Melbourne Storm have kicked off the 2017 NRL season with a handy 12-6 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground, on Friday night.
The Storm came out firing, shooting to a 10-0 lead within 10 minutes of the match through tries to Cheyse Blair and superstar youngster Suliasi Vunivalu, however the Bulldogs fought back and maintained possession of the ball for 55% of the game, forcing the Storm to pull out all stops in defence in torrential rain.
The Storm were solid even though they were down to 16 men just 10 minutes into the game, with star prop Jesse Bromich leaving the field with a suspected dislocated thumb.
It was a fiery encounter, with Storm’s Will Chambers and Bulldogs’ Sam Kasiano both finishing the first half in the sin bin after punches were thrown in a fracas.
The Bulldogs managed to come out and score in the second half, through a Josh Reynolds try, but it wasn’t enough to register the win.
New Bulldogs recruit Brenko Lee was among his team’s best, looking dangerous in attack at right centre, while local hero Reynolds had some great touches but was complicit in their over-adventurous play in the second half.
The win extends the Storm’s remarkable round 1 wins record to 13 consecutive victories and sets up a great start to the season.
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