NRL finals: Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton suffers serious injury as Melbourne Storm win 26-18

Canterbury skipper Stephen Crichton’s season appears over and the Bulldogs are licking their wounds after being edged out 26-18 by the Storm in their qualifying final in Melbourne.

In a hard-fought and brutal match, Storm winger Will Warbrick sealed the win with a runaway intercept try from a wonky Viliame Kikau pass in the dying minutes.

Crichton was forced from the field with a serious ankle injury in the first half.

He bravely tried to play through pain after hurting himself at AAMI Park on Friday night.

The 24-year-old only lasted a few more minutes before he made his way off the field for assessment.

He returned to the sideline on crutches and took no further part in the match.

Bulldogs medical staff believe Crichton’s injury could be syndesmosis related, which would place his availability for the rest of the finals series in major doubt.

Melbourne opened the scoring before Crichton’s replacement - and discarded Bulldogs half - Toby Sexton levelled the scores after a Kikau pass bounced off his knee and the Storm defence thought it was knock on giving him a clear run to the tryline.

Jacob Kiraz, in his miraculous return from a knee injury, put Canterbury ahead at the 29-minute mark, but Ativalu Lisati hit back for the Storm to see Melbourne lead 14-12 at halftime. Nick Meaney had earlier kicked a penalty goal for a contentious high tackle penalty against Kikau.

Canterbury, playing a stronger brand of football with Sexton on the field partnering the teenager who replaced him, Lachlan Galvin, looked to be in the box seat when Matt Burton scored with 20 minutes to go to put the visitors ahead 18-14.

But you can never count the Storm out, especially at home, and Tyran Wishart scored next to the posts with 13 minutes to go to take back the lead 20-14. Warbick crossed 10 minutes later to put the result beyond doubt.

Melbourne were missing some key men, including Jahrome Hughes, who was out with a fractured wrist, but his young replacement Pezet stood up in his first ever final.

A sore Crichton capped off a chaotic start to the NRL finals series, after fellow Bulldogs star Kikau spent about 15 minutes off the field after copping a stray elbow to the face and Storm centre Joe Chan’s night ended early after a head clash.

When trying to tackle Warbrick, Kikau received accidental contact from the Storm winger to his face.

The rampaging forward suffered a category-two concussion, but the major concern for the Bulldogs was the prospect of eye socket damage.

Incredibly, Kikau passed his next head injury assessment and was cleared of structural damage to his face and was able to come back on midway through the first half.

But the 30-year-old still has major swelling around his right eye and will have more trouble with his vision the longer the match goes.

Chan was sporting a bloodied face after colliding with Bulldog Harry Hayes while making a tackle 20 minutes into the game.

He then failed his Head Injury Assessment.

The Bulldogs will face the winner of Saturday’s elimination final between the Warriors and Penrith in a semi-final next weekend.

Melbourne will have the week off before appearing in their 15th preliminary final in the last 20 years.