Match Details
Match Date	2nd Jul, 2005
Opponent	Melbourne
Result	Loss 6-33
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Tony Grimaldi
Venue	Sydney Showground Homebush
Crowd	7,414
Referee	Sean Hampstead

The Bulldogs mini mid-season resurgence came to a shuddering halt on Saturday night as the Melbourne Storm came home strongly to beat the reigning premiers 33-6 in their NRL clash at the Sydney Showground.

Centre Greg Inglis and Queensland reject Billy Slater each scored doubles as the Storm made sure they remained in the top eight, while the Bulldogs continue to sit on the fringe of the playoffs with their first loss in four weeks.

Benefiting from a dropped ball from Bulldogs second rower Nate Myles on the first play after a penalty, the Storm took the ball 70 metres downfield to take an unexpected 6-0 lead after two minutes.

On the back of several strong surges down the ground from his fellow forwards, back rower Glen Turner did well to get the ball to a flying Inglis despite the attention of two defenders.

Inglis, who started in the centres in place of NSW representative Matt King, did the rest on a simple run to the line, with Matt Orford adding the extras from out wide.

Neither side could gain any sort of advantage with both teams guilty of plenty of dropped ball.

But the Bulldogs were finally able to put together back-to-back sets on the Storm line courtesy of a penalty for an indiscretion in the play the ball, and they took advantage with a try to Cameron Phelps in the 15th minute which locked up the scores.

The Storm took a 10-6 lead thanks to a couple of Orford penalty goals, but they landed a killer blow two minutes out from the break when Inglis scored his second of the night as he reefed the ball out of the hands of Hazem El-Masri as the two leapt to take a bomb on the Bulldogs line.

The Bulldogs had their chances to get back into the game after the break, but a lack of execution at crucial stages put a stop to several try-scoring movements.

Jammal Lolesi should have gone over in the 55th minute only for a Matt Utai pass to go sailing over the sideline, while hooker Adam Brideson dropped the ball as he reached out to score after the Storm had been reduced to 12 men when David Kidwell wad sin-binned for repeated infringements in the play the ball area.

But the one-man disadvantage didn't seem to hinder the Storm, as they sealed the match with two tries in the space of three minutes.

Turner scored the first, off a beautiful Orford pick-up and pass, and Slater the second after outpacing the Bulldogs defence in a 40m run to the line to make it 26-6 with eight minutes remaining.

The Storm didn't take the foot off the accelerator their though, with an Orford field goal and another Slater four-pointer blowing out the margin to 27-points.

Source: AAP

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