S26E24 Preview – Canberra Rectangular Stadium
The Green Machine rolling into Melbourne can mean only one thing
The title of this post comes courtesy of the usually fine people at League Tees who put out this abomination last year:
They do have some great Storm related products though, most of which I have in my wardrobe.
In order to avoid the matches between Melbourne and Canberra at AAMI Park, this week my mind went all the way back to the second week of the 1998 finals when Canberra came to Olympic Park.
S01E26 – Melbourne Storm vs Canberra Raiders
This replay comes courtesy of SeaEaglesFan at YouTube who has quite a nice selection of videos available, their season reviews covering 1994 through 2001 are a good watch, especially the ones with highlights spliced together from news reports.
Melbourne had lost their first finals appearance the previous Sunday afternoon against the Sydney City Roosters, with their inexperience costly against a Brad Fittler master class. On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Olympic Park,1 the Storm were looking to bounce back against the Raiders, who had progressed to this point after beating Manly in the first week of the finals.2
From the selected teams, Matt Geyer would start on the wing, with Craig Smith carrying an injury. Melbourne were still missing Glenn Lazarus through injury. John Carlaw would come onto the bench in jersey 19. The Raiders were as per program.
Melbourne had defeated the Raiders on a windy Friday night at Olympic Park just two weeks prior to this match, to secure third place on the ladder going into the 1998 finals series. On commentary for Nine were Andrew Voss, Paul Vautin, Gary Freeman, and Steve Roach;3 and it was a small4 but enthusiastic crowd on hand.
First half Storm front
Canberra tried to start the game aggressively, but it would backfire in spectacular fashion after conceding an early penalty to give Melbourne field position. Going to work immediately, Brett Kimmorley’s pinpoint kick out to the right flank exposing a compressed Raiders line for Geyer to score in the corner. Noddy couldn’t convert the try for a 4–0 lead. From the restart, Melbourne were immediately on the attack again when Geyer made a line break and a big run to take the ball over halfway. A penalty from right in front saw Kimmorley take the shot at goal to extend the lead to 6–0 and the perfect start for the home team.
Helped by the breeze, Melbourne looked on their toes and primed for a big effort, with the Raiders struggling. The visitors would get a chance when Ricky Stuart trapped a Kimmorley grubber kick to sprint away with Lesley Vainikolo, Melbourne only able to end the set thanks to the safe hands of Marcus Bai under the high ball.
With both teams conceding a bunch of early penalties, this final was a little stop-start in the first 20 minutes, but as the game settled into a rhythm it would be Melbourne that emerged on top. Scott Hill would burrow over from dummy half to get the green lights from the video referee and at 12–05 the game was tilted in favour of the home team.
Melbourne were keeping Canberra under pressure with plenty of offloads, and in defence the Storm were blunting the Raiders attack by containing Stuart. A beautiful pass from Kimmorley would catch out the visitors on the left, with Tony Martin crossing for his first try in the 24th minute. Melbourne looked dangerous on every set down that left edge, with Martin and Bai giving headaches to Vainikolo and Ruben Wiki.
Melbourne finished the first half well on top in the game and on the scoreboard. A fourth Melbourne try, with Bai scoring out wide after another great pass from Kimmorley was helped on by Martin. Canberra were shot to bits against Martin and Bai, with Kimmorley and Hill running the show in the middle.
Canberra would barely survive to halftime, but with the score at 20–0 this game was essentially over with Melbourne in control.
Grinding it out
Into the breeze, Kimmorley’s kicking game was blunted in the second half as the match entered a grinding phase. Errors and penalties were coming thick and fast, with a skirmish between Ben Roarty and Luke Davico in the 50th minute the only real action as Melbourne’s scramble defence was too much as Canberra played panic football.
Canberra would eventually break through for their first points of the afternoon, a nice passing move to the right edge putting Brett Mullins over to score. David Furner converting to bring the margin back to 14 points. Canberra’s veterans were lifting, but Melbourne were able to settle again through some solid defensive work.
Mullins would bomb a try after regathering a Stuart chip kick, but with the match entering the final 15 minutes, time was running out for the visitors. Canberra were struggling with a number of injuries mounting, Furner leaving the field in the final ten minutes. Robbie Ross would be denied a try for a push in the back on Simon Woolford after some neat evasion, hard running and a kick ahead from Geyer.
There was enough time left for this moment of zen:
Melbourne would score their first try of the second half in the 74th minute with Martin scoring his second of the afternoon from a bullet pass from Boofa.
In his last appearance for the Raiders, Stuart would take an intercept try a couple of minutes later for the last points of the match. This would be the last game for the Raiders for Ricky Stuart and Brad Clyde before heading to the Bulldogs, signalling an end of an era for the original salary cap premiers.
Melbourne would progress to the next week of the 1998 finals to play Brisbane at the SFS after the Broncos were upset by the Eels on the way to the 1998 NRL Grand Final.
Melbourne – 24 (Martin 24', 74', Geyer 2', Hill 17', Bai 35' tries; Kimmorley 2/6 goals)
Canberra –10 (Mullins 56', Stuart 76' tries; Furner 1/1, McNamara 0/1 goals)
Stat pack
Melbourne have played five previous matches on 12 August for a 3–2 record. The last time Melbourne played on this date was in 2021, which saw the Storm defeat the Raiders 26–16 at the Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Canberra have left AAMI Park with a win on their last five trips to Melbourne, to be the only visiting team to have a winning record at the venue. Their eight wins from 13 visitors is four more than any other opponent, with the Raiders averaging 18.62 points per game.
This AAMI Park record making up for the Raiders horrible record at Olympic Park, where they won just once from 12 visits to The Graveyard. Their only win in Victoria between 1998 and 2010 coming in 2000.
Melbourne’s 68–4 thrashing of the Raiders in Canberra during the 2013 remains the Raiders heaviest defeat, with the Green Machine only conceding one greater score in their premiership history.
Famously Craig Bellamy scored 46 tries for the Raiders during his 149 first grade appearances in the NSWRL competition. Raiders coach Ricky Stuart would score 39 tries (195 points) in his 203 games for the Raiders from 1988–1998.
Melbourne’s 26–0 away win over Canberra in round 19 of the 2011 season was the first time Canberra had been held scoreless at their home ground in their history.
Young Tonumaipea is scheduled to play his 50th match for Melbourne coming 10 seasons after his debut in round 1 of the 2014 season. Tonumaipea left Melbourne during the 2018 season, returning to the club during the 2022 season after spells with the Titans (2020) and Rebels (2021–2022).
This stat also popped up on my Insta feed from RandomStatsGuru which I wished I had researched better last week in my stats pack.
Team line-up
Nick Meaney
Will Warbick
Marion Seve
Young Tonumaipea
Xavier Coates
Cameron Munster
Jahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant
Christian Welch ©
Trent Loiero
Tom Eisenhuth
Josh King
Bronson Garlick
Eliesa Katoa
Tepai Moeroa
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Alec MacDonald
Reimis Smith
Jonah Pezet
Tariq Sims
Tyran Wishart
Referee: Grant Atkins (Bunker: Ben Cummins)
Preview
This is the first and only scheduled match against the Raiders for the season 26, which is an odd one for the club as Canberra is Melbourne’s second most frequent opponent behind the Broncos.
We’re also back to Swan Street and AAMI Park following the venue’s return from FIFA Women’s World Cup duty. With the main tenant back, life can return to normal after six fun match days.6
Team list Tuesday saw Jahrome Hughes and Xavier Coates named to return from their week off against the Panthers. Hopefully both are fit and firing this week, especially Hughes whose absence was notable on the right edge of attack against Penrith. As I noted above in the stat pack, Young Tonumaipea is set to play his 50th match in Storm colours this week, becoming only the second Victorian to do so for the club.7 I’m still not quite sold on the forward pack rotation at the moment as I think having both Tepai Moeroa and Alec MacDonald coming on offers a lot of energy in the back end of the first half.
Rugby League Eye Test has saved me from having to do any analysis of the Raiders this week, so go and have a read of their deep dive into them here. Dan over at The Sportress is also worth a read if you want to know more about The Milk8 and their 28 year premiership drought, I mean current woes.
Canberra and their formidable record here in Melbourne in recent seasons, come into this match level on points with the Storm in fifth spot on the ladder. That makes this one a must-win should Melbourne have any ambition of finishing in the top four come the end of the season. A loss here could see Melbourne drop as low as sixth after the weekend and back into the mixer just to make the final eight.
With both teams struggling for consistency this season, it’s getting hard to judge which Melbourne team will show up in any given week. Last week saw effort without polish and discipline. That discipline will be must needed against any team coached by the angry little man on the Canberra bench, and any team containing Jack Wighton will be dangerous.
Your correspondence had to work this particular Saturday afternoon. I remember that it was a freezing cold Saturday despite the early spring sunshine.
The 1998 NRL finals series being one of the quirkiest finals series of all time. It was typical of the NRL’s compromised decision making emerging from the Super League war.
With injured Raiders star Laurie Daley on the sidelines. Of course being Nine, this was delayed coverage.
Officially 12,592 was the posted crowd figure, but with an AFL final attracting 60,000 across the tracks it was about as expected.
Melbourne Super League merch sighting!
The Matildas game was a highlight, as was the drama of the USA going out on penalties to Sweden.
2024 Mackay Cutters signing Mahe Fonua being the other.
Sorry to say that in all of Australian sport, there’s not much more that I hate than The Milk as reference for the Raiders. Advertising logos on sports uniforms are an evil that we put up with begrudgingly, not to be noted and celebrated. Even for something as generic as milk.