S27E21 Preview – 700 NRL matches

Raising the bat for 700 NRL matches and looking back at Olympic years

Jul 24, 2024

As noted a few weeks back, this week is Melbourne Storm’s 700th NRL match.

Last month I looked at the ordinal milestones that include the World Club Challenge matches, this week it’s the more recognised milestone matches.

Game 100 – S04E18 Melbourne Storm vs Wests Tigers

On Thursday 5 July 2001 the Storm celebrated their 100th NRL match in some style, thrashing the Wests Tigers 64–0 at the Docklands. It was the club’s greatest ever winning margin and the first time holding any opposition scoreless.

Matt Orford converted ten of the 11 tries scored, with Matt Geyer scoring a hat trick. Richard Swain was the only player to feature in all of the club’s matches to that point, also scoring a try.

Game 200 – S08E17 Canterbury Bulldogs vs Melbourne Storm

In July 2005, Melbourne Storm ended one of their longer hoodoos, defeating the Bulldogs 33–6 in Sydney. It was the club’s first win over the Bulldogs in Sydney since 2000, making it their first win at the Sydney Showgrounds from five matches. Greg Inglis and Billy Slater both scored doubles.

Game 300 – S12E08 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles vs Melbourne Storm

In the first meeting between these two teams since the 2008 NRL Grand Final, Melbourne ignored the signs in the crowd at #FortressShithole to hand Manly a 22–8 defeat. It was the reigning premiers sixth loss of the 2009 season, sending them to a lowly 14th on the NRL ladder.

Game 400 – S16E04 Brisbane Broncos vs Melbourne Storm

Still on a high after the 2012 Grand Final and 2013 World Club Challenge triumphs, Melbourne extended their winning streak to 12 matches, beating the Broncos 32–26 in a hard-fought match at Lang Park. Melbourne had led 20–6 at half time, but the Broncos had pulled in front in the second half. A hat trick to Billy Slater and a late try to Matt Duffie sealed the win.

Game 500 – S19E30 Melbourne Storm vs Cronulla Sharks

Unfortunately this game happened.

The 2016 NRL Grand Final was the club’s 500th NRL match. Sigh.

Game 600 – S23E19 Melbourne Storm vs Wests Tigers

In something of a parallel to the 100th match, Melbourne thrashed the Wests Tigers 50–22 at Sunshine Coast Stadium, with Cameron Smith sticking it to the coach by scoring his 47th career try. Wingers Josh Addo-Carr and Suliasi Vunivalu both scored doubles ton confirm Melbourne’s top two spot before the delayed 2020 finals series.

Storm history stats:

699 NRL matches

466 wins, 227 losses, 6 draws
17,101 points for (3,015 tries; 2,497 goals; 45 field goals; one 2pt field goal).
11,656 points against (2,034 tries; 1,738 goals; 42 field goals; one 2pt field goal).
Most matches, goals & points: Cameron Smith – 430 matches; 1,295 goals; 2,786 points.
Most tries: Billy Slater – 190 tries.

Storm and the Olympics

With the 2024 Paris Olympics starting this weekend, my thoughts turned to the other times the Storm have played during a summer Olympic year.1 Plus Melbourne have our own Olympian in the squad these days — Rugby Sevens silver medalist Will Warbrick.

Sydney 2000

Ah The Bad Place home of the Sidknee Games. Melbourne of course did it first, and already took home the prize ahead of the 2000 season, with the glorious triumph of the 1999 NRL Grand Final.

The Olympics being held in September did cause the 2000 NRL season to have one of the strangest schedules in the competition’s history.2 Melbourne’s season started in January. The club’s only competitive match ever played in January happened in 2000, travelling to England to play Super League champions St Helens in frigid conditions. Melbourne coming home with the trophy, thrashing Saints 44–6.

From there Melbourne returned home for four NRL matches in February,3 losing all four away from Victoria to drop to last on the NRL ladder for the first time.4 The Storm’s losing streak ended with the very cathartic 70–10 win over the Dragons at the MCG.5

The club did make the finals in 2000, but bowed out after a week one loss to Newcastle.

Athens 2004

The opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics on 13 August saw Melbourne in fifth place on the NRL ladder, on a two match losing streak. The club would play three matches during the Olympic period, first beating Canberra 36–18 away, then winning 22–12 against the Bulldogs at Olympic Park for the club’s first win against Canterbury since ANZAC Day in 2000. The last game before the Athens games closed saw the Storm beat the Sharks at The Swamp 36–18.

The games themselves wasn’t kind to Storm supporter Jana Pittman, with the reigning 400m hurdles world champion tearing her meniscus and having surgery a week before the games. She would make the final and finish fifth.

World 400m Hurdles Champion Jana Pittman cheers on the Storm

Melbourne made the 2004 NRL finals in their second season coached by Craig Bellamy, beating the Broncos in Brisbane, but fell short against eventual premiers Canterbury in a semi final.

Beijing 2008

Melbourne played Manly on the same night that the 2008 Olympics opened in Beijing, defeating the Sea Eagles 16–10 at #FortressShithole.

Like 2004, Melbourne went undefeated through the Olympic period, notching further wins against the Roosters and Panthers to take first spot on the NRL ladder heading into the final fortnight of the 2008 regular season.

London 2012

Melbourne again played on the day the Olympics opened in London, going down to the Dragons 26–18 in Wollongong. That defeat was Melbourne’s fifth in a row, with the club’s 2012 campaign looking in serious trouble. Two home wins against Penrith and Gold Coast steadied the ship for Melbourne ahead of the 2012 finals.

Your correspondent was in England for the 2012 Olympics — it was a time.

Rio 2016

The opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics took place on the morning of Melbourne’s golden point win against Souths at AAMI Park, Cameron Smith’s last minute penalty conversion and field goal in extra time securing a 15–14 escape over the Bunnies.

The Raiders would end Melbourne’s six game winning streak a week later, winning 22–8 in Canberra, with Melbourne completing the Olympic period with a 38–18 win over Manly headlined by Suliasi Vunivalu’s four tries.

Tokyo 20201

The COVID-19 pandemic was still raging in 2021, with the 2020 Olympics delayed until July 2021 and hosted in front of mostly empty stands. We’ve certainly been living in strange times. Melbourne was in lockdown during the Toyko Olympics, with the Storm relocated back to Queensland again. The club would win all three matches during the Olympics period — victories against the Cowboys, Panthers and Sea Eagles were wins 15, 16, and 17 in the club’s record winning streak during that extraordinary 2021 regular season.

Stat attack

Melbourne have played just once before on 26 July, defeating Souths 24–6 at Olympic Park in 2003.
Parramatta caretaker coach Trent Barrett has coached seven previous matches against Melbourne for only one victory back in 2018 when he was at Manly.
Melbourne have won the last three matches against Parramatta, including the meeting earlier this season at Magic Round.
Parramatta have won three of the four matches played at CommBank Stadium against Melbourne.
Liam Kennedy will have the whistle for just the third time in a Melbourne Storm fixture, he was in charge of the Dolphins match earlier this season.

Team line-up

Ryan Papenhuyzen
Will Warbrick
Jack Howarth
Nick Meaney
Grant Anderson
Tyran Wishart
Jahrome Hughes
Tui Kamikamica
Harry Grant ©
Josh King
Shawn Blore
Eliesa Katoa
Trent Loiero
Sualauvi Fa’alogo
~~Christian Welch~~
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Lazarus Vaalepu
Dean Ieremia
Tepai Moeroa
Cameron Munster
Chris Lewis
Reimis Smith

Referee: Liam Kennedy (Bunker: Gerard Sutton)

Preview

Parramatta Eels vs Melbourne Storm
— CommBank Stadium, 8:00pm Friday 26 July 2024

Joe Chan accepted a two match suspension for his tackle on Victor Radley. That’s a pity as I’m pretty sure any additional penalty for hitting Radley should never rise above community service. Alec MacDonald will also miss this week’s match, finding himself in the injury report with a shoulder injury. Both Nelson Asofa-Solomona (hamstring) and Christian Welch (turning 30/back) return after missing last week’s match to replace Chan and MacDonald. Thankfully Grant Anderson seems to have recovered okay from his scare in the final seconds last week, but as always with Melbourne’s injuries, late changes are always possible given the cautious nature of the football department with the team’s position on the ladder. It would be confusing though if Lazarus Vaalepu doesn’t get another match this week off the bench.

Cameron Munster has been named in the reserves after training with the team this week. It was amusing to see his teammates suggesting that he needs to spend a week in Queensland Cup before returning to NRL action. Not sure that’s necessary, but we might see Munster back on the field very soon. Selection headaches await the coaching staff trying to name a 17 for the bigger matches to come.

For the Eels, Mitch Moses is done for the season so Daejardn Asi partners Dylan Brown in the halves, while their main attacking weapon Blaize Talagi is lurking in the centres. There’s a bunch of other changes for the Eels, mostly in their forward pack ahead of Jason Ryles cleaning house at the end of the season.6

Looking back at the match from Magic Round when Melbourne went all comedy football in the second half to thrash Parramatta, I kinda want a repeat performance this week. Lots of points for the Storm, not many for the Eels would be fantastic please and thank you. Some luck with injuries would also be sweet at this time of the year, although there might be enough time to recover ahead of the finals if players do pick up minor complaints.

Building towards the finals is in full swing from here through to September. After a great defensive effort against the Roosters, this week is a chance to fine tune some attacking play, while making sure that the energy is high to defend. It will be interesting to see how Sua Fa’alogo is deployed this week after his very brief cameo against the Roosters.

Great analysis here (as always) from Oscar over at Rugby League Writers breaking down how Melbourne’s defence worked over the Roosters. This highlights how the Storm have tweaked the passive structure that has on occasion leaked points this season.

What else is going on?

The Jersey Flegg Cup has the weekend off. The Storm juniors will be back in action at AAMI Park as the curtain raiser ahead of the Dragons match.

The Bears travel to Belmore to face the fourth-placed Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon (kickoff at Midday). North Sydney haven’t lost since May, only losing three games all season. They’re currently five points clear on top of the NSW Cup ladder.

It’s Country Week in the Queensland Cup. The Falcons are off to South Kolan to face the Jets. Now I lived on the Fraser Coast for a decade and had no idea where the hell South Kolan was until this week. Apparently it’s on the road between Gin Gin and Bundaberg, so I’m sure the cane farmers in the area will enjoy some Queensland Cup action. Hopefully the Falcons don’t embarrass themselves like they did recently against the Jets, instead putting in an effort like they did last week against the Hunters.

The ~~Brisbane~~ Easts Tigers are off to Mount Isa to play the Townsville Blackhawks. The reigning premiers have been off the pace so far this season, and are going to miss the finals unless they can string a few wins together.

The NRL Women’s season kicks off on Thursday night. Still no Storm colours to cheer for in this competition, and no one signed Viclander Emmanita Paki after representing Queensland in the State of Origin. My advice, cheer against the NSW teams on principle, but appreciate all the wonderful athletes.

A note…

Thank you to everyone who subscribes to these missives. I’m going away for the weekend on Saturday morning, so either the review of the Parramatta match will be very rough and come out early, or it will be the usual level of rubbish and come out later than Monday morning.