This week feels like a trap game for Melbourne, especially as there seems to be a lot going on right now, and matches against last year’s grand finalists are on the horizon.
S02E15 – Newcastle Knights vs Melbourne Storm
The NRL Throwback YouTube channel1 published this week’s replay match in full on Wednesday evening, taking us all the way back to Melbourne’s first visit to the Hunter back in June 1999.
Melbourne had avoided a trip to Newcastle in 1998, defeating the then reigning ARL premiers in their only meeting at Olympic Park 32–16. Both teams for this one had three players backing up after New South Wales’ 12–8 win in Origin II, while Melbourne were missing Scott Hill and Robbie Kearns through injury. Celebrating a milestone was Tawera Nikau in his 100th NRL match.
Going into this match, Melbourne were fourth on the NRL ladder, with the Knights also in finals contention in seventh. Melbourne came into this one after consecutive losses to the Dragons and Raiders, following a bye. Referee for this one was Bill Harrigan, with Melbourne falling to a 44% winning percentage with him holding the whistle.2
It’s always interesting re-watching 1999 matches, as the difference between how the game is played in 2023 is especially noticeable. As are the changes to the now McDonald Jones Stadium to the old Marathon Stadium.3 This match attracted the home team’s highest crowd figure of the 1999 season, and would stand as the largest attendance for matches between the teams until 2013.
Going into this replay, I must admit this wasn’t a strong memory from the 1999 season, but listening to Greg Clark, Gary Freeman and Brett Kenny on commentary for Fox Sports did bring it all back.
This was billed as the battle between Brett Kimmorley and Andrew Johns, but it wouldn’t be until 2000 that Noddy would replace the man who cannot die as the New South Wales halfback.
Melbourne would get off to a bright start in the first couple of minutes, but would be put on the back foot after that, with the Knights opening the scoring through Mark Hughes. That left flank for the Knights of Hughes and Adam MacDougall would cause more problems for Matt Geyer and Aseri Laing, with MacDougall scoring Newcastle’s second try, taking the score to 8–0.
Melbourne had their opportunities in what shaped as an open game, first Marcus Bai’s break down the wing ended up in an intercept, and Robbie Ross bombed a try in failing to ground the ball under pressure from Matthew Johns. Geyer would open Melbourne’s account converting his own try which came off the back of some great running in the middle from Nikau and Kimmorley’s bullet pass.
With a great passing move originating inside their own half, Kimmorley unlocked the Newcastle defence, with Tony Martin scoring the try to put Melbourne in front on the scoreboard. Melbourne were well on top after Marcus Bai scored on the end of a Kimmorley bomb that was tapped back by Robbie Ross to Geyer lurking in the middle of the park. It was back-to-back tries for the Storm, making it three tries in less than ten minutes to stun the home team.
After a sloppy few minutes, Newcastle would go into half time on the back of another try down the left flank, with Sean Rudder scoring after a couple of kicks down the short-side caught out the Melbourne defenders (mostly Aseri Laing though). Johns couldn’t convert the try again, missing his third kick to leave the score at 16–12, with Melbourne winning the previous eight times they held the half time lead.
Coming out for the second half, Newcastle would take advantage of a lop-sided penalty count, with Andrew Johns taking two penalty goals to level the scores up with half an hour to play.
Melbourne had a chances to retake the lead, but came up short a number of times, and with the home fans roaring, the Johns brothers would start to take control of the match. Joey would find Darren Albert with a long pass to give the Knights a four point lead just before the hour mark, then a few minutes later would extend the lead to 26–16 with a try of his own after beating a number of defenders to score under the posts.
Entering the final 15 minutes, Melbourne desperately needed to be the next team to score to have any chance of getting back into the match. Gaining field position when O’Davis couldn’t handle a Rodney Howe kick, Nikau took it upon himself to score a try through sheer force of will. Carrying defenders over the like, the Kiwi enforcer was dragging Melbourne back into the match.
From the restart, the Eighth Immortal would blast the ball into the posts and Harrigan missed a Knights knock on, giving the home team a chance to attack. Johns would miss a snap at a field goal on that set, but would make no mistake when presented with another chance with just a few minutes remaining.
