The original salary cap cheats niggled and conned their way to a win, what else is new.
Almost felt like doing this review without watching the replay, if only to avoid the clown show.
Yeah that’s a good approximation of my face too Munny, although he does have more hair than me.
So instead, let’s just go back to an old trope…
The good
This moment from Suncorp Sua Fa’alogo.
It was audacious, it was exhilarating to watch. The kid just does things sometimes in a similar non-thinking way akin to Cameron Munster. To snap the ball like that at full pace back to the middle in those conditions. Sublime. Ryan Papenhuyzen called for it too to show how well he reads the play and knows what his teammates are capable of doing.
Grant Anderson getting this one down…
Praise be. The bounce did him no favours on the kick from Cameron Munster, which left GA with a fair bit to do, but he is going well on the left edge.
Nick Meaney shedding the headgear and showing why he’s a great centre.1 The timing of his passing through to Fa’alogo in the first half set up the line break that led to the Paps try. His flick pass to set up the try scored by Fa’alogo was top notch. Hopefully he has enough confidence in the way his injury is healing to ditch the bucket going forward, because he seemed to go well with it off.
The bad
A fortnight ago I took issue with the team’s resilience at the moment. I put it out there during this match that focus was also an issue. That manifested itself in a lack of discipline and not following through again with an early lead. It’s a nasty habit that Melbourne have developed this year of playing in spurts and then switching off. So much so that Bellyache brought it up in the post match. Giving up leads shows this team needs some kind of voice out there in the middle to recognise what needs fixing on the fly and to get back to the game plan when they have strayed. It was always going to be hard-sledding without Harry Grant and the intangible aspects of his personality that seem to rub off on this team’s personality.
While I think this is firmly the “Cameron Munster era” of the Melbourne Storm’s psyche, he and the rest of the team needs guidance and temperance on the field. Grant provides that and without him bad things happen like silly penalties…
The ugly
Like losing the ball and having points taken off the scoreboard.
Never give a sucker an even break. Never give a referee a chance to be a dickhead. Because without a shadow of a doubt, Gerard Sutton is a dickhead. Always has been, always will be. Good teams know how to avoid letting him influence the match.2 This Melbourne team is struggling with that concept. The penalty to wipe off the field goal would have received five minutes of spurious justification on the Graham Annesley Comedy Hour had that show not been cancelled.3 The penalty and sin bin against Stefano Utoikamanu is as close to [redacted] as we see in the NRL. Sutton has history of [redacted], given that it would have been a clear set restart against the Raiders (for either obvious infringement against Starling) at any other point of the match.
As is often the case with this particular referee, it’s the missed calls that hurt most. Canberra knocked on from the short restart that directly led to their second try. Stupid stuff like that is fucking annoying.
The targeting of Jahrome Hughes was also par for the course from a Ricky Stuart coached mediocre football team. He’s always the first to whine about it too. Same with the dog shot from Josh Papali’i on Munster.
One last ugly — how much did the NRL and Lang Park pay Fox League to keep hyping up the replacement turf? It still looked shit and was hazardous, and of course it rained to make it worse.
Post match quotes
Belsa’s press conference was an example of how notto be fined by the NRL.
It’s a pretty hard one to take.
He played the ultimate straight bat to a number of questions about the officiating. The journos switched to Munster for their soundbites:
We played some dumb footy tonight. As a group we gave too many piggybacks, or gave the ball back to the Raiders in great field position for us. We’ve got to take ownership on that too, there’s a couple of things we’d love to take back.
As much as it looked like it was in the hands of the referee, at the same time we’ve got to be more disciplined with the ball. We’d love to have those moment back, I’m glad it’s happened now at the start of the year, and not the back end in September. It’s a tough pill to swallow and I’m sure the boys will learn some things tonight.
I’m pretty disappointed. We’ve all got to learn.
This though from Bellamy is the real reaction:
One thing we can control is our actions. It cost us dearly. We just need to be more disciplined. We know what our best footy is — the first 20 minutes. I don’t know whether we get bored sticking to a game plan, so we’ll have to sharpen up.
Stat offloads
Melbourne’s 19th Golden Gallop match ended with their seventh defeat. It was the Storm’s first extra time game since round 1 of the 2023 season.
Six Storm matches have finished 20–18, with Melbourne winning three.
Sua Fa’alogo was credited with 220 run metres, a new career high surpassing his previous best of 189m against the Broncos in round 27 last year.4 He was also credited with a career high three line breaks.
Melbourne’s probable win percentage hit 99.89% before the Weekes try.
The four penalties blown against Trent Loiero was the first time he’s been penalised more than twice in a match during his NRL career.5
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Was it worth it?
Given my cynicism and outright hostility regarding Magic Round,6 I thought that I would hand off to Meg from the Thunderchat Podcast (available from wherever you listen to podcasts) for her thoughts on the 2025 edition of Magic Round.
With two Magic Round weekends now successfully under my belt, I feel qualified to share my thoughts on what has been dubbed by many as rugby league Christmas. I strongly recommend that everyone attempt Magic Round at least once. The round is magic by name, and magic by nature. Ignoring the loss, there’s something special about seeing rugby league fans unite and celebrate the sport for a weekend. I end up cheering for players I’d ordinarily scream at when they’re AAMI Park visitors, and celebrating whichever tries I want. It’s also just exciting to take time off work to go watch my favourite players run somewhere different for a change. They close off Caxton Street and let fanatics run wild — the games are broadcast everywhere so even if you don’t have a ticket, you can find yourself a spot in a pub and still be part of the fun.
