton which Young Tonumaipea picked up to score. Storm winger Marika Koroibete was next to get a try next to his name scoring down the left side of the field. But as the half progressed the Bulldogs seized control of the game scoring 2 converted tries by half time.

I was pretty happy with how the boys were playing at the half, but they needed to do something different in the 2nd half to get themselves back into the contest.

The Bulldogs came out firing & had 30-12 lead with 26 minutes remaining in the game. At this stage I thought we were cooked & the game was well & truly over, but after Billy Slater raced in for a try sparked the team back to life the tide started to turn.

Billy Slater

Cameron Munster was next to score & was able to convert his own try. Then within minutes Tohu Harris was in & the scores were 26-30. After a few repeat sets of 6 the Storm found themselves in a great position to score & tie the game. A pinpoint kick from Blake Green to Suliasi Vunivalu on the left wing was all it look. Shaun Nona converted & the Storm had finally hit the lead with 6 minutes left to play.

The Bulldogs tried their best & forced a repeat set but it was too late & by the time the Storm kicked the ball back into the play the game was done & dusted.

The Storm pilled on 20 points to steal the win at the death. The only thing that let the team down was Will Chambers' absolutely terrible kicking for goal, he missed every attempt. Thank goodness that he's not our main kicker!!