The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs will host the Melbourne Storm at Belmore Sports Ground at 6pm AEST for Friday night football. These two sides will go head to head in the second game of the 2017 season.
Brenko Lee, the former Canberra Raiders centre will be making his debut for the Bulldogs and Will Chambers will play his 150th NRL game.
LAST TIME OUT
These two sides went head to head in a trial match only two weeks ago on the 18th of February where the Bulldogs defeated the Storm by four points.
The Storm was able to come back in the second half to close the margin but missed out on victory by four points. The dogs had terrific defence and ensured to read the play of the Storm.
Within the 2016 NRL season, these two teams played each other in round 6 and the Bulldogs pulled off the win away from home at AAMI Park 18-12.
KEY BATTLE
The key battle will be between wingers, Kerrod Holland (Bulldogs) and Josh Addo-Carr (Storm). Both impressed for their side in the trial match assisting with adding points through tries and conversions but both will be under immense pressure to perform in the first game. Josh Addo Carr is expected to make his debut for the Melbourne Storm and will be looking to make an impact in his first game.
The wingers have a crucial role finishing up the job of the forwards and halves so both Holland and Addo-Carr will be looking to at least score one try and/or assist with adding the points for their side.
PREDICTION
The Storm have a lot of new kids on the block and with the shuffle of the side, I believe it will take a couple of rounds before they move on from losing the grand final last year and play as a team. If the Bulldogs can defend for the full 80 minutes and control the game as they have shown in their past two consecutive victories against the Storm, I think they will be able to pull off a win in front of a home crowd by eight points.
SQUADS
Canterbury Bulldogs v Melbourne Storm at Belmore Sports Ground, 6pm (AEDT) Friday
Bulldogs: 1. William Hopoate 2. Brett Morris 3. Josh Morris 4. Brenko Lee 5. Kerrod Holland 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Moses Mbye 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Michael Lichaa 10. James Graham 11. Josh Jackson 12. Greg Eastwood 13. David Klemmer 14. Sam Kasiano 15. Danny Fualalo 16. Adam Elliot 17. Raymond Faitala-Mariner 19. Francis Tualau 20. Matt Frawley 21. Brad Abbey 23. Craig Garvey
Storm: 1. Young Tonumaipea 2. Suliasi Vunivalu 3. William Chambers 4. Cheyse Blair 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Cameron Munster 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Cameron Smith 10. Jordan McLean 11. Felise Kaufusi 12. Kenneath Bromwich 13. Dale Finucane 14. Christian Welch 15. Tim Glasby 16. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 17. Brodie Croft 18. Vincent Leuluai 19. Curtis Scott 20. Ryley Jacks 21. Joe Stimson