Keeping that in mind, I think there’s ways to go. Maybe I’m bitter about losing (it’s likely) but I felt the excitement wasn’t as strong as it was in 2024. By the 40 minute mark in the Roosters versus Dolphins match, a good portion of Suncorp had cleared out and a Mexican wave managed about six laps. I wonder if it simply comes down to matchups and scheduling. Is there any allure about a Tigers versus Dragons matchup at 7:30pm on a Saturday night? The most emotionally charged game of the round was the 2023 grand final rematch; which didn’t happen until the last day. Why is there a 40 minute wait between some games? I’m sure that gap makes sense from a broadcasting perspective, but spectators become stuck in a purgatory of random DJ remixes to Sweet Caroline and the Telstra Tracker races. Caxton Street was still fun, but had a distinct lack of club mascots roaming around freely — I’m assuming because of the great Reggie incident of 2025, but still devastating nonetheless.
Putting my Storm hat back on — I DESPISE that we play on the Sunday! I pray it changes but assume it never will; it’s honestly just annoying waiting the entire weekend to play. I also equally despise that we give up a home game at AAMI Park for it. I understand the financial benefit of being the home team at Suncorp, but there is nothing else to it. That’s one less game we get to grow interest in Victoria, and one less game we get to see our boys run through the banner and Thunderstruck live on guitar. Devastating stuff, truly.
Heading home on Monday with an unfortunate loss, a bout of reflux and a new 2004 heritage jersey — I can probably assume I’ll be at it again next year.
Thanks Meg — if you’re not already, Storm fans should listen in to Thunderchat as part of your weekly Storm routine. There’s new episodes twice a week.
As for me, I’m pretty sure you know how I feel.
0/10
Storm Machine Player of the Year
The two milestone men were probably Melbourne’s best. Paps scored a try and despite making a couple of errors was in everything good. Casually slotting that field goal should have been the cherry on top. Fox Sports credited Eli Katoa with 42 tackles with only one miss, while NRL.com had him with 50 tackles with two misses and two ineffective tackles. He might not have got on the scoresheet, but it was another great effort.
Points this week to Suncorp Sua and Alec MacDonald. Sua might be guilty of trying to do the mercurial rather than the obvious, but he is doing his best out of position on what looks like a small right edge. His effort to try and stop Savelio Tamale from scoring might not have come off, but damn it was close.
Alec MacDonald just put in one of his regular quiet achiever performances. In 48 minutes he ran for 70m with the ball and made 28 tackles without a miss and no errors.
Round 9 points:
2 – Ryan Papenhuyzen
2 – Eliesa Katoa
1 – Sualauvi Fa’alogo
1 – Alec MacDonald
Leaderboard
8 – Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Eliesa Katoa
3 – Stefano Utoikamanu, Harry Grant, Trent Loiero
2 – Jack Howarth, Jahrome Hughes, Grant Anderson, Josh King, Xavier Coates, Shawn Blore
1 – Nick Meaney, Kane Bradley, Joe Chan, Sualauvi Fa’alogo, Alec MacDonald
Around the grounds
Jersey Flegg Cup — Melbourne Storm 38–12 Warriors
It was a tight first half at Seabrook Reserve. The Warriors scored first, but Melbourne took a 12–6 lead to the pavilion. In the second half it was all the Storm though, scoring twice to extend the lead, then run away with it scoring three tries in the final ten minutes including a double to Dylan Brettle who scored 18 points for the match. Melbourne return to the top of the ladder and will feature on AAMI Park on Sunday morning against the Knights.
Queensland Cup — Townsville Blackhawks 30–36 Sunshine Coast Falcons
A big win for the Falcons in Townsville. Nelson Asofa-Solomona scored a double as the Sunshine Coast boys upset the previously undefeated Blackhawks. The Falcons were gutsy to take the points, with Lazarus Vaalepu also playing big minutes.
Queensland Cup — Central Queensland Capras 34–20 Brisbane Tigers
Coby Williamson was on the wing and Keagan Russell-Smith came off the bench for the Tigers in Rockhampton as the home team got the job done in the second half. The Capras led 14–6 at the break and while the Tigers got close midway through the second period, they were never threatening.
NSW Cup — North Sydney Bears 14–56 Warriors
Not such a good weekend for the Bears. The Warriors scored four tries in the first half and six in the second to run away with a big win that cemented their spot on top of the ladder. Winger Setu Tu scored two tries for the Warriors after spending part of the preseason with the Storm, while Moala Graham-Taufa scored a hattrick.
Super Netball — West Coast Fever 68–66 Sunshine Coast Falcons
It was a super tight contest over in the west, with the Lightning only just edging ahead at three-quarter time. It was a nail-biter in the last quarter, but the Fever are the Lightning’s bogey team and were ahead when the siren sounded. It’s the tenth time in a row that the Fever have beaten the Lightning, with their attack sometimes too much to handle.
Next up
Round 10 vs Wests Tigers – Sunday 11 May 2025, 2:00pm @ AAMI Park
Another fucking Sunday afternoon game.7 The Tigers were lucky in a way against the Dragons on Saturday,8 so they’ll be pressing hard to claim their second win against a 2024 finalist. Their form is patchy at best, but honestly so is Melbourne’s. I dare the NRL to send down their worst referee for this one and see how that goes down.
Cannot stand Ricky Stuart. How he and Bellamy are friends is beyond me. Surly, aggressive, gives no praise to the opposition and his sides are thuggish and get away with it because the refs are fearful of a spray from him.
A ungracious loser but when he wins produces a smug faced smile that reminds me of the perverted Bishop of Bath and Wells from Blackadder.
Cannot stand Ricky Stuart. How he and Bellamy are friends is beyond me. Surly, aggressive, gives no praise to the opposition and his sides are thuggish and get away with it because the refs are fearful of a spray from him.
A ungracious loser but when he wins produces a smug faced smile that reminds me of the perverted Bishop of Bath and Wells from Blackadder.