Billy Slater cleared of mid-air kick following Melbourne Storm's 22-18 win against Canterbury Bulldogs

UPDATE: THE NRL have gone to the unusual length of releasing a statement to explain why Billy Slater was not charged for kicking. VIDEO

THE NRL have gone to the unusual length of releasing a statement to explain why Billy Slater was not charged for kicking David Klemmer in the head during last night's clash against the Bulldogs.

Slater was this morning cleared of any wrongdoing by the Match Review Committee, who deemed the Melbourne superstar's feet came into contact with Klemmer accidentally as he leapt for a bomb.

The NRL later released a statement, stating: "Whilst on first view it was an incident of concern, the Match Review Committee found that player Slater was in the air competing for the ball when contact was made between his foot and the neck of player Klemmer, who was not contesting the ball.

"In our opinion the contact was accidental and player Slater did not breach his duty of care. We did not view the contact as careless.

"A player from the defending team is entitled to contest the ball in the air under the assumption he will land before an opposition player attempts to tackle him."

Melbourne won the grand final rematch 22-18 in what ended up a tense game, but the incident allowed the Bulldogs to roar back into the match before the Storm machine clicked into gear to take a 22-6 lead. In their second comeback, the Dogs then took the game to the wire in the final minute.

Slater tried to play down the incident after the match.

"I have to have a look at it," he told Channel 9.

"I just go up for footy and try to protect myself as best I can.

"What they (the referees) saw in it, I'm not sure."

On-field referee Ben Cummins said at the time: "What you've done is kick him going through the air, that was an act of prior foul play."

Fair or foul? What the rules say

Storm captain Cameron Smith thought the Storm deserved the penalty, because Slater had been tackled in mid-air.

"But you're not allowed to make contact with Billy when he's in the air," the angry skipper said.

He added later that the decision to penalise Slater and put him on report was "mystifying''.

"The instruction I was given was Bill touched him first. But you are not allowed to touch players in the air,'' he said.

"Bill has been going up for high balls like that for as long as I can remember. It was unintentional by Bill.

"Klemmer put himself in that position, and he hit Bill in the air.''

Slater

Bellamy also claimed Klemmer should not have touched Slater at all.

"What's Billy supposed to do with his foot ... is it supposed to disappear?'' Bellamy said.

"If he's off the ground, he's not to be touched.

"Our catchers are supposed to be protected. If they are in the air, you can't touch them.

"It was a huge call. He's protected himself and he's the one that gets penalised. I don't understand that.''

Having trailed 10-0 at half-time, the incident dragged the Bulldogs straight back into the game with winger Sam Perrett scoring from a perfectly placed cross-field kick from five-eighth Josh Reynolds.

The Storm appeared to hit back in the 59th minute when Cooper Cronk scored, but the video referee ruled prop Bryan Norrie had obstructed - ever so slightly - Martin Taupau in back play.

Four minutes later, they had their try when winger Matt Duffie soared through the air and latched onto a perfectly weighted Cronk kick.

Smith's conversion from out wide extended the lead to 16-6.

Another try to Lagi Setu minutes later seemed to bury the result, before tries to centre Krisnan Inu and another to halfback Kris Keating with four minutes remaining brought them back to 22-18.

Eastwood

While the Bulldogs had shown plenty of heart to drag themselves back into the contest, they will now surely be sweating on the return of troubled fullback Ben Barba for the Good Friday clash with South Sydney at ANZ Stadium.

Despite the Dogs' bravery and character, they need the reigning Dally M Player of the Year.

For the first 20 minutes, they had bravely ripped into last year's grand final combatants, and not unexpectedly.

No Barba. No Frank Pritchard or Sam Kasiano. No James Graham. The absence of those players, though, does not mean the sense of pride Hasler has instilled has also departed.

Had it not been for Slater, they could've scored - twice.

Lock Greg Eastwood broke through the Storm's usually impenetrable defensive line, before Slater knocked down the pass, preventing Reynolds from scoring.

Shortly after, Slater's loose pass to Duffie was sucked up by Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman, but Slater was again right there to knock down the last pass.

On both occasions, the blown opportunities prompted Hasler into a familiar scene: ripping off his headphones in the coach's box and pounding them into the desk.

In every sense, it was frustrating.

The key difference between the grand finalists was right there, in the attacking 20m zone, each time the points were there to be scored.

When the Bulldogs were within striking range, they offered very little, in much the same manner as their patchy win over Parramatta a week ago.

Fonua

Presented with the same field position, the Storm struck with signature potency.

In the 22nd minute, it came from halfback Cooper Cronk.

He ran to the line, drifting to the right but directly too, double pumped and then delivered the perfect ball to lock Ryan Hinchcliffe, who charged over for the first point of the match.

The Storm's second try of the half was not so straightforward.

They gained possession after Drury Low had coughed up possession on his own 30m while trying to clean up a Storm kick.

