24 Feb 2014

Dogs grind out NRL trial win over Storm

7:41 am on 24 February 2014

The Bulldogs finished their NRL pre-season with a grinding 20-10 victory over Melbourne Storm which has left centre Krisnan Inu nursing a jaw injury.

Despite being their own worst enemy with some poor handling, Canterbury scored four tries to two in front of 10,083 Brisbane fans at Suncorp Stadium.

Rubbing salt into the Storm's wounds, halfback Ben Roberts was placed on report for a dangerous lifting tackle on Sam Perrett and may be in doubt for their round one clash with Manly at Brookvale Oval on Saturday week.

Adding injury to insult for the Storm, lock Ryan Hinchcliffe limped off with a left leg problem in the second half after falling awkwardly in a James Graham tackle.

There were concerns Bulldogs winger Inu broke his jaw in a head clash with Hymel Hunt but he returned to the sidelines just before full-time to suggest he may be available for their season-opener against Brisbane.

Inu had been a contender to play fullback but Sam Perrett started there in a sign he has won the hotly-contested battle to wear the Bulldogs No.1 jersey.

Last night the Warriors crushed the Brisbane Broncos 48-4 in their final pre-season match in Dunedin.