S28E28 Preview – Wretched finals

The veil of negativity descends over the 2025 NRL finals series

Sep 10, 2025

After one of the longest gaps between matches, we now have one of the shortest. Melbourne face off against the Bulldogs just three weeks after meeting in round 25. This time the visitors to AAMI Park have some further advantages with Melbourne on the ropes and waiting for a knock out punch.

These teams have played in five previous finals matches and my initial thought a couple of weeks ago was that the time was right to look back at the first meeting in finals footy from 1999. After Melbourne’s horrible fortnight though, I’m saving that sugar hit for another time, instead let’s fully #embracemediocrity and go to the last time these teams faced off in the finals.

S17E27 – Melbourne Storm vs Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

A full decade ago. 2014. Melbourne’s season started on the high of the golden point win over Manly at Fortress Shithole, but the team never really looked like they could match the top teams. They wouldn’t have any lengthy losing streaks, but consistency was hard to find. In the end the Storm finished sixth on the ladder with 14 wins, only two wins behind top spot.

Canterbury had been sitting pretty on top of the ladder in May, but a run of poor form through July into August saw them fall into the lower reaches of the top eight. They would end the season with 13 wins to set up an elimination final against the Storm.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon Cameron Smith was fit to go after there was doubt on whether he would play. The GOAT had suffered a high ankle sprain in the Storm’s win against the Broncos the previous weekend and was forced from the field during the first half.

Things started to go pear-shaped for Melbourne early on in this one. An Aidan Tolman offload to Josh Reynolds had him one-on-one with Billy Slater on just the visitors’ fourth tackle of the match. The Storm were able to keep the Bulldogs out from that attacking set, but it wasn’t long before the visitors were on the board.

The opening try came via Greg Eastwood who had legally decked Sisa Waqa earlier in a big day for the Kiwi international. Eastwood scoring a simple try from a Mick Ennis kick that was batted back by Tim Lafai. Poor Marika Koroibete having been impeded in the contest by Mahe Fonua.

It wasn’t the best start for the Storm and things didn’t really improve from there. Attacking field position came to nothing for Melbourne against a fast-rushing Bulldogs defensive line, then the visitors extended their lead to 12–0, keeping pace with the clock. It was then-NSW halfback Trent Hodkinson crossing over from a simple-looking play, stepping past a poor tackle attempt from Fonua.

It was all the Bulldogs and their lead was 18 points with less than a quarter of the match completed when Ben Roberts threw a terrible and lazy pass that was greedily gobbled by Lafai who ran 60m to score untouched.

Melbourne were being bullied and looked woefully out of sorts. Nothing was going right and the Storm’s structured play wasn’t working. Lafai scored his second try just before half time, getting on the end of a couple of offloads that broke apart the defence. Melbourne were shot and had 40 minutes left in their season.

After the break the Storm tried to force their way back into the match, but the errors from the first half kept coming through. Waqa finally broke through for Melbourne’s first try dragging in a chip kick from Cooper Cronk out to his winger. It was the first real bit of fluid play for the Storm for the day.

The movement on the scoreboard seemed to brighten both the Storm players and the AAMI Park crowd. A ridiculous ad lib play that went through multiple offloads and from sideline to sideline had Waqa cross the line again adjacent to the posts, but there was plenty to check for the video review officials. Of course they found a Melbourne knock-on that annoyed the commentators. The Storm were denied the try and really that was the end of any Melbourne comeback with the energy sucked completely out of AAMI Park.

A Slater knock-on handed the Bulldogs back the ball inside Melbourne’s half and the visitors had a potential try of their own to Corey Thompson ruled out by the officials as he lost the ball in the corner under heavy pressure from Koroibete. Melbourne’s left edge looked dangerous again minutes later when Koroibete made a break down the sideline linking up with Fonua, only for James Graham to chase down the Victorian just short of the line. It was desperate defending and the Bulldogs were lucky to keep 13 players on the field when giving up a penalty on the next play. Again though, Melbourne’s hands let them down in attack.

There was a lengthy delay during the second half when Pat O’Hanlon suffered a horrific broken leg injury that had him screaming in pain from the middle of AAMI Park. He had only been on the field for a minute and it was his last NRL match. He did play NSW Cup for the Bulldogs in 2015 and 2016, but retired after he struggled recovering from that injury.

