Back home to AAMI Park for Melbourne this week after the unpleasantness of Sunday in Townsville. A comeback is required just like it was in this week’s famous old match.
S06E01 – Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs Melbourne Storm
Going back to Craig Bellamy’s first game in charge of the Melbourne Storm. Round 1, 2003 at Toyota Park on a very warm and sunny afternoon at The Swamp. The preview talked of “of a new attitude. Of pride in the jersey, pride in the club.”
From the selected team, Robbie Ross was out injured1 so Matt Geyer was moved to fullback, Billy Slater to the wing, David Kidwell to the centres and Semi Tadulala would come off the bench in jersey 18. Once out on the field though, Geyer reverted to the wing, leaving 19-year-old debutante Slater at fullback. Dallas Johnson would also make his NRL debut, with the Storm marking Robbie Kearns 100th match for the club.
Up against former Storm coach Chris Anderson, the Sharks started the game as strong favourites after making the preliminary final in 2002. There at Toyota Park for Fox Sports were Warren Smith and Laurie Daley, with Neil Evans reporting from the sideline. I was at this one too, venturing into the shire in the warm March conditions, parking myself on the hill with the home team not allowing fans to use the swathes of empty seats that they wouldn’t sell.2
With hindsight it’s interesting to see the beginnings of what happened next for Melbourne over the next two decades – in just his third game Cameron Smith was already chatting to the referee.
Cronulla would get a fast start this contest with back to back penalties giving them an early attacking chance, with Jason Stevens scoring a try on the back of a pass from Brett Kimmorley. Melbourne were struggling to adjust to the new rules, giving away penalties and compounding the situation by losing the ball when they did have a chance in the attacking half of the field.
Kimmorley would set up the second Sharks try for a 12–0 lead inside 10 minutes, with his grubber kick bouncing behind the posts for David Peachey to score untouched with Slater and Marcus Bai missing at the back. Melbourne would continue to make silly errors with the ball, especially with poor offloads, then giving Kimmorley too much time and space with the ball. Cronulla were full of attack, and Phil Bailey would be the next Sharks tryscorer when he was put into a massive hole on the Sharks right edge.
At 18–0 down inside the first 15 minutes, it looked like it would be a long season for Melbourne, with Bellamy’s players wilting in the heat. Another blow for Melbourne coming straight after Bailey’s try when Rodney Howe would leave the field looking worse for wear after being headslammed by Greg Bird.3 Things just weren’t clicking for Melbourne who were continuing to make errors whenever they had any field position.
Cronulla would extend the lead just before the 20 minute mark, edging further ahead with Kimmorley again setting up the try, this time to Bird who rolled out of the tackles of Geyer and Matt Orford. 22–0 down after Kimmorley missed the kick and Melbourne were totally out of the game, needing to complete sets and find a spark before the scoreboard looked even worse. Scott Hill was being completely smothered by the Sharks defence whenever Melbourne had the ball, and despite some aggression from Kidwell on his Storm debut, nothing was going well for the Storm.
The spark would come though in the form of Slater’s first NRL career try. Picking up the ball at dummy half at Melbourne’s 40 metre line, he carved the Sharks defence open on Melbourne’s left edge, with a shimmy and a step past Peachey and a missed tackle from Nick Youngquest, Slater would find empty space with the line in his sights. A desperate tackle from Paul Gallen saw Slater bounce into the corner for the try, with Warren Smith using his best line describing Slater as “looking for the finishing post.”
With Danny Williams on for Smith at hooker, Melbourne would score again in the shadows of half time, with Geyer’s footwork making the Sharks defenders miss, Orford able to land the conversion this time, sending the teams back to the sheds with the Sharks in front 22–10.
Coming out for the second half and Melbourne looked like they had found some confidence after their poor first 20 minutes of the season. A simple play from a scrum win at midfield saw Hill offload to Steve Bell to sprint away under the posts for a try to take the score back to one converted try at 22–16. Orford and Hill would combine with Melbourne on the attack, with the final offload coming from Kidwell to send Bell over for his second try, this time through the right edge.
From 22–0 to 22–20, the comeback was well and truly on for Melbourne. Both teams were playing scrappy football and Shayne Hayne was blowing a fair few penalties, leading to more scoring chances. Melbourne recovered from an error in their own half, and would be the next team to score when on the last tackle a Howe high kick to the right flank come down on Matthew Rieck who lost the ball to Bai. The PNG winger able to offload to Bell for his hat trick and Melbourne were in front 24–22 with Orford missing the conversion again.
That offload from Bai would be his last involvement in the game as he would leave the field to ice a hamstring injury, but the voodoo was finally kicking into gear when Kimmorley would drop the ball in attack. The Sharks were chancing their arm not long after when Youngquest put a boot on the touch line making a break under the attention of Tadulala. Both teams were guilty of forcing the issue by playing without patience in a two point game, with Melbourne’s second half defence much improved over earlier in the match.
With Melbourne still giving away penalties, the Sharks would end the Storm’s streak of five straight tries to regain the lead through Jason Kent, who slid between Kidwell and Tadulala, with Peachey the provider. Another Melbourne dropped ball in their own half led to another Sharks try through Matt Hilder, with the Sharks forward crashing through to give the home team a 32–24 lead with under eight minutes to play.
Melbourne weren’t done yet though, and a Rieck knock-on 10 metres out from the line gave Orford an opportunity to set up from the scrum win. The diminutive halfback sneaking under a Bird tackle to score under the posts, setting up a big finish with four minutes remaining.
