Canterbury-Bankstown 43–18 Melbourne Storm — Semi-Final, 2004 NRL Finals Series
19 Sep 2004 · Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 23,750
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Semi-Final, 2004 NRL finals series: Canterbury-Bankstown 43–18 Melbourne Storm, at Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW on 19 Sep 2004.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture. Reni Maitua appears both in the starting five-eighth slot and again on the bench in the source consulted — likely a data artefact rather than confirmed, not independently resolved; the starting-lineup entry is used here.
Scorers
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Tries: Perry; Ryan; El Masri; Tonga; Thurston; Thurston; Patten Goals: El Masri (7/8 conversions) Drop goals: Sherwin |
| Melbourne Storm | Tries: Bell; Bell; Slater Goals: Orford (3/3 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Melbourne Storm | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Patten | Fullback | Billy Slater | 1 |
| 2 | Hazem El Masri | Wing | Matt Geyer | 2 |
| 3 | Ben Harris | Centre | Steve Bell | 3 |
| 4 | Willie Tonga | Centre | Ben MacDougall | 4 |
| 5 | Matt Utai | Wing | Matt King | 5 |
| 6 | Reni Maitua | Five-Eighth | Scott Hill | 6 |
| 7 | Brent Sherwin | Halfback | Matt Orford | 7 |
| 8 | Mark O'Meley | Prop | Robbie Kearns | 8 |
| 9 | Adam Perry | Hooker | Cameron Smith | 9 |
| 10 | Steve Price (c) | Prop | Rodney Howe | 10 |
| 11 | Willie Mason | Second Row | David Kidwell | 11 |
| 12 | Andrew Ryan | Second Row | Stephen Kearney (c) | 12 |
| 13 | Tony Grimaldi | Lock | Dallas Johnson | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 15 | Corey Hughes | Alex Chan | 14 | |
| 16 | Roy Asotasi | Ryan Hoffman | 15 | |
| 17 | Sonny Bill Williams | Antonio Kaufusi | 16 | |
| 18 | Johnathan Thurston | Cooper Cronk | 17 | |
| Steve Folkes | Coach | Craig Bellamy | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Paul Simpkins |
Match report
The Bulldogs dominated from the outset, racing to a 22-6 halftime lead and cruising to a comfortable win that ended Melbourne's season for the second consecutive year. Halfback Brent Sherwin ran the show, setting up several tries, while impact substitute Johnathan Thurston scored twice off the bench. Hazem El Masri's haul of goals took him past 300 points for the season and set a new NRL record for most conversions in a season. This was also the final NRL match of veteran Melbourne prop Rodney Howe's career.