S26E02 Preview – Danger Dogs

Home opener. Saturday night. Trouble?

Ah the visit of Canterbury to Melbourne, that’s not going to be a fun time is it? Especially with the hyped Bulldogs coming off a pretty inept loss to Manly.

If ever you find yourself overwhelmed by choices on what to watch, you could always go to YouTube and watch a random rugby league game from the past. I’m not saying this should be a regular activity, but it certainly fills in an evening – just like this game…

S02E19 – Melbourne Storm @ Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

Melbourne’s first trip to Stadium Australia was a tricky game against 1998 grand finalists Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on a Saturday night.

Warren Smith, Gary Freeman and Steve Mortimer had the call for Fox Sports (I think this one might have been one of those games shown on Fox 8 back in the day (IYKYK)). Freeman was reasonable value back in the day on the box, as his lack of knowledge of the rugby league rule book led to some interesting moments when he just wanted things to go with his vibe.

My memories of this game and watching it again two decades later: Matt Geyer and Daryl Halligan having a baggy jersey battle on one wing; an angry Steve Kearney and Tawera Nikau dominating in the middle for Melbourne; Paul Simpkins (is a dickhead) and his barely competent refereeing.

Aaron Moule would score the first of his two tries, with Ben Anderson’s last pass a killer. Getting a roll on, Geyer would score the next try after some great work from the middle forwards. Leading 8–0 after Boofa’s radar wasn’t working, Canterbury would go left for Halligan to be awarded a try by the video ref on very inconclusive evidence.

The next flashpoint in the game was a nasty injury to Jason Hetherington which ended his season and he wouldn’t return to first grade until over a quarter of the way into the 2000 season.

A Halligan penalty goal levelled things up just after half time, at 8–all after 45 minutes. Melbourne would then score their own controversial try, with Marcus Bai finishing in the corner after a Brett Kimmorley bomb. Tawera Nikau was offside in front of Kimmorley and inside the ten when the ball bounced, meaning there was no way the current NRL Bunker would have awarded the try. 12–8 and Kimmorley was winning the halves battle over Ricky Stuart.

Leading 24–8 after 70 minutes, Melbourne had a second try to Brad Watts denied and then withstood a customary late Bulldogs flurry to hang on to a 24–20 win.

The win would start a then club record six game winning streak, broken by the North Sydney Bears winning (in what would be) their final home game at North Sydney Oval in round 25.

Canterbury – 20 (Halligan 28’, Price 74’, El Masri 76’ tries; Halligan 4/4 goals)

Melbourne – 24 (Moule 11’, 59’, Geyer 18’, Bai 51’, Watts 65’ tries; Geyer 2/6 goals)

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Stat pack

• Melbourne have previously played three games on 11 March winning all three – 2001 (versus Cronulla), 2012, and 2021 (both versus South Sydney).

• Melbourne own a winning record against all active opponents,¹ but their worst is against Canterbury at 52.27%.

• Melbourne and Canterbury have faced off at 13 different venues – five in NSW, three in Victoria, two in Western Australia and Queensland, and one in South Australia.

• Melbourne have won the last seven matches against Canterbury, having lost the previous six before that.

• Canterbury once had a nine match winning streak against Melbourne, not losing from mid-2000 to August 2004, including holding Melbourne scoreless for the first time in the 2003 semi final.

• Storm players #176 Josh Addo-Carr and #199 Max King return to AAMI Park. Both have played against Melbourne twice each without success.

Team line-up

1. Nick Meaney

2. Will Warbick

3. Remis Smith

4. Young Tonumaipea

5. Xavier Coates (doubtful to play)

6. Tyran Wishart (in for Munster)

7. Jahrome Hughes

8. Nelson Asofa-Solomona

9. Harry Grant

10. Christian Welch ©

11. Trent Loiero

12. Elisa Katoa

13. Josh King

14. Bronson Garlick

15. Alec MacDonald

16. Aaron Pene

17. Jordan Grant

18. Grant Anderson

19. Chris Lewis

20. Joe Chan

21. Kane Bradley (Storm debut)

22. Jonah Pezet

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Preview

Melbourne should win this right? Right? But stranger things have happened at AAMI Park down the years. New coach Cameron Ciraldo should have the Bulldogs wanting to atone for their efforts last week against Manly, but his rag-tag bunch of former Panthers and others might take a little longer to gel together than some of the experts suspected in February.

Without Munster, Melbourne can be vulnerable. Wishart at five-eighth is an interesting prospect and I wonder if he might float around with Nick Meaney taking over some of the playmaking duties with Jahrome Hughes. Surely Xavier Coates doesn’t make the game after another injury setback last week, meaning a backline shuffle is again on the cards.

Watching the game last week, Melbourne missed some of the play of Kenny Bromwich on the edge in both attack and defence. Katoa and Loiero will need to improve to maintain their starting roles with Sims due back soon.

I can’t see the Bulldogs failing to turn up like they did in S25E04 last year, so Melbourne will need to maintain the focus in order to get the job done. While a repeat of the 44–0 score line from last year would be fun, I’m smelling an ambush from the Belmore boys.

Finally, the club announced during the week that they’ll be wearing 1998 throwback home jerseys this week. It will be interesting to see how Castore (*cough* probably ISC teamwear²) pull this off and how true to the original Nike versions that they are.

1. If we lose to the Fish in the first match against them this year, call the season off.

2. Made in Fiji.