The Canterbury- Bankstown Bulldogs have gone down to the Melbourne Storm, 6-12 in the second NRL match of the 2017 season at Belmore Sports Ground.
The sides played through torrential rain and both teams remained scoreless in the second half.
Belmore Sports Ground is not looking positive for the Bulldogs as this is the fourth consecutive game they’ve lost at home.
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Acceptable crowd for weather conditions
The total crowd for the match was 8712, which I think is incredible. Unless you were at the game you would not be able to comprehend how torrential the rain was. The atmosphere was brilliant and I am impressed there was actually that many fans in which decided to show up for the earlier time slot match. It will be interesting to see how many fans show up for 6pm time slot as I really enjoyed the earlier start especially as I was home by 10pm not leaving the ground at 10pm…
Also there was another Sydney game on at ANZ and the Sydney FC at Allianz on the same night, which would’ve been a huge reason as to the lower crowd numbers.
The earlier time slot was a terrific decision as the rain decided to rain at the end of the second half. Whether we started later the rain would’ve been horrendous in the middle of the game.
Everything happens for a reason and the earlier starting time was definitely a positive factor with the rain pouring down in the second half.
The one to watch: Melbourne Storm’s Winger Josh Addo-Carr
His freak-of-nature talent was exposed in the first round of the season and he will make a huge impact for the Melbourne Storm during the 2017 season.
Addo-Carr’s started the game strongly and contributed his speed into the game, giving the Storm momentum to allow them to go on and score two tries in the game. He ran a total of 202 metres which was the most metres run from a Melbourne Storm player and also made two line breaks.
His side continued their incredible record and went on to make this their 13th consecutive win in round one of their season.
Should Des shuffle around his halves combination?
Moses Mbye and Josh Reynolds were in the halves for the Bulldogs and it took them 30 minutes into the game to gel. Josh Reynolds was exceptional in the blue and white especially being the only try scorer of the night after an outstanding one handed pick up and brilliant pace to make metres for his side.
This is Moses Mbye’s second year in number six with Reynolds after taking over from Trent Hodkinson. He was very quiet against the Storm and hopefully will build a kicking game alongside his halves partner, Josh Reynolds to set up the Bulldogs for more tries throughout the season.
The second half was impressive from both halves especially with the conditions but if the kicking game improves, it should make a huge impact for the dogs.
Admiration can be taken from Moses Mbye willing to have the responsibility in the number seven jersey but personally if I was Des Hasler I would shuffle Will Hopoate into winger, Moses Mbye into fullback and Kerrod Holland into halfback.
Two Players Sin-binned appropriately
Bulldogs Sam Kasiano and Storm’s … Will Chambers were sin- binned in the 36th minute after punches were thrown. It good to see the referees not afraid to use the sin-bin as both players were in the wrong.
Suliasi Vunivalu was also filmed throwing punches and was lucky to escape from getting 10 in the bin but I am impressed the referee’s didn’t hesitate as punches should not be tolerated in the game of NRL.
The sin-bin is there to uphold the integrity of the game which the referees successfully did last night.
Final Score
Canterbury- Bankstown Bulldogs: 6 ( Josh Reynolds Try; Kerrod Holland 1/1 Goal)
Melbourne Storm: 12 (Tries: Cheyse Blair, Suliasi Vunivalu; Cameron Smith 2/2 Goals)
Nothing But League’s Man Of The Match: Josh Addo-Carr
