Canterbury coach Des Hasler was disappointed with his team's inability to capitalise on the opportunities they created in a 12-6 loss to Melbourne on Friday night but praised his team's desire to chance their hand.
With the Bulldogs clawing back momentum significantly after falling behind 10-0 within seven minutes of the kick-off, torrential rain arrived 13 minutes into the second half with the score at 12-6 to slow down their comeback.
Both Hasler and Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy agreed the rain was timely for the Storm but Hasler wasn't worried his side continued to throw the ball around in the wet – but would have preferred several genuine try-scoring opportunities in the second half weren't fumbled.
"It was all about timing tonight wasn't it?" Hasler said after the game.
"The first 10 minutes for them I thought they got two relatively soft tries so they got the jump on us… The rain was timed perfectly for them and made conditions a little bit harder but I thought we showed plenty to get back into the game at 12-6.
"In the second half there were three genuine try-scoring opportunities that we put down... you have to execute in that moment and we didn't.
"We paid the price for that. Then we ran out of time."
Despite scoring just one try in 80 minutes, Hasler insisted there were "some good signs" from his team.
"I thought we chanced our hand pretty well in difficult conditions," he said.
"There were some good performances there. Certainly some good signs going forward."
Skipper James Graham refused to blame the weather for the loss.
"We still created opportunities even though it was raining," Graham said.
"It's a game of opportunities taken and lost sometimes."
The prop said going two tries up early allowed the Storm to grind their way to victory.
"I thought there were times we counteracted that and we've probably got to finish [those opportunities] off when we get the chance. Maybe it was conditions but we didn't do that, there's no excuse."
