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Storm, Bulldogs closing in on the NRL grand final

Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs are one game away from Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) grand final after emerging victorious from the opening weekend of the playoffs.

The Storm, who finished the regular season eight points clear, struggled to eliminate eighth team Parramatta 12-6 at home yesterday while the second-placed Bulldogs knocked the Canberra Raiders out of the NRL title race with a clinical 30-12 win in the slush at Sydney's Olympic stadium on Saturday.

Premiership favorites Melbourne labored to put away the gritty Eels but didn't score a point in the second half after leading 12-0 at halftime through converted first-half tries from winger Steve Turner and prop Antonio Kaufusi.

Fullback Billy Slater saved Melbourne from potential extra time with a flying cover tackle on Parramatta centre Brett Delaney in the final minutes, but the Eels created few scoring opportunities in a dour match.

Scrumhalf Brent Sherwin produced two moments of brilliance to propel the Bulldogs straight into week three of the playoffs in two weeks' time.

With the score 6-6 three minutes before halftime, Sherwin gave a superb inside pass for fullback Luke Patten to cross. And with his side in control with 12 minutes remaining, he laid on a try for winger Hazem El Masri with a pinpoint kick into the in-goal.

St George Illawarra Dragons, the most impressive of the four winning teams this weekend, will play Manly Sea Eagles next Friday, while Newcastle Knights will take on Brisbane Broncos next Saturday. The losers will be eliminated.

St George Illawarra inflicted Brisbane's seventh straight NRL finals defeat with a 20-4 upset at Lang Park.

Led by Test prop Luke Bailey, the Dragons ensured they would live to fight another day in the race to the finals with the emphatic four-tries-to-one victory over the fumbling Broncos.

Brisbane stormed into the finals series on the back of three straight wins but were caught out by the Dragons' high-tempo game as they shot out to a 10-0 lead after 24 minutes.

The loss made it the third straight year the Broncos have finished third in the NRL but failed to win their home qualifying final.

Youngster Jarrod Mullen kicked a game-winning drop goal to steer Newcastle Knights to a come-from-behind 25-18 win over Manly Sea Eagles in the opening playoff match in Newcastle on Friday.

Mullen's one-pointer four minutes from fulltime gave the Knights a 19-18 lead which was sealed by a determined converted try from Irish winger Brian Carney on the final siren.

Newcastle will have an anxious week with their Test hooker Danny Buderus on referee's report and facing the judiciary this week to answer a dangerous spear tackle charge on Manly winger Michael Robertson.
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