NRL Round 6 2024: Melbourne Storm win 16-14 over Bulldogs despite Josh Addo-Carr hat-trick
Melbourne have secured yet another last-minute victory, denying the Bulldogs one of the upsets of the season, after a stunning Josh Addo-Carr hat-trick threatened to steal the game away.
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The showmanship of Storm winger Xavier Coates never ceases to amaze as Melbourne overcame a gutsy Canterbury Bulldogs 16-14 at AAMI Park on Friday night.
A hat-trick of tries to Bulldogs winger Josh Addo-Carr threatened to steal the game away from the Storm, but the home side found a matchwinning try through forward Shawn Blore.
It was Blore’s first try with the Storm since crossing from the Wests Tigers and the biggest moment of his career to date.
Coates backed up his miracle try in the win over the Warriors with a stupendous first half try assist against the Bulldogs to be the stand out for the Storm.
The Bulldogs went from careless and scoreless in the first half to taking the game by the scruff of the neck with 14 consecutive points to start the second half.
Addo-Carr was superb with three tries and 243 run metres, while Jacob Kiraz was magnificent with 307 run metres.
But the Storm – or the cardiac kids – found a way to win after trailing with 10 minutes to go for the third time at home this season.
They improved to 4-1 and made it 13 straight wins at home, but this was stealing victory from the jaws of defeat, while the Bulldogs will rue the one that got away as they slumped to 2-4.
When fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen executed a smart one-on-one strip on Bulldogs forward Josh Curran, the Storm machine got rolling.
Papenhuyzen’s strip was the catalyst to the Storm’s opening try of the game where he burrowed under two Bulldogs defenders to score after just two minutes.
The concession of an early try didn’t dent the Bulldogs confidence, who, despite their carelessness with the ball, continued to threaten with Addo-Carr, Bronsox Xerri and Kiraz prominent.
COATES STUNNER
The freakish skills of Storm winger Xavier Coates were on show again.
Coates showed his strength to extricate himself from a Kiraz tackle, who was trying to force him into touch, somehow managing to grubber a kick in for Storm centre Reimis Smith to slide in to score.
It was Smith’s first try against his former team and it put the Storm up 10-0 after 23 minutes.
Coates then had the Storm fans to their feet again when he detonated a Bulldogs bomb and went on a threatening 50-metre run.
As if to show his two-way capabilities, Coates almost split Bulldogs winger Connor Tracey in half with bone rattling tackle on two occasions, the second ensuring the ball spilt free with the Dogs in a threatening position.
DOGS DOMINANCE
The Bulldogs were back within striking distance, down 10-6, when Xerri showed his turn of foot to accelerate away from Storm’s Nick Meaney and set Addo-Carr off on a 60 metre run for a try, which came on the back of some superb Kiraz recovery play at the back.
Dogs forward Sam Hughes had a brain fade, landing a forearm with force on Storm’s Christian Welch and getting 10 minutes in the bin as a result.
It would soon be 12-on-12 when Papenhuyzen illegally pushed Stephen Crichton and the Bulldogs liked those numbers with Addo-Carr scoring on the next play to tie it up.
The Bulldogs dominance continued and when Burton produced a Harbour Bridge pass to Addo-Carr for his third try, the visitors were up 14-10.
After conceding 14 consecutive points, Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes said enough is enough, going on a mazy run to set up Shawn Blore for his first try at the Storm before Nick Meaney added the extras to seal the win.
NELSON LOOMS
Storm forward Tui Kamikamica succumbed to a calf injury just four minutes in.
Kamikamica has led the way in the Storm’s forward pack this season with Nelson Asofa-Solomona working his way back from pre-season hamstring injuries.
If the 29-year-old is to miss time with the injury, it may pave the way for the return of Asofa-Solomona to the Storm line-up against the Roosters away on Thursday night.
NRL SCOREBOARD
Melbourne Storm 16
Tries: Papenhuyzen, Smith, Blore.
Goals: Meaney 2/3.
Canterbury Bulldogs 14
Tries: Addo-Carr 3.
Goals: Burton 1/3.
Crowd: 16,065 at AAMI Park, Melbourne.
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