Bulldogs getting their bite back for finals: Crichton

If those positions hold over the remaining two rounds, the Bulldogs will return to Melbourne to face the Storm in the qualifying final in week one.

After some topsy-turvy form, the Bulldogs, who led the competition for 13 consecutive weeks early in the season, showed they are getting back to their best.

Canterbury dominated territory and possession and had six line-breaks to the Storm's four.

But they bombed three tries - two helped by some desperate Storm defence - while Crichton's own effort with a minute left on the clock was ruled a knock-on by the bunker.

Crichton told AAP it showed they were on level pegging with the other top teams.

"It will give us confidence coming back if we do end up coming back here and playing the first semi-final here," the burly centre said.

"There's so many lessons that we can take out of it, but the bright side is we know that we can go up against the top four teams and have a chance of winning and it means as a footy team we can get together and believe that as well."

Ahead of the match, coach Cameron Ciraldo demanded a better preparation from his team and Crichton felt they delivered on that score but just lacked a bit of finishing polish in attack.

"Our preparation throughout the week has been second to none, so it wasn't our preparation," he said.

"We came in and just missed a lot of opportunities out there, but there was a lot of good signs in that game."

Halfback Lachie Galvin tallied 15 runs, more than his last three games combined, with Ciraldo saying that style of attack was what was required in high-pressure games.

Crichton wanted to see the youngster stick at it, saying it made the side more of an attacking threat.

"100 per cent, I feel like when he's (Galvin's) running the ball, it makes us a better footy team," he said.

"We kind of just have to be on the back of it a little bit more, him running the ball, but I feel like his mindset around it is definitely the right mindset."