In what was a frantic finale, Hill would leave the field with a shoulder injury after struggling through the pain for a few minutes. Mitchell Sargent would lose the ball again with three minutes to go forcing Melbourne to defend their line. With two minutes left, Kent went close to scoring, before Kimmorley tried a grubber kick on the last tackle. The ball was stopped by Peter Robinson who picked it up to offload to Bell. Bell was in open space and just as he was tackled over halfway by Rieck, he got the offload to Geyer with Boofa running away to score the match winner.
The 22 point comeback still stands as Melbourne’s greatest ever comeback, coming after the club’s previous best against Parramatta in 2002 when they came back from 30–10 down at Olympic Park.
For Chris Anderson the loss was hard to take:
It was disappointing. We won it twice and lost it twice. We were up 22-0 and you should never lose a footy game if you're up 22-0. When you're playing well you don't take your foot off the pedal.
Winning his first game in charge, Craig Bellamy’s task of taking Melbourne back to the finals had the perfect start:
It's a hard thing to work on. You can't just walk in and say, 'You guys need to have some spirit'. It's something that's built over a certain amount of time doing different activities. It was certainly something I was aware of when I went there – that it wasn't a particularly happy place all round. But the thing that has excited me during the pre-season is how hard the guys worked and the attitude of our senior players.
Cronulla – 32 (Stevens 2', Peachey 7', Bailey 12', Bird 19', Kent 67', Hilder 71' tries; Kimmorley 4/6 goals)
Melbourne – 36 (Bell 44', 47', 52', Geyer 37', 79', Slater 32', Orford 75' tries; Orford 4/7 goals)
Stat pack
This will be Melbourne’s first home match on 11 June, with the previous four matches all played in Sydney — against the Roosters (6–41 at the SFS in 2000, 46–0 at the SFS in 2016, and 26–18 at the #ShitCG in 2022), with the other match a win against Parramatta 34–22 in 2006.
Cronulla are the only team to have held Melbourne try-less in Victoria, with Melbourne failing to score a try in the April 2017 match at AAMI Park, losing 11–2 after opening the scoring through a first half penalty goal.4
Melbourne have won 28 of the previous 44 matches between the Storm and Sharks, with the Sharks winning six times in Victoria, but only two of those victories coming at AAMI Park (2017 and 2018).
Nick Meaney will play his 100th NRL game, having started his career with Newcastle in 2018 (five matches), moving to Canterbury 2019–21 (60 matches), before coming to Melbourne last year. Meaney has scored 256 points for Melbourne which puts him 14th all-time for the club.
The last time Melbourne conceded 40+ points (S17E04) they lost to the Gold Coast a week later at AAMI Park 26–28.
Team line-up
Nick Meaney
Will Warbick
Remis Smith
Grant AndersonXavier Coates
Cameron Munster
Jahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant
Christian Welch ©
Trent Loiero
Elisa Katoa
Josh King
Bronson GarlickAaron Pene
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Tariq Sims
Sualauvi Fa’alogoMarion Seve
Kane Bradley
Tyran Wishart
Tom Eisenhuth
Referee: Ashley Klein
Preview
After last week, Melbourne need to aim up in defence against a Cronulla team that has similar attacking capabilities to the Cowboys. Lead by former Storm utility Nicho Hynes, Cronulla started the season a little inconsistent, but a six-match winning streak was only ended last week by the Broncos. The Sharks will be disappointed in that loss on their home turf, hardly firing a shot against the Broncos.
Nicho Hynes and Dale Finucane return to AAMI Park last April had the Storm players aim up for a 34–18 win, but Cronulla would beat Melbourne in Sydney later in the season, in a match more remembered for the actions of Brandon Smith.
With Cronulla averaging almost 26 points per game in 2023, Melbourne will have their work cut out in defence, especially on the edges with Grant Anderson named to replace Justin Olam. A lot of traffic will be heading his way this Sunday, with the Cowboys exposing that area during the second half. It won’t be just Anderson in the firing line though with the other side of the Sharks attack also dangerous.
Melbourne’s attack has been a little lacking so far this season, with the team averaging just a shade over 20 points per game. This fall back to a mid-table team in attack (and in defence too if we’re honest) has seen the Storm unable to mount pressure on the opposition with field position, and has been combined with soft hands under kicks for try scoring opportunities to be lost. Can only assume after their last performance that the backs will be looking to atone this week. Melbourne’s forwards will also need to find their way again after some dismal numbers against the Cowboys.
Melbourne will be wearing their 2023 Indigenous jerseys again this week, which if memory serves me correctly, will be the first time the club has worn a predominately white jersey for a regular season game in Victoria.5 Melbourne has worn an away jersey before, bringing back the 2001-02 purple jersey as a heritage design in 2009.
If Melbourne can score more than 24 points, then a win could be on the cards. However even at home it does feel like this week could be tough sledding against a Sharks team looking to bounce back. Suspect the final margin might be a tight one, especially with the forecast being for dry conditions on Sunday afternoon.
He would eventually start 2003 in round 4, playing just five matches before injuries forced him to have back surgery. He wouldn’t return from this surgery forcing his retirement from the game in 2004.
Reports suggest that I was holding a voodoo doll wearing a Sharks jersey with the number 7 on the back. Pins were poking through the doll’s knee and groin area. These reports are categorically true and I make no apologies.
Bird was put on report and later charged with a grade 2 headslam charge, only receiving 75 demerit points. It was a different time.
Cronulla would lead 3–2 after a James Maloney field goal, which would have been a much more fun scoreline. But alas a Slater error gifted the Sharks the only try of the game, with a late penalty stretching the lead to 11–2.
Fingers crossed they match the jersey with the navy blue shorts like they did against the Dolphins in Indigenous Round.