Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo fired up after his belief that his side received “zero luck” when it came to key decisions in their qualifying final loss to the Storm in Melbourne.

Ciraldo admitted he was furious 10 minutes earlier but had calmed down a little before throwing down his assessment of where his side were given the short end of the stick.

The Storm and others would argue some of Ciraldo’s points although game commentators agreed with Ciraldo that a high tackle penalty just before half-time was a wrong decision which saw the Storm kick a penalty goal.

“I was probably hoping you would ask me that question 10 minutes ago but I’ve calmed down and thought about it,” Ciraldo said.

“I’m not getting myself in trouble. The good thing was that we came down here three weeks ago and you know the rules of engagement after that.

“I should just shut my mouth but I think that at half-time the play the ball was half a second slower but we were the ones getting penalised for slow rucks,so I wasn’t happy about that.

“The two points,the high tackle penalty just before half-time - I was disappointed in that.

“And then we gain some ascendancy there in the second half and there was a crusher penalty coming off their own try line - I was even more unhappy about that.

“You need a bit of luck in there and we got zero tonight.”

When asked to elaborate on his rules of engagement comment he declined.

“I’ll leave it there. I’ve probably said too much,” Ciraldo said.

The Melbourne Storm are yet again into a preliminary final and they will host the game at AAMI Park in two weeks time.

But gee the Bulldogs gave it everything and did so without captain Stephen Crichton who has what looks like a season-ending ankle injury.

Tuala went off with a calf injury too. They will play for their lives in Sydney in a semi-final next week.

The bad news for the Storm is that prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona is done for the finals as his last two games of suspension will cover the preliminary final and grand final,should Storm make it.

Pezet used all the time he could before kicking the conversion.

The Dogs have two minutes to try and conjure a miracle win or extra time.

Storm 26,Dogs 18 with two mins to go.

Will Warbrick looked out on his feet moments ago but with the Dogs desperately off-loading,Warbrick read the play and intercepted a pass before running untouched to the line.

Storm are all but home but there is still three mins to go.

Storm 24,Dogs 18 with just under three mins to go.

Cam Munster looked like he has serious injured his ankle.

He was writhing in pain but his boot must have come off or something as he has got up and kept playing when a replay looked like his ankle had turned over on itself.

How is he playing on?

Storm 20,Dogs 18 with four mins to go.

The Dogs have been brave all night but the clock is now ticking fast here at AAMI Park.

They need either a try for the lead or a penalty goal to tie things up.

But the Storm are working through their sets and working down this clock.

Many of the players look gassed,errors could come into play as well.

Storm 20,Dogs 18 with six mins to go.