Melbourne Storm's 2014 season has come to a close, losing 4-28 to the Bulldogs at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.
A four try, first half onslaught from the visitors left Melbourne with too large a deficit to overturn in the second half with Storm struggling to find their usual cohesion in attack.
Canterbury jumped Melbourne out of the blocks with their intensity in attack troubling the Storm defence.
Greg Eastwood opened the scoring, capitalising on some indecision at the back after six minutes of play. From there, the home side struggled to hold out the Canterbury onslaught with the Bulldogs finding quick play the balls and plenty of space on a sun bathed AAMI Park.
With Melbourne unable to capitalise on a couple of short, sustained periods of pressure, three more unanswered Bulldogs tries followed.
Hodkinson found the try-line as did Tim Lafai on two occasions with the centre's second coming just three minutes before half-tim to hand the Bulldogs a formidable 24-point lead at the break.
A brighter start to the second half saw Storm open their account for the afternoon with a precise Cooper Cronk kick finding Fijian Flyer Sisa Waqa on the right wing. Making slight inroads, the 19,230 strong crowd found voice and got behind their side with Storm gaining momentum.
However, for the most part the Canterbury defence held strong, consigning Melbourne to an early exit in season 2014.
Melbourne Storm 4
Tries: Sisa Waqa 46m
Goals:
Canterbury Bulldogs 28
Tries: Greg Eastwood 6m, Trent Hodkinson 13m, Tim Lafai 17m, Tim Lafai 37m, Tim Lafai 75m
Goals: Trent Hodkinson 4
