Melbourne demolish injury-hit Bulldogs
Evergreen Matt Geyer scored his first two tries of the NRL season as Melbourne put the injury-ravaged Bulldogs to the sword on Saturday night, winning 46-0 at Olympic Park.
Melbourne had seven different try-scorers, while skipper Cameron Smith compiled an 18-point haul, including his first try of 2008 and seven conversions.
The Dogs were unable to consider 11 regular first-graders due to injury and were forced to make five personnel changes from the original team named on Tuesday.
"We were just outgunned by a pretty good side and when that happens you don't tend to get too many of the calls and the bounces," said Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes.
"A few things challenged us.
"Obviously the injuries from last week, the four-day turnaround, we had to get on a plane and travel.
"I think the NRL needs to look at that.
"... we had a lot of young guys - three guys debuted in first grade for us tonight and against a side like Melbourne that makes it really difficult."
The Storm also had a serious fitness concern of their own, with centre Will Chambers ruled out for the season after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee at training on Friday night.
The Bulldogs actually made a solid start, with winger Heka Nanai bundled into touch by Melbourne fullback Billy Slater near the left corner post in the sixth minute.
But once Smith powered over from dummy half in the 13th minute, the result had a sense of inevitability about it.
The most popular of Melbourne's first-half tries came from the club's leading goalscorer Geyer, who started tonight in place of Chambers.
He took a pass from a flying Slater to score in the 24th minute.
Israel Folau, Steve Turner and Jeremy Smith also scored tries in the opening half as the Storm led 28-0 at the interval.
The Bulldogs stepped up the defensive intensity from early in the second half, conceding only three further tries to Michael Crocker, Geyer and Cooper Cronk.
Geyer, the Storm's only remaining foundation player, has now scored 107 tries for the club, 30 more than the second-placed Slater on the club's all-time list.
While pleased with the performance, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was unhappy the Storm were again penalised several times in the opening minutes by referee Shayne Hayne.
"We always seem to get hammered early in the game when we get that particular referee," said Bellamy.
"That would have given (the Bulldogs) a bit of confidence.
"They defended well and for us to come back and put some points on there before halftime after soaking up that sort of pressure, I thought was a really good effort.
"Our attack was better tonight than it has been, but I'm not sure how well the Bulldogs defended."
The knee injury to Chambers leaves Melbourne desperately short of backs during the Origin period, with Slater, Folau and Greg Inglis (all Queensland) and Anthony Quinn (NSW) all required for the interstate series.
The injury occurred during the final minutes of Friday night's training session, with Chambers landing awkwardly after fielding a high kick.
He will see a specialist on Sunday and is expected to undergo a reconstruction next week.
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