Melbourne Storm could be set for a home preliminary final on the eve of the AFL Grand Final after nudging out a gallant Canterbury Bulldogs in a high intensity and bruising 26-18 victory in front of 22,000 spectators at AAMI Park.
Both teams were beset by injuries and concussions from the outset and the Bulldogs were a man down within the first minute of the game when Viliame Kikau was hit by an accidental stray elbow from Will Warbrick and missed the first 15 minutes of the game.
Kikau had barely left the pitch when the Storm scored from the very first six again of the night, in which Jonah Pezet linked up with Eliesa Katoa - the man who was to be matched up to Kikau at the start of the night - for a 6-0 lead inside three minutes.
Will Warbrick had an awful first half riddled with errors, the first of which saw him fumble a simple pass to give the Bulldogs a set of six 25 metres out. He got away with that one as Josh Curran returned the favour, spilling a simple pass during Canterbury's best scoring opportuntiy of the opening ten minutes.
Toby Sexton had a bit of fortune after an offload from Kikau struck him in the right knee - his first touch of the evening - before he recovered the ball and made a break for the line unmarked as Nick Meaney anticipated a knock-on and failed to play to the whistle. A bunker review found there was no arm involved and the try was awarded.
It wasn't long after Kikau returned with a swollen and almost closed right eye that his captain Stephen Crichton copped an awkward tackle and, despite his best attempts to remain in the thick of the action whilst hobbling around, Crichton went off prior to half-time and emerged in a moonboot with an undisclosed ankle or foot injury.
Jacob Kiraz picked up a 30th minute try in his comeback from injury off the back of an extra set, making amends for his previous errors in the first half. Kiraz went over unmarked on the right wing, courtesy of a long and accurate pass from Connor Tracey who picked up his 11th try of the season.
Melbourne were to hit back just five minutes later. Joe Chan, who had laid some solid tackles in the first 20 minutes, went off with a split lip after getting a head knock and didn't return - much to the surprise of the Storm coaching staff - having failed his head injury assessment (HIA).
Chan's permanent replacement needed only a couple of minutes to make an impact as Ativalu Lisati got onto the end of a Grant-Munster chain and barged his way through a tackle to score his first try of the season on his finals debut. That attacking play was unlocked by a well directed 40/20 from Jonah Pezet, one of the Storm's star performers of the evening.
Melbourne took a 14-12 half-time lead after Kurt Mann committed a cardinal sin, passing two metres forward to Sitili Tupouniua, and Mann would later in the evening make another crucial error.
With right centre Enari Tuala having gone to ground, the Bulldogs switched left and retook the lead through Kikau and Matt Burton, costing Storm captain Harry Grant dearly after he committed a fifth tackle penalty during the previous set.
That followed nearly 20 consecutive minutes of live ball during which Xavier Coates offloaded a fifth tackle kick into the hands of Tuala, Bulldogs forward Josh Curran was placed on report for high contact and the Bulldogs attempted two short dropouts in the space of five minutes, one of which was knocked on by Jacob Kiraz and the other juggled by Kiraz.
Melbourne came agonisingly close to drawing level in the 55th minute but Preston batted the ball over the dead line to beat Nick Meaney at full stretch. Meaney immediately left the field for a HIA and would not return because of the mandatory 15-minute time off the field.
They then shortly after broke through with an extra six and it was Harry Grant once again with the try assist, setting up Tyran Wishart's seventh of the season despite Wishart getting crushed from both sides by Bulldogs tacklers Kikau and Tracey who almost spun him around 180 degrees. Wishart went over next to the upright which gave fill-in kicker Pezet an almost dead in front kick to make it 20-18 with 13 minutes to play.
Two sets of players out on their feet continued to trade blows in the dying moments of the game with the Bulldogs completing four consecutive full sets in the final ten minutes, the last of which saw Kurt Mann attempt a dribble kick that Will Warbrick mopped up for a 20 metre gain.
Warbrick was to emerge the hero with just three minutes to play when the Bulldogs cracked during their next set. Warbrick pushed up in defence and popped up to pinch a pass from Kikau, streaming away across the full 100 metres as the majority of the AAMI Park crowd rose to their feet in elation.
The Bulldogs would be left to rue Mann's late error as well as a couple of botched attacks in the first half and will have to head home and lick their wounds before facing a semi-final next week between the loser of Saturday evening's elimination final between New Zealand Warriors and Penrith Panthers.
Melbourne's qualifying final victory means that Nelson Asofa-Solomona will be suspended for the rest of the season, but they'll expect Ryan Papenhuyzen to return for the preliminary final.