S28E06 Preview – There may be a boogeyman or boogeymen in the house

Melbourne's "bogey team" comes to town

Apr 10, 2025

During the Manly match Andrew Johns was talking out of his arse by saying the Warriors are Melbourne’s “bogey team.” I guess The Eighth is still living in his blackout era. Melbourne will be putting their 16-match winning streak on the line against the Warriors, but could it be an ambush?

Been a little slack in looking back at old games so far in 2025 so it’s time to get back into the groove this week with a look back at the year sometimes best forgotten… 2010.1

S13E07 – Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors

Ah April 2010. It’s enough to send a shudder down the back of most Storm fans, even if it is 15 years since the salary cap scandal blew up. Every year the anniversary takes me back to where I was when the story broke and the extraordinary punishments were announced by ~~News Limited~~ the NRL against ~~News Limited~~ the club.2 So affected by what had happened that week, this is one of the few Storm games that I regretfully did not watch live on the box while living in Queensland at the time. Instead I used the two hours to contemplate life, the universe and everything.

Beyond those fateful few days, there was a lot going on at the moment3 with the Melbourne Storm. Two straight defeats in rounds five (Titans away) and six (Manly at home on MNF) had seen the Storm stumble from the top of the ladder, with the defending premiers further distracted by the completion of a court case against Greg Inglis.

This match was the club’s second Anzac Day game against the Warriors in Melbourne, with the Storm playing the first three home games of the 2010 season at the Docklands Stadium ahead of the grand opening of AAMI Park in May. This match formed the final part of a Sunday triple-header of matches across the weekend.

With the mindset of the Storm under question following their exclusion from the 2010 premiership race, it was always going to be interesting to see how they would fare on the field. Players hadn’t been training and no one knew quite what to expect. Melbourne taking the field with jerseys with heat pressed sponsor logos over the top of those organisations that had ditched the club in the previous few days.

From the teams named earlier in the week, Melbourne’s outside backs were completely different. Matt Duffie and Gareth Widdop made their NRL debuts, while Willie Isa played just his third NRL match. Brett White came onto the bench in place of Kevin Proctor, while for Ivan Cleary’s Warriors, Russell Packer started at prop, shifting Jesse Royal back to the bench.

Andy Raymond and Brandy Alexander were in the commentary box for Fox Sports and you could tell off the top that they didn’t really know what to expect with a noisy crowd of 23,906 in attendance, including a good bunch of the MOB who had gathered at the request of Robbie Kearns to show support.

What scandal? Over 23,000 of Melbourne's faithful turned out to cheer their team on.

Melbourne seemed to expend a lot of their frustration energy in the opening stages, both teams starting very physical in the middle. An errant kick from James Maloney and a piggyback penalty put the Storm on the attack in the third minute, but the opportunity closed when Ryan Hoffman’s pass bounced off the chest of Billy Slater when a try was beckoning in the left channel. Compounding that miss was the loss of Aiden Tolman who left the field with a knee injury that would keep him sidelined for a month.

The Warriors went close with a deep attacking raid in the 5th minute, but the Storm defence muscled up, with Duffie thrusting the opposition winger over the sideline in a strong tackle. The match was a messy arm wrestle with a number of errors and penalties in the first 15 minutes until Cameron Smith went full goat-mode to carry defenders across the line to score the opening try. It was the first bit of jubilation for the Storm and there were smiles on faces.

Little things looked different from Melbourne, there was definitely a little more daring in their attacking moves — the offload count was through the roof. Duffie went close to scoring in the 21st minute, but had put his boot on the touch line before getting the ball down in the right corner. He probably should have scored, but he wouldn’t be denied a couple of minutes later when Cooper Cronk put him over out wide. Cronk was running rings around the defence.

Melbourne were playing fast and loose with the ball, looking like they had been told just to have fun out there. King of the offloads Adam Blair was the third tryscorer, running through a massive hole in the right channel, again off a Cronk pass.

