We go again.
Season 2024 kicked off on the weekend with Peter V’Landys and his News Corp cheerleaders seemingly all enjoying their junket to Las Vegas at the expense of properly funding the game in areas that are literally crying out for support.1
It was though, shall we say a qualified success? Of course it comes as no surprise that this entire event sprung from rugby league’s never ceasing desire for that filthy lucre to come in from the misery of others,2 which sadly remains a topic that is only talked about by those with a conscious. But as long as you “bet with mates”, “set a deposit limit”, and “gamble responsibly”; the ARLC/NRL want you to continue to listen to the same Matt fucking Nable narration five times a day on Fox League and endure the terrible Ray Warren impressions of the commentators.3
Hopefully the very wealthy owners of the Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club Limited see no further need to reduce the number of matches played in the Democratic People’s Republic of Victoria by giving up another home game, lest they finally cave to the effect of the cost of living crisis and stop increasing season ticket prices.4
If you haven’t read Rugby League Eye Test’s analysis of the two matches, then pop over there if you’re keen; but as for what happened during the second game, read this from Ben Quagliata:
In other news, Sua Fa’alogo signing a contract extension was good news, but I do wonder about the consequences that may pop up somewhere a little further down the road with two quality fullbacks on the roster.5
As is customary around these parts, let’s take a trip back to a much nicer time in the battles between Melbourne and Penrith… 1999, when the Storm hosted the Panthers in the opening match of the season.
S02E01 – Melbourne Storm vs Penrith Panthers
Coming off the back of the successful opening season in 1998, Melbourne somehow snagged the opening match of the 1999 season, albeit with a 6:30pm start time and only on the subscription television networks.6
It was the weekend of the Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park,7 and my memories of this Friday night was that it was quite warm and sunny at kickoff. Melbourne were at full strength, with new signing Steve Kearney making his club debut, while Penrith were missing a bunch of regulars including Greg Alexander and Mark Geyer.
Matt Geyer, starting on the right wing would score the first points of the season from a penalty goal from directly in front in the first five minutes, and followed that up with a try in the 16th minute on the back of great lead-up play from Wayne Evans and Robbie Ross. Scott Hill’s final cutout pass was a beauty.
Ten minutes later Penrith would score their first try of the evening, with Robbie Beckett swooping on a Brett Kimmorley kick on his own line to run almost 100 metres untouched to score.
The rest of the first half was a bit of a grind, with another Geyer penalty goal making the score 8–4 at the break. Geyer would add another two points to start the second half when Panthers captain Steve Carter was put on report for a careless high tackle.
From there it was all Melbourne as they showed early season confidence to dispatch the under-strength visitors. Tries to Robbie Ross and Rusty Bawden were followed by a stunning try to Richard Swain as the Storm turned on the razzle-dazzle in front of 12,056 fans at Olympic Park.
Aaron Moule would score Melbourne’s fifth try in the final ten minutes, coming off the bench to score on the left edge. Penrith would score a late consolation try when Ryan Girdler picked up an intercept with Melbourne trying to extend the lead past 30 points.
Melbourne’s forward pack dominated the visitors in a sign of things to come that season. Penrith would finish that season in tenth on the NRL ladder, but would win their first two games against Melbourne the following season, defeating the reigning premiers in rounds 4 and 17.
Melbourne – 32 (Geyer 16', Ross 44', Bawden 65', Swain 68', Moule 73' tries; Geyer 6/9 goals)
Penrith – 10 (Beckett 28', Girdler 75' tries; Girdler 1/2 goals)
Like 2024, that opening round back in 1999 also saw a marquee doubleheader in round 1, when the following day 104,583 fans packed into Stadium Australia for the first events at the Sydney Olympic venue.
Stat attack
Melbourne have played just once on 8 March, the famous golden point win against Manly at #FortressShithole in round 1 2014, when Cameron Smith kicked his first NRL field goal to end the match in extra time, after Manly had led 20–4 at half time.
Penrith’s current three-match winning streak against Melbourne is their longest winning streak against the Storm. The longest win streak between these teams is Melbourne’s 11-match winning run between 2006 and 2017.
Of active opponents, Penrith’s worst win percentage is against Melbourne, winning 15 of 44 previous matches (34.09%).
Penrith have won just once at AAMI Park from eight previous visits, winning the last match played at Swan Street 22–16 in round 25, 2018. Penrith have won only four times in Victoria from 20 matches played in Melbourne.
Penrith’s consecutive losses in the World Club Challenge are the first in that fixture since Leeds Rhinos lost to Manly (2009) and Melbourne (2010).
Melbourne’s last win against Penrith in August 2022 came with Gerard Sutton holding the whistle. Since the removal of the second referee, Melbourne have won two of the three matches played between these teams with Sutton as the referee.
Melbourne have won 69% of the 62 matches officiated by Sutton, just 1% less than their overall record during his career as a referee.
The appointment of Sutton ends a three-match streak of matches officiated by Adam Gee, all resulting in Melbourne losses.
Trent Loiero has been named for his 50th NRL match — he’s scored six tries in his previous 49 appearances, but never more than two tries in any one season.
Team line-up
Ryan Papenhuyzen
Will Warbrick
Reimis Smith
Nick Meaney
Xavier Coates
Cameron MunsterJahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant ©
Josh King
Joe Chan
Eliesa Katoa
Trent Loiero (50th NRL match)
Tyran Wishart
Christian Welch
Chris Lewis
Alec MacDonald
Shawn Blore
Kane Bradley
Jonah Pezet
Marion SeveSualauvi Fa’alogo
Referee: Gerard Sutton (Bunker: Adam Gee8)
Preview
Melbourne Storm vs Penrith Panthers — AAMI Park, 8:05pm Friday 8 March 2024
Well the news about Cameron Munster potentially being unavailable for round 1 hit like a brick, with the playmaker apparently suffering a groin injury in the shower while in Fiji. That’s certainly one way to get out of playing a match.9 However he has been named to play, and was quoted as saying he should be at least 80-100% fit by Friday night. Should Munster not make it, Jonah Pezet has been named in the reserves and will likely come in at five-eighth.
UPDATE: Munster was ruled out on Thursday evening.
Ryan Papenhuyzen starts at fullback, with Sua Fa’alogo apparently carrying a minor shoulder complaint, despite still being named in the extended squad. It will be a welcome return to the number one jersey for Paps and I’m sure there will be loud cheers at AAMI Park after his serious leg injury during the qualifying final last September. It’s definitely a story of perseverance for the fullback, but I wouldn’t expect to see his entire range of tricks in round 1. I suspect that Nick Meaney will continue with the goalkicking duties.
The rest of the backline is fairly settled. Meaney moving in the centres with Xavier Coates will be an interesting watch, especially with new edge forward combinations.
As expected, Josh King is now in the middle forward rotation, with Trent Loiero taking his lock forward role. Whether that means Loiero won’t play the full 80 minutes will be an intriguing question, with Craig Bellamy opting for Chris Lewis and Alec MacDonald on the bench with former captain Christian Welch, while Tyran Wishart will fulfill the utility role.
Happily Joe Chan gets a chance to impress first up on the edge. He looked quite good in the trials, so hopefully he can have an impact against the Panthers forwards. Unhappily, Nelson Asofa-Solomona has been “managed” and will miss this week with “hamstring awareness.”10
For Penrith as they begin their chase for a four-peat, Jarome Luai returns for his first game time since leaving the field during the 2023 Grand Final. Luke Sommerton has been named at hooker for what would be his third NRL appearance, replacing Mitch Kenny who is out suspended for this week after his social media post late last year.
The rest of the Penrith line-up is premiership players and the usual suspects. We know that they’re going to stick to the Prefects game plan that has seen them successful over the last three seasons.
Hate to say it this early in the season, and especially considering Melbourne’s formidable round 1 record, but this might be the year the Storm start 0–1. Discipline will be key, with Melbourne one of the most penalised teams last year, and the two trials has seen that trend continue. Breaking down their defence will be tough, with Melbourne failing to score more than 16 points against Penrith in the last six encounters.
Juniors watch
Last Saturday I headed out to the still unfinished11 NRL Victoria Centre of Excellence at Seabrook Reserve in Broadmeadows to watch the Storm HM Cup and SG Ball Cup squads play against the St George Dragons.
Both Storm teams ended up on the losing side against the Dragons, with the HM Cup U17s going down 22–18 and the SG Ball Cup U19s losing 24–10.
Here’s a nice try I caught with my camera in the SG Ball Cup game.
Both teams are back at Broadmeadows playing at Comely Banks Reserve in Officer this Saturday afternoon with matches against Manly. Kickoffs are 12:45pm and 2:10pm.
Speaking of junior development, this snipe from Jack Snape at The Guardian created some discourse. Yes Melbourne might have only had five Victorians play for the club in 26 seasons, but with facilities like Seabrook Reserve, Comely Banks Reserve, and Clearwood Drive Reserve only just coming online in recent seasons, there hasn’t been many rugby league facilities in metropolitan Melbourne that anyone north of the Murray or Tweed could call as appropriate for elite level junior development. There’s also been a distinct lack of funding and support from the ARLC for a number of years to provide any tangible help for NRL Victoria and community clubs, with a couple of schools instead taking up the slack.
In any event a strong argument could be made that Melbourne’s development of young rugby league players was accelerated when the NRL Under-20s competition was active, with about a quarter of players who played for the club eventually making a NRL first grade debut, whether in Melbourne or elsewhere. Since the demise of that competition, has development of players across the competition advanced in any tangible fashion?
The Victorian outsider in me would also strongly argue that the NRL-level clubs should have almost no hands-on role in the development of underage players in a mature sport. Instead the state bodies, local community clubs, and regional/district representative teams are a better positioned to foster young participants in sport and education. But that would require administrators to actually work together and find a whole of sport solution and a paradigm shift, which would hopefully/eventually lead to the best solution for the elite game: an entry draft.12
Although cheering for the NSWRL and QRL in their case against the ARLC/NRL behemoth won’t result in the same level of catharsis as previous rugby legal matters. We can only wish that the final result could somehow result in excluding Souths from the competition for shits and giggles.
As opposed to building a self-sustaining business that could sell relevant content to rugby league fans.
Reading that Nine were ready to poach Dan Ginnane, but Steve Crawley (sworn enemy of all true rugby league fans) kept him at great expense and remains his fluffer at Fox, angried up the blood.
But that’s a rant for another time.
The last time this happened some of us wanted one of them moved to five-eighth, but that position is also filled long term.
Some things never change I guess with the first match this season not being on Nine. The “actual” first match in 1999 was Canberra hosting reigning premiers Brisbane, which as was the style at the time, on a delayed broadcast on Nine.
Won by McLaren’s Mika Häkkinen from David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher.
Like Thanos, he is inevitable in this fixture. What madness will ensue?
The Fox League interview show Face to Face had a great chat between Munster and Yvonne Sampson that is well worth watching… unlike a lot of their content these days.
As a Geelong fan I couldn’t resist using those lovely vague terms that the Cats have used over the last few seasons to describe this type of injury.
If you’re heading out to Broadmeadows as a fan at the moment, lower your expectations and bring a jacket as the fields are quite exposed to the wind.
But no one is ever ready for that conversation.