A dominant first-half performance from Melbourne laid the foundations for their NRL grand final win over Canterbury on Sunday, with Cooper Cronk’s kicking game neutralising Des Hasler’s in-form side.

With the brilliant Ben Barba so instrumental to the Bulldogs’ success this year, the Queensland and Test halfback made sure the blue and white fullback was on the back foot for much of the game.

Cronk, who was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal, set the tone after three minutes when his towering kick was misjudged by Barba in front of his own posts, forcing the Bulldogs to defend five successive sets on their own.

A Ryan Hoffman try after good work from Cronk and five-eighth Gareth Widdop broke the deadlock and the halfback went on to set up Billy Slater and Justin O’Neill for tries before halftime.

The kick for O’Neill’s four-pointer on the stroke of the siren was pinpoint perfect and Storm coach Craig Bellamy was full of praise for his No.7.

“He controlled that game tremendous,” Bellamy said.

“His kicking game in that first half was as good a kicking game as I’ve seen in a grand final.”

Canterbury’s free-wheeling forwards also struggled in attack.

Sam Kasiano, Frank Pritchard and James Graham all failed to run for more than 40 metres in the first half and only Graham and Greg Eastwood managed to record offloads over the 80 minutes.

This had been such a key part of the Bulldogs’ attack in 2012, taking the pressure off halves Josh Reynolds and Kris Keating.

However, with the kicking games of Reynolds and Keating less than inspiring, the Bulldogs struggled to get on the front foot.

“We really worked their forwards hard early and tried our best to tire them out and it was a big factor in us winning the game,” Norrie told AAP.

“It’s the best day of my career and a day I will never forget.”