The fourth try was again a Cronk special, this time drifting right to put Brett Finch into solitary before he passed back inside to a loping Ryan Tandy to score under the posts. It was Tandy’s first NRL try coming seven years after his debut for the Dragons in 2003.

It was 22–0 at the break and the Warriors looked shot, the visitors had completed only 7 of 14 sets with the ball making 10 errors. They didn’t begin the second half any better either despite having a couple of chances to attack the Melbourne line. Instead it was Melbourne going further ahead with Duffie scoring his second following a classic Melbourne passing move, that saw the ball go from Cronk inside to Slater who weighed up a big pass to the winger in space.

It was easy as you like for Melbourne putting whatever plays on that they could dream up, Willie Isa scored his second (and final) Storm try with Duffie this time turning provider to his centre partner on a short side raid from halfway.

There was one final try for the Storm to hit 40 points. After Duffie was correctly denied his hat trick by video referee Chris Ward,4 Slater capped off the night with a try of his own, running through to chase another perfectly constructed Cronk kick. Slater getting his hand on the ball despite the attention of James Maloney. That sparked something of a melee between the hotheads on both teams with referee Gavin Badger struggling to keep control.

Slater almost scored a solo try a few minutes later, but it would be the visitors who scored the only try in the last ten minutes. A late consolation try to Ukuma Ta’ai saved the Warriors from doughnuts after they sustained some pressure on the Storm line.

An emotional Cameron Smith accepted the Michael Moore Trophy with thanks to the Storm fans.

We haven't forgotten about you guys and how much this has affected you. But we ask that you don't forget us. Every one of us guarantees that every time we put on this jersey this year, we're going to give the best for our club, so I hope you all turn up.

Cronk, Slater and Smith received the Dally M points for this one, with Cronk dominant in setting up the Storm tries. The remainder of the 2010 season was a roller coaster of emotions and form for the Storm, with away trips especially hard until the points for a purpose program kicked in. The Storm proving the prediction of Penrith coach Matt Elliott right when he said that the squad could be like a barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters. This was Melbourne’s last appearance at Docklands until 2023.

Melbourne – 40 (Duffie 24', 48', Smith 16', Blair 31', Tandy 36', Isa 51', Slater 66' tries; Smith 6/7 goals)

Warriors – 6 (Ta’ai 78' try; Maloney 1/1 goal)

Stat attack

The Storm have played four previous matches on 13 April winning three of those matches. Wins included matches against Brett Kimmorley’s Northern Eagles (2001), Souths (2013) and Newcastle (2018), with the sole loss against the Bulldogs in 2002.
At 27 years and 238 days, Moses Leo was the oldest Storm player to make their NRL debut since Bronson Garlick made his debut in round 1 2023 at 27 years and 73 days. Chris Lewis made his NRL debut in round 4 of the 2020 season just a few days away from his 28th birthday at 27 years and 358 days.5
Jahrome Hughes has played in 11 of the Storm’s 16-match winning streak against the Warriors, and has never lost a match against the Wahs, scoring seven tries.
Last year’s match winner Xavier Coates has scored 10 tries in eight matches against the Warriors, including six in his four matches for the Storm against the Wahs.
Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad made 36 appearances for the Storm’s NRL Under-20s from 2014 to 2015 scoring 16 tries. He came through the grades in Melbourne after playing for the club’s SG Ball Cup squad in 2012 and 2013.
Melbourne lost two of the five matches controlled by Ashley Klein in 2024, including the Grand Final. Since 2020 Melbourne have a 66.67% win record in games where Klein has the whistle, losing eight of 24 matches.

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Team line-up

Ryan Papenhuyzen
Grant Anderson
Jack Howarth
Moses Leo
Xavier Coates
Cameron Munster
Jahrome Hughes
Stefano Utoikamanu
Harry Grant ©
Josh King
Shawn Blore
Eliesa Katoa
Trent Loeiro
Tyran Wishart
Alec MacDonald
Tui Kamikamica
Bronson Garlick
Joe Chan
Lazarus Vaalepu
Kane Bradley
Sualauvi Fa’alogo
Keