Bulldogs trounce Melbourne in NRL
After racing to 12-0 halftime lead, the Bulldogs ran in eight tries to down the reigning champions.
SYDNEY (AP) - The Bulldogs pounced on a Melbourne team weakened by State of Origin commitments to win a replay of last year s grand final 39-0 on Sunday, reviving their bid for a top-four finish in Australia s National Rugby League.
After racing to a 12-0 halftime lead, the Bulldogs ran in eight tries to down the reigning champions who were without State of Origin stars Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Ryan Hoffman. Melbourne was held scoreless for the first time since its grand final loss to Manly in 2008.
Sam Perrett bagged a hat-trick of tries and fellow winger Mitch Brown scored a double to help improve the points differential of a Bulldogs side that moved up to eighth place after the tournament s 18th round.
In a round shortened because of Wednesday s State of Origin clash between Queensland and New South Wales, Cronulla pipped Brisbane 19-18 and Penrith beat Parramatta 17-10. North Queensland hosts Manly on Monday.
The Bulldogs were missing only center Josh Morris to Wednesday s Origin match, though forwards Sam Kasiano and Frank Pritchard were absent through injury. Josh Reynolds rejoined the lineup after being released by New South Wales on Friday and played a key role, kicking a 40-20 that set up Perrett s opening try.
Further tries to Brown and Tim Lafai lifted the Bulldogs to a 12-0 lead at halftime, giving them the platform and the confidence to run at Melbourne throughout the second half.
Perrett scored his second from an intercept at the start of the second spell and as the Bulldogs increased the pressure on Melbourne, tries followed to Tony Williams, Brown, Perrett and to Ben Barba. Trent Hodkinson kicked a fieldgoal from the last play of the game but missed five of eight other kicks at goal.
Todd Carney marked his 150th game for Cronulla by playing a starring role from five-eighth in the Sharks 19-18 win over the Broncos. Carney had a hand in all three of Cronulla s tries and kicked the second-half field goal that separated the teams.
After a scoreless first half, Cronulla took the lead with a try to Josh Hoffman. Carney then asserted his control, creating tries for Michael Gordon and Jayson Bukuya.
Sosaia Feki added Cronulla s last try when Brisbane fullback Corey Norman spilled a Carney bomb and Carney added the crucial field goal which allowed the Sharks to weather a Brisbane rally.
Late tries to teenager Corey Oates and Jordon Kahu raised Brisbane s hopes of a come-from-behind win but the comeback fell just short.
Carney said he felt he was coming into top form as the playoffs approach.
"Last year, heading into finals time I had a few injuries and my form started dropping off," he said. "Hopefully this is the game I needed to spark the final run home for the year."
Halfback Luke Walsh, who has been released from the last year of his contract with Penrith, gave his team a taste of what they will be missing when he played a leading role in their 17-10 win over Parramatta.
Walsh s 40-20 set up David Simmons opening try and his pin-point chip kick made another try for the winger in the second half. He then helped Penrith suppress a Parramatta comeback when, after giving up a try through an intercept by Luke Kelly, he kicked a field goal two minutes from fulltime.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary admired Walsh s performance but said he couldn t regret his decision to release the talented player.
"You ve got to make decisions and I think both parties have come to an agreement and it s best just to move forward," Cleary said.
Parramatta coach Ricky Stuart identified Walsh as the difference between the teams.
"You look at Luke Walsh tonight if we didn t play against such a good kicking game, we probably win the game there tonight," Stuart said.
