While Melbourne Storm didn't get the NRL competition points skipper Cameron Smith said they got the better of Canterbury's highly-rated forward pack.
The Storm have in recent years struggled against the Bulldogs, with their burly forwards regularly steam-rolling Melbourne through the middle.
The Bulldogs extended their winning run to six straight against the Storm with an 18-12 victory at AIM Park but Smith took some satisfaction in the performance of his forwards.
The inclusion of Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who stands 200cm and 115kg, gave the home side some extra grunt off the bench while regular starters Jesse Bromwich, Dale Finucane and Kevin Proctor also held their own.
"I thought our forward pack outplayed their forward pack for most of the match and we needed to because that's why we've been dominated over the last few years," Smith said.
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"Our forwards did an exceptional job ... we took it to the experienced guys at the start in (James) Graham and (Aiden) Tolman and when (David) Klemmer and (Sam) Kasiano came on I didn't think they troubled us too much."
Smith said his big men gave the side plenty of opportunities to get down in their 20m zone, but they lacked finishing prowess.
He rated their game as one of the best of the season.
"I thought our attack was largely improved on last week but obviously there's still some work to do there to come up with some points," Smith said.
"It was probably one of our best performances of the year but unfortunately we were playing against a very good side and they got the points."
