NRL Round 4 2022: Bulldogs ‘embarrassed’ by defensive effort in heavy loss to Storm
After three rounds of promise, the Bulldogs returned to the dark, old days of the past two seasons with their meek capitulation against Storm - but it could have been so different.
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Canterbury captain Josh Jackson said his team’s defence was “embarrassing” as Melbourne ran in eight unanswered tries in a 44-0 demolition at AAMI Park.
And coach Trent Barrett lashed the Bulldogs’ inability to cash in on their early chances, setting in train a string of lapses that put in the shade gutsy efforts in each of the first three rounds.
“We had a lot of the ball early there and (throughout) the first half and we needed to come away with some points in that first 15 minutes,’ Barrett said.
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“That’ll take some pressure off your defence and give our side a bit of confidence, but … we didn’t take our chances and they did.”
Melbourne led 16-0 at halftime despite having only 39 per cent of possession, but the Storm made the Dogs pay for all their errors, including two end-to-end tries when the visitors were on the attack.
“Two long-range range tries off the back of our attack and then defensively, some poor decisions under pressure when they were tired,” Barrett said.
“We’ve been up for three weeks but we got found out today.
“Our attack has been an issue for a while and we created some chances on that left side, but just our execution was poor and you can’t do that.
“You want to build a little bit of pressure against good teams, you’ve got to take your opportunities when they present themselves.
“We had a number of them (chances), so then that puts a lot of pressure on your defence, but some of our defensive reads (and) defensive decisions under pressure weren’t good enough.”
Jackson was clearly flattened by not only the scoreline but the way the Dogs capitulated when the Storm got more ball in the second half.
“I think we’re trying to score off every play whereas we need to build and be a little bit more patient, particularly against a team like Melbourne,” he said.
“It takes more than one or two plays to beat them.
“I think there’s a lack of cohesion. We always knew it was gonna take a little bit of time … but defensively, we’re embarrassed by that tonight.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Pap attack makes mockery of lopsided stats
For those who despise stats, the Storm and Bulldogs gave you all the data you’ll ever need in an AAMI Park blowout.
Melbourne, after three tight contests to open the 2022 season, made a complete mockery of the numbers to rout Canterbury-Bankstown 44-0 to leap to second on the NRL ladder with a four-try Ryan Papenhuyzen master class.
By half-time, and undeservedly trailing 16-0, the Dogs had enjoyed a staggering 61 per cent of possession.
And until the floodgates burst open with three long-range Storm tries midway through the second half, the Bulldogs had actually forced the hosts to make 32 defensive “red-zone” tackles compared to 10 for the blue and white.
But rugby league, blissfully for Storm supporters, has never been played on paper.
Papenhuyzen, robbed of so much of his 2021 campaign while suffering concussion symptoms after his dazzling season start, took his game to new heights, scoring 28 individual points, the second most of any Storm player behind Matt Geyer’s 34 against Western Suburbs in 1999.
It was the long-haired fullback’s third NRL hat-trick and second time he’s scored four tries in a match.
But in the first 10 minutes, there was absolutely no sign of what lay ahead given the Storm hadn’t had a meaningful touch in the Bulldogs’ half.
But they made the visitors pay immediately.
The hard running and vision of Jahrome Hughes behind the ruck gave Storm an extra number on the right and Xavier Coates the chance to test the man he replaced at AAMI Park, Josh Addo-Carr.
And the former Bronco took great delight in fending off Addo-Carr with his left hand and keeping his right free to return a pass to the fleet-footed Papenhuyzen, who showed great discipline — with Jake Averillo hanging on — not to promote the ball and let himself slide over to open the scoring.
The second Storm try came after the home team absorbed another spell of Bulldogs dominance. But again, the counter-punch proved too much to handle, even if it was laced with luck.
A shallow, low Harry Grant kick on the last tackle ricocheted unintentionally to lock Josh King who was lurking near the uprights.
The former Knight almost sat down facing the wrong way to gather the ball bouncing marginally away from the line and then pivoted forward just far enough to reach the line.
It was great reward for King, who in his first month with Melbourne, has already begun to earn a reputation for his smart positional play and commitment in defence.
And by the time Kenny Bromwich cashed in on the left, the Dogs’ papers were as good as signed.
The Dogs had tried desperately but in vain to score, with only some stout Melbourne goal-line defence keeping them at bay.
While coach Craig Bellamy will doubtless be delighted with the 44 points, he’d be even happier with the duck egg for the visitors, perhaps highlighted by an amazing scramble in the 15th minute to keep hooker Jeremy Marshall-King out.
The Dogs’ efforts, though, fell apart when Hughes trapped a Matt Burton kick 10m from his own line, then proceeded to run 70m himself before offloading to Papenhuyzen for his second.
From there, Coates and even Felise Kaufusi cashed in on long-distance raids as the Dogs crumbled.
TUNE IN, DROPOUT
The Bulldogs reacted well tactically to a “new-ish” tactic by the Storm on line dropouts, one that might become more common as the bond between Papenhuyzen and Coates grows.
Instead of simply roosting the drop-kick as deep as possible on the restart, Papenhuyzen played a sand wedge to about 13m from his line in a bid to have Coates soar and reclaim possession.
It worked perfectly the first time, but later in the first half, using something of a screen from Corey Waddell on Coates’ path to the ball, Bulldogs centre Jake Averillo leapt to take the kick and almost scored himself.
REMEMBER WHEN?
Josh Addo-Carr, for so long a crowd favourite on the left wing at AAMI Park, was well received by his former home crowd.
But the “Fox” himself, still yet to score a try for his new team in season 2022, must have had his eyes opened to just how good his old mates are in their sliding defence.
Addo Carr’s eyes lit up when he was the on the end of a good backline movement in the eighth minute that seemingly gave him a clear path to the corner flag he once owned.
But he’d barely hit top gear when Papenhuyzen and Hughes slid perfectly into place to halt their long-time mate in his tracks.
And at no stage subsequently was Addo-Carr given any freebies, including being on the wrong end of the Storm’s opening scoring raid just minutes later.
Originally published as NRL Round 4 2022: Bulldogs ‘embarrassed’ by defensive effort in heavy loss to Storm
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