The Canterbury Bulldogs face the Melbourne Storm in Round 12 of the 2026 NRL season, with both teams aiming to build momentum before the State of Origin period. This preview breaks down the latest team news, key matchups and our prediction for the clash at Accor Stadium.

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Matchday Details

Friday, 22 May 2026 – 8:00pm AEST – Accor Stadium, Sydney
📺 Nine Network / Nine Now / Kayo / Foxtel
Referee: Wyatt Raymond | Senior Review Official: Chris Butler

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: 1. Connor Tracey, 2. Jacob Kiraz, 3. Bronson Xerri, 4. Enari Tuala, 5. Jonathan Sua, 6. Matt Burton, 7. Lachlan Galvin, 8. Max King, 9. Bailey Hayward, 10. Leo Thompson, 11. Sitili Tupouniua, 12. Jacob Preston, 13. Jaeman Salmon, 14. Kurt Mann, 15. Harry Hayes, 16. Jack Underhill, 17. Alekolasimi Jones, 19. Jethro Rinakama, 20. Marcelo Montoya, 21. Josh Curran, 22. Sean O’Sullivan, 23. Jed Reardon

Melbourne Storm: 1. Sualauvi Faalogo, 2. Will Warbrick, 3. Jack Howarth, 4. Nick Meaney, 5. Moses Leo, 6. Keagan Russell-Smith, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. Stefano Utoikamanu, 9. Trent Toelau, 10. Josh King, 11. Shawn Blore, 12. Ativalu Lisati, 13. Cooper Clarke, 14. Gabriel Satrick, 15. Alec MacDonald, 16. Davvy Moale, 17. Stanley Huen, 18. Joe Chan, 19. Manaia Waitere, 20. Jack Hetherington, 21. Josiah Pahulu, 22. Preston Conn

Match Preview

Friday night sees a clash between two sides battling each other for the title of the most disappointing teams of 2026, with Melbourne at least recently recovering from the worst losing streak in the club’s history, while the Bulldogs don’t look to be improving at all and on a run of five straight losses.

To highlight the depth of the slide in form for 2026, these teams are meeting sitting 13th and 14th on the ladder ahead of this Friday’s Round 12 clash: after 11 rounds last season the Bulldogs were leading the competition with just the one loss and the Storm were sitting fourth. These teams have just three wins in 16 games between them since Round 4.

To make the game slightly more underwhelming there are also notable absences due to State of Origin selection, although, on form some of the players are relying more on loyalty.

The Bulldogs are missing Stephen Crichton through Origin commitments, but at least have Jacob Kiraz returning, which should give them a balancing boost in attack, but he is named on the wing, with Enari Tuala replacing Crichton at centre. Marcelo Montoya is named on the extended bench, but it wouldn’t surprise if he makes the final squad. Crichton aside, the Bulldogs backline is at full-strength, the problem with that is the Bulldogs have only passed 16 points three times this season and not for five games. Only the Dragons have scored fewer points this season at mostly full-strength.

Melbourne were always going to lose Cameron Munster and Harry Grant to Origin duties, and forward Trent Loiero is also out, having been named for the Maroons. With their usual Mr Fixit Tyran Wishart unavailable, the Storm have had to get more creative than usual to cover these key positions. Keagan Russell-Smith replaces Munster at five-eighth, and his returns in the NSW Cup for the Storm have been good enough to earn himself a second NRL start, adding to his solitary appearance in 2024. Grant is covered by two players, with Trent Toelau starting and Australian Schoolboy Gabriel Satrick making his debut in the number 14 jersey. The two have one NRL game between them. The reliable Alec MacDonald returns from injury to the bench.

With both sides missing key attackers, and being down on strike power in general in recent months, there’s every chance that this will be a game decided in the forwards, but won by moments of brilliance.

For those fleeting moments, the halfback position is key and the Storm have the slight advantage here in effort. The much-maligned Lachlan Galvin has been one of the Bulldogs’ hardest triers, but while they persist with playing him out of his best position they will limit their scoring. Although it must be said that Jahrome Hughes has made a decent fist out of playing out of his favoured position. But Melbourne’s halfback has the big stats advantage compared to Galvin: Hughes sits second for both Try Assists (one behind Nathan Cleary) and Line Break Assists (two behind Latrell Mitchell) and is well ahead of Galvin for both stats (Try Assists 14-4 and Line Break Assists 15-10). Galvin has scored four tries to two, which is a plus and probably shows he’s more suited to five-eighth.

For other fleeting moments of brilliance teams usually look to the fullbacks, and here’s where a big difference lies. Despite their seven-game losing streak Sualauvi Faalogo continued to score tries and break the line for the Storm, he is top five in season stats for Tries (12), Line Breaks (14), and Tackle Breaks (62). Connor Tracey’s stats are well behind with two, four, and 25 respectively. In a potentially low-scoring match, those moments from Faalogo could prove the difference.

The forwards are quite evenly matched, and both sides contain former Origin representatives in Stefano Utoikamanu for the Storm and former Storm player Max King for the Bulldogs. Both have played three games, and both have been overlooked for this year’s series after featuring in losing Blues sides in 2023 and 2025. Club form for either side wouldn’t have helped a recall.

Whoever can win the arm wrestle early will go a long way to winning the game, as neither side will want to be behind at half-time. Both the Bulldogs and Storm have failed to win when losing at half-time this season, on six and three occasions respectively. Although leading at half-time hasn’t really helped Melbourne with their record of four wins and four losses after leading at half-time.

The game being on a Friday and at the Olympic Stadium doesn’t help the Bulldogs according to recent stats – the Bulldogs have lost five of their last six games at the Olympic Stadium and have lost eight Friday games in a row. Also, their record against Melbourne is poor, having lost 10 of their last 11 games vs the Bulldogs, and Melbourne are five wins and one loss vs the Bulldogs at Olympic Stadium. The silver lining for the Bulldogs is the Storm have been recently terrible on Fridays too, having lost their last four games on a Friday and won just two of their last 11 away games on a Friday.

We all may be pleasantly surprised by the game of the season on Friday, but very little suggests it will be anything other than a dour match, typical of Origin-period NRL.

Prediction

RLZ Tip: Melbourne by 8
Bold call: 12 points or less in the first half, with a Sualauvi Faalogo double proving the difference eventually.

For full State of Origin coverage, see our series hub → /state-of-origin/2026-series/

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Shannon Meyer
http://www.thegurgler.com/
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