Canterbury have roared back into NRL title contention after stunning the Melbourne Storm 28-4 in their elimination final at AAMI Park.

The Bulldogs will now face their coach Des Hasler’s old side Manly in a semi-final next Saturday night at Allianz Stadium while the shell-shocked Storm’s season is over.

The only sour notes for the visitors was a badly broken leg suffered by Pat O’Hanlon, while they also have centre Josh Morris and forward David Klemmer both on report.

Heading into the match with just two wins from their last eight matches, Canterbury erased any doubts about their form with a 40 minute blast that saw them lead 24-0 by halftime.

Centre Tim Lafai scored a hat-trick for the day as the Bulldogs forwards, led by James Graham and Greg Eastwood, bullied their opponents.

Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith overcame a serious ankle injury to play but his presence wasn’t enough to stop the Canterbury onslaught.

Eastwood set the tone early with a massive hit that flattened Storm winger Sisa Waqa.

Two minutes later he scored after Michael Ennis put up a towering bomb that Lafai batted back to the backrower.

Bulldogs halfback Trent Hodkinson found a gaping hole in the Storm defence and the scoreline was then out to 18-0 after just 18 minutes when Lafai intercepted a Ben Roberts pass and raced 55m to the line.

The visitors weren’t done and Lafai added his second after some handy lead-up work by Josh Jackson and Klemmer for the impressive half-time margin.

The Storm tried to force their way back into the match but too often errors ruined any attacking opportunities.

Waqa finally broke the drought in the 45th minute when he leapt high for a pin-point kick by Storm halfback Cooper Cronk.

Two moments then proved telling of the Storm’s day.

Waqa looked to have scored after a break by fellow winger Marika Koroibete only for the video referee to rule an earlier knock-on.

Soon after Waqa made a break and popped a ball for Mahe Fonua, but prop Graham somehow ran down the speedsters and managed to stop a certain four-pointer.

Still trailing by 20 points, the Storm ran out of time and ideas, Eastwood snatching an intercept to race 50m before off-loading to Lafai for his third of the day.