Melbourne Storm beat Canterbury Bulldogs in NRL Grand Final

Melbourne Storm have won the 2012 NRL Premiership, defeating the Canterbury Bulldogs 14-4 at ANZ Stadium.

Scoring first in front of a blue-clad crowd of 82,976, Ryan Hoffman silenced the locals when he tumbled over the try line.

But it wasn’t long before the Bulldogs got on the board through Sam Perrett diving on a Krisnan Inu grubber on the wing.

Following the try an ugly melee erupted after Canterbury’s David Stagg held Billy Slater in a headlock, leading the Maroons fullback to retaliate as a swarm of players joined in with separate scuffles. Despite claims that English forward James Graham bit Slater’s ear, referee Tony Archer simply put the incident on report.

Slater gave Melbourne the advantage back after a short ball from Cameron Smith, and when Justin O'Neill leaped onto a pin-point Cooper Cronk kick for another try before the half, the visitors were sitting pretty at halftime.

Taking a 14-4 lead the Storm were under pressure early in the second, having to defend four sets of six in their own half against a hungry Bulldogs outfit.

Melbourne held firm though. Neither side scored any points in a tense second half, leaving the Storm to be crowned winners of the 2012 NRL Premiership.

The Clive Churchill Medal was awarded to Cooper Cronk.