In what was purely a consolation try, Boofa scored a converted try scooting out from dummy half under the points in the final seconds to bring the score to a one-point win for the home team.
Going down in this one was the first time Melbourne had lost three matches in a row. The team would turn it around though the next week, and we all know how the 1999 season would finish up.
Newcastle – 27 (Hughes 10', MacDougall 18', Rudder 38', Albert 58', A Johns 62' tries; A Johns 3/7 goals; A Johns field goal 77')
Melbourne – 26 (Geyer 23', 80', Martin 27', Bai 29', Nikau 68' tries; Geyer 3/5 goals)
Stat pack
Melbourne are undefeated in three previous matches played on 22 July, beating the Broncos 26–6 in 2011, the Raiders 20–14 in 2017, and the Warriors 12–6 in 2018. Of those matches, only the Broncos match was played in Melbourne.
Melbourne lost their first visits to Newcastle, finally tasting success at the venue in 2004. Since then, Melbourne have lost only four times in 14 visits to New Lambton, including a win against the Roosters in 2021. Melbourne have won their previous five matches at the venue, with a combined score of 188–40.
The last time Melbourne lost at Newcastle was in 2014, but we don’t talk about that game.4 Newcastle won the next match
Overall Melbourne have won 30 of 45 matches against Newcastle, with only Brisbane and St George Illawarra having a better win percentage against the Knights.
A Newcastle junior, Josh King made his NRL debut for the Knights in 2016, playing 78 games between 2016 and 2021 scoring two tries. He has scored two tries already in 2023. Nick Meaney made his debut for the Knights in 2018, playing five games for the club before moving to the Bulldogs.
Knights utility Kurt Mann started his NRL career with Melbourne, playing 28 games across 2014–15.
Kalyn Ponga has never tasted success against the Storm, featuring on the losing side in seven matches against Melbourne.
Team line-up
Nick Meaney
Will Warbick
Remis Smith
Justin Olam
Xavier Coates
Cameron Munster
Jahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant
Christian Welch ©
Trent Loiero
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Josh King
Tyran Wishart
Tom Eisenhuth
Tariq Sims
Alec MacDonald
Bronson Garlick
Chris Lewis
Jayden Nikorima
Marion Seve
George Jennings
Referee: Gerard Sutton (Bunker: Ben Cummins)
Preview
With a settled line-up again, Melbourne will likely send out the same 17 players against the Knights on Saturday afternoon. For the home team, Dane Gagai returns from a foot injury, bolstering a Newcastle backline that has scored a hundred points across their past two matches. Those wins against the Bulldogs and Tigers have seen the Knights jump up to 10th on the NRL ladder and putting the Novocastrians in with an unlikely shot at the finals.
Bouncing back from the loss to the Panthers, Melbourne looked solid but not spectacular in beating the Roosters at the SCG. Those last two tries in junk time added some respectability to the scoreline for the Chooks, but Melbourne deserved the win on the balance of the game.
That win against the Roosters was something of a typical grinding Melbourne win, so this match against the Knights provides an opportunity to get into the groove in attack, especially after the swarming defensive effort of last week. I’m especially keen to see some more running from the forwards this week, with Melbourne’s pack looking like a good match to the Newcastle big men.
Like last week, these are the games Melbourne need to win if they want to be a serious contender come the end of the season. Slipping up here wouldn’t be a critical hit, but it would be one step backwards at the wrong time of the year.
Beware of the multitude of ads that YouTube insert into this replay.
Melbourne played 28 matches with Bill Harrigan as the referee, winning just 10 and one draw for win percentage of 37.50%, almost 19% lower than the club’s win percentage during Harrigan’s NRL career.
I still remember how annoying their ground announcer was though, only the #FortressShithole imbecile was worse.
Melbourne’s predicted win percentage after 66 minutes was 97.09% when leading 24–14 against the 14th placed Knights and 99.8% in the 77th minute. I prefer to forget this match exists, but if you really want to know why, here’s the extended highlights.