Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo says he wasn't surprised by the turnaround in his NRL team after they shocked a listless Melbourne on their own turf to collect a thumping 26-12 victory.
After a 25-point loss to Manly in round one, the Bulldogs bounced back at AAMI Park on Saturday night to score five tries and break a seven-game losing streak against the Storm .
Melbourne's usually rock-solid defence crumbled with the home side tallying a massive 31 missed tackles in the opening 40 minutes - ending the match with 49.
With a free-flowing attack the Bulldogs led 26-0 before the home side even got on the scoreboard.
"You could see all week they way they were preparing and the way they learnt from last week's game that we were going to come down here and play to win," new coach Ciraldo said.
"I wasn't surprised by it but still very pleased with their effort.
"We didn't throw caution to the wind, we played a style of footy that we've trained for all pre-season - we've got good players, with strike and skill, and that's the way we're going to play."
The Storm were missing injured star playmaker Cameron Munster and winger Xavier Coates but coach Craig Bellamy said they would have made no difference.
"We pride ourselves on our effort and it was really poor," Bellamy said.
"They were a lot more enthusiastic - they were tackling harder, running harder, doing everything better than us.
"We were a mile off with some of our effort areas ... we got what we deserved."
The visitors led 16-0 at halftime and despite stern words from Bellamy there was little Storm response with Bulldogs winger Jacob Kiraz scoring his second for the night in the 44th minute.
And they were in again five minutes later with a soft try scored by centre Jake Averillo to extend the lead to 26-0.
With Tyran Wishart replacing Munster, the left edge of centre Young Tonumaipea and rookie winger Grant Anderson was in disarray.
Tonumaipea earned a spot in Bellamy's bad books midway through the first half when he ran the ball on the last tackle and was then sent to the sin bin after tackling a player without the ball.
The Bulldogs made the most of his temporary exit, with Kyle Flanagan and Reed Mahoney busy orchestrating the attack.
Kiraz got on the outside of Anderson and then ex-Storm flyer Josh Addo-Carr celebrated after crossing in the other corner.
It looked like former Penrith second-rower Viliame Kikau may have have added their fourth for their half but it was denied by an earlier knock-on.
Fired-up Melbourne prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona took matters into his own hands to barge over to put his team on the scoreboard.
But the big man was forced off soon after, his night ended by a knee injury which is believed to a MCL issue.
With the Storm's attack finding some rhythm, Jahrome Hughes then ran off a Harry Grant pass for a 57th minute try to give the Storm some hope while the points dried up for the Bulldogs.
Kikau was also sent to the sin bin for a trip in the final minutes but it didn't take the gloss off a well-deserved win which was their first of the year.