The final 20 minutes saw the Bulldogs grind out the match with the ball and Melbourne resort to panic football. Down to 15 fit players, the visitors just kept showing up in defence to stymie Melbourne. It was a frustrating afternoon. So much so that Will Chambers decided to deck Ennis off the ball, which fair.

Lafai completed his afternoon scoring his third try of the day with five minutes left on the clock. It came from an intercept taken by Eastwood off Cronk, the big forward handing it off to the winger to score out wide, adding the exclamation point to a big Bulldogs victory. It was the third time in 2014 that Canterbury had beaten the Storm.

Melbourne bid farewell to Waqa and Ryan Hoffman (although he would famously return) following this match, and thankfully this was the last appearance in Storm colours by Ben Roberts.

Melbourne – 4 (Waqa 46' try; Chambers 0/1 goal)

Canterbury – 28 (Lafai 17', 37', 75', Eastwood 6', Hodkinson 13' tries; Hodkinson 4/5 goals)

Stat attack

Melbourne have played two previous finals matches on 12 September, winning their first meeting with the Bulldogs in the finals in 1999 and defeating Canberra in 2003.
Canterbury have won four of their 12 visits to AAMI Park, last winning in 2023.
Since the McIntyre Final Eight System was replaced in 2012, Melbourne have played in 11 qualifying finals, winning eight times. In seasons where Melbourne have finished second (2012, 2018, 2020) Melbourne have defeated the third-placed finisher twice and both times went on to win the premiership.
Third is the highest finish by the Bulldogs since they won the minor premiership in 2012. The Bulldogs haven’t won a final since they defeated the Dragons in an elimination final in 2015 that went to golden point.
Melbourne last lost three consecutive matches to end the 2022 season.
Adam Gee has held the whistle in 18 Storm matches since the start of the 2021 season with Melbourne winning 10 of those matches. This combination of referee and senior review official in the NRL Bunker had control of the previous match between these teams.

Team line-up

Nick Meaney
Will Warbrick
Grant Anderson
Joe Chan
Xavier Coates
Cameron Munster
Tyran Wishart
Stefano Utoikamanu
Harry Grant ©
Josh King
Ativalu Lisati
Eliesa Katoa
Trent Loiero
Jonah Pezet
Alec MacDonald
Tui Kamikamica
Bronson Garlick
Kane Bradley
Marion Seve
Jack Howarth
Sualauvi Fa’alogo
Lazarus Vaalepu

Referee: Adam Gee (Bunker: Ashley Klein)

Preview

Melbourne Storm vs Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
— AAMI Park, 8:00pm Friday 12 September 2025

Does any team going into the finals actually think they’re going to win the premiership this year?

Canberra’s reserves team decided to add another hurdle to their chances this year,1 adding the Scott Bailey burden when they conceded a big score against the Red Fish on the final day of the regular season. Now their talisman Josh Papali’i might be busted. Brisbane might be flying at the moment, but it is only a matter of time before Toilet regresses back to his usual rocks mode after hitting diamonds in recent weeks. They too are still missing their first choice halves combination.

Melbourne have half their spine missing this week and have lost two on the trot conceding 70 points. Canterbury also have injury issues and have lost four of their last six matches, only beating the Panthers reserves and the broken Warriors.

Known frauds Cronulla should be missing their halfback this week, but for the intervention of [redacted]. They do get back Braydon Trindall and get to play at the Swamp against the Roosters who probably think that they can win the competition still, even from eighth on the ladder, but this is a team that recently lost to Parramatta.

The Wahs are cooked. That they now face the Panthers is some bad luck, even if it’s on their home patch. The Prefects of course know they can win the entire thing and probably will. Sigh.

The veil of negativity might clear for some teams this week, but for the two qualifying final losers, it could be the dreaded #TeamStraightSets🎾 season.

Without Ryan Papenhuyzen for at least this week, Melbourne have sent Nick Meaney back to fullback. I get it. It’s probably the right call after seeing what little impact Sua Fa’alogo had in his 60 minutes for the Falcons a couple of weekends ago. Meaney’s spot in the centres could go to Joe Chan, or maybe Jack Howarth might be good to go so that Grant Anderson can take right centre inside Will Warbrick. I think I’d prefer Chan to play on the left edge in front of Ativalu Lisati, but between the three of them (Chan/Lisati/Howarth) two of them are going to have to play big minutes against a dangerous Bulldogs backline.