From the scrum, the Melbourne machine knew what was required, sweeping to the left to Mahe Fonua, who managed to keep his legs in the air as he went over the sideline to score.

MELBOURNE 22 (M Duffie M Fonua R Hinchcliffe L Setu tries C Smith 3 goals) bt BULLDOGS 18 (K Inu K Keating S Perrett tries K Inu 3 goals) at AAMI Park. Referee: Ben Cummins, Chris James.

Thursday Night Football

RE-LIVE THE ACTION WITH THE ROLLING COVERAGE

9.49pm AEDT - Melbourne win 22-18

The Melbourne Storm have kept their undefeated start to the season intact with a 22-18 win against the Bulldogs at AAMI Park.

Fullback Billy Slater could be in trouble, however, for a mid-air boot that landed in the face of Bulldogs prop David Klemmer.

The Storm also had to fend off a spirited Canterbury fightback, with the visitors scoring two tries in the last 10 minutes to set up a tense finish.

9.46pm AEDT - Doggies fighting back

The Bulldogs have pulled it back to 22-18 through tries to Krisnan Inu and Kris Keating.

Five minutes to go...

9.35pm AEDT - Setu extends Storm's lead

Storm look to be running away with it now, opening up a 22-6 lead through a try to Lagi Setu.

9.32pm AEDT - Duffie flies high

There aren't many players more dangerous in the air in the NRL than Matt Duffie.

He's shown it again, flying high to score in the corner as the Storm opened up a 14-6 lead after 63 minutes.

9.10pm AEDT - Slater on report for foul play

Storm fullback Billy Slater was put on report for foul play after flying up to catch a bomb and kicking at Bulldogs prop Dave Klemmer's head in mid-air.

It'll be a talking point for a while, this one.

Meanwhile, the Dogs have hit back through Sam Perrett.

Storm lead 10-6 after 45 minutes.

8.45pm AEDT - Fonua scores in the corner

Mahe Fonua has looked threatening tonight and the reward has come, diving over in the corner to make it 10-0 to the Storm after 36 minutes.

8.30pm AEDT - Hinchcliffe goes over

The Storm are the first to cross, with Ryan Hinchcliffe cutting back in with an angled run close to the line to dive over under the posts.

Cam Smith adds the extras and Storm lead 6-0 after 23 minutes.

8.25pm AEDT - CRUNCHING hit from Eastwood

Bulldogs lock Greg Eastwood has just about cut Matt Duffie in half with a a heck of a hit.

Eastwood

8.15pm AEDT - Dogs in the Storm's face early

No score after 10 minutes but the Doggies have been right in the face of the Storm, who look a little disjointed by their standards early.

There was however a clever little moment where Cooper Cronk chipped for Mohe Fanua on the left but the winger knocked on while on the charge courtesy of a desperate lunge from Sam Perrett.

7.05pm AEDT - No changes for either team

Both the Storm and the Bulldogs are 1-17, with no changes to the lineups named on Tuesday.

Junior Sa'u makes his debut for Melbourne in the centres, while Maurice Blair drops off the extended bench.

Tim Lafai also drops off for the Bulldogs.

STORM: Billy Slater, Matt Duffie, Will Chambers, Junior Sa'u, Mahe Fonua, Gareth Widdop, Cooper Cronk, Jesse Bromwich, Cameron Smith (c), Bryan Norrie, Tohu Harris, Ryan Hoffman, Ryan Hinchcliffe. Interchange: Jason Ryles, Lagi Setu, Slade Griffin, Junior Moors.

BULLDOGS: Drury Low, Mitch Brown, Josh Morris, Krisnan Inu, Sam Perrett, Josh Reynolds, Kris Keating, Aiden Tolman, Michael Ennis (c), Martin Taupau, Tony Williams, Josh Jackson, Greg Eastwood. Interchange: Dene Halatau, Dale Finucane, David Klemmer, Tim Browne.

MATCH CENTRE: LIVE SCORES, STATS, SUPERCOACH POINTS AND MORE

CAN anybody stop the Melbourne Storm?

The start of the season was supposed to be a brutal period for the premiers, having had to recover from a trip to the UK for the World Club Challenge, travel to North Queensland in round two and then back it up again tonight just five days later.

But Craig Bellamy's men have dominated, slaying the Dragons 30-10 in the opener and destroying the Cowboys - many pundits' tip for a grand final spot - 32-10 up there on their own turf.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, have had to deal with the much publicised suspension of Ben Barba and the hype surrounding his return - likely next week against the Bunnies - as well as injuries to key men Frank Pritchard and Sam Kasiano and a lengthy suspension to James Graham for biting Billy Slater when these two sides met in last year's decider.

The odds are stacked against the Doggies. But this is a Des Hasler-coached team we're talking about.

Forget about the weather!! Make sure u get out to AAMI Park to celebrate @ryanhoffman12's 200th NRL/STORM game tonight. #purplepride

— Cameron Smith (@camsmith9) March 21, 2013