How speed killed the Bulldogs and the Storm
The expanded use of six-again set-restarts in the 2026 NRL season has disrupted traditional defensive teams like the Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs. Once dominant through structured defence, both clubs have struggled to adapt to the faster pace of play. Injuries and roster issues have compounded the Storm's difficulties, while the Bulldogs face similar challenges in keeping up with the game's evolving speed.
- ▪The NRL's rule change allowing set-restarts from the 20-metre line has significantly increased game speed, disadvantaging defensive teams.
- ▪Melbourne Storm suffered major setbacks due to injuries, including Eli Katoa's career-ending brain bleed and Tui Kamikamica's stroke.
- ▪The Storm lost six straight games, culminating in a 48-6 defeat to South Sydney on Anzac Day, one of their worst losses in history.
- ▪Canterbury Bulldogs, like the Storm, have built their game on strong defence but are now struggling in the faster-paced 2026 season.
- ▪Wayne Bennett has demonstrated adaptability to the new pace, guiding South Sydney successfully through the early rounds of the season.
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| Original publisher | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| Canonical URL | https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/how-speed-killed-the-bulldogs-and-the-storm-20260426-p5zr4p.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed |
| Publication time | Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +1000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-04-28T19:06:06.633Z |
| Last seen | 2026-04-28T19:06:06.633Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | Zz3OxOSC6tMk |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Sydney Morning Herald.