That Canterbury outside corps also looks a little different. Jethro Rinakama has been named, as has The Beach Boys backup Blake Wilson2… although Jacob Kiraz might yet be available. Guess we’ll know what the visitors are thinking on Thursday night when the squads are reduced to 19 players. Maybe the injury incurred by Marcelo Montoya could be a good thing for the Bulldogs given his record against the Storm. What Melbourne will have to cope with is Stephen Crichton and his roving commission in attack. He won’t be limited to just one side of the field, which will put Melbourne’s edges at high risk as he drifts into dangerous attacking positions.

Those positions include the defensive spots taken by either Tyran Wishart or Jonah Pezet, and Cameron Munster. The Broncos aimed a lot of traffic at Munster and it has been a tactic of many teams to constantly engage Munster in defence to get his head spinning (and giving away set restarts). Harry Grant will have a big role here in trying to ease the workload of his halves in defence, but also not blunting his own game in attack with too much defence. The balancing act will be difficult, especially as Bronson Garlick surely cannot be risked playing in a final. He has to make way if Howarth is available. Of the others named in the reserves — both Kane Bradley and Marion Seve won’t be featuring unless there’s further injuries. Lazarus Vaalepu at this point is also just around as injury cover.

Again, I get why Wishart is getting the start instead of Pezet. I assume plan A will be similar to the previous match against the Bulldogs three weeks ago and have Pezet come in during the second half. Whether that plan works this time though… I’m not sold. Without Jahrome Hughes though, these two have to try and conjure up three victories to win what is an increasingly unlikely seventh Storm premiership.

Watching the Bulldogs last week, Melbourne should be targeting Matt Burton who looks to be carrying some kind of leg injury at this time of the year. The visitors look strong in the forwards and the Storm middle forwards will have their hands full, especially when Sitili Tupouniua comes into the game. His impact off the bench will need to be matched by Alec MacDonald and Tui Kamikamica.

I’m still not certain how Viliame Kikau wasn’t a category 1 head injury assessment in the Bulldogs loss to the Sharks last weekend. He’ll take his place on the edge and wouldn’t surprise me if he scored a try. I would be shocked though if Harry Hayes returns from injury in time for this match, although he has been named in their reserves. There’s also been speculation that they’re about to drop Reed Mahoney for Toby Sexton, which doesn’t spark much confidence that they know what they’re doing at the Bulldogs. Strangely though, that makes them more dangerous to me.

As such, I’m expecting the worst come Friday night. Melbourne are teetering and the Broncos showed how to (legally or not) counteract Xavier Coates and Will Warbrick when the Storm have to resort to kicking to the corners in attack. Without Hughes and Papenhuyzen, Melbourne’s vulnerabilities are exposed. While the return of Grant should shore things up, especially in defence, it could be that points are at a premium. Melbourne’s attack has looked clunky at times, especially over the second half of the season. Scoring 20+ points will be needed to win (if Melbourne’s defence can stop the Bulldogs, if it can’t then 30+ might be needed) and it may just be too big a hurdle.

A loss here for the Storm and tennis season comes early to Melbourne. Penrith will be eliminating Melbourne in straight sets. A win though and the loser of the Raiders versus Broncos qualifying final should feel confident in ruining the September long weekend here in Victoria.3 As it currently stands two finals wins seems beyond this Storm roster, let alone three. It might be that one is the hardest right now.

What else is going on?

The Jersey Flegg Cup finals are in their second weekend which sees Melbourne resume as the minor premiers take on second-placed Cronulla at the Lilyfield Rectangle on Saturday morning (kickoff 11am). The Sharks got over the Raiders last weekend to qualify for this semi final, with the winner heading straight through to the Grand Final in a fortnight. The other semi finals sees Canberra up against Penrith at the same venue later that afternoon.

In their only meeting this season, Melbourne defeated Cronulla 42–18 at Seabrook Reserve back in June. It was a dominate second half performance on that day after leading 14–0 at half time. Cronulla have won their past three matches (including last week), with their only loss against the Eels back in mid-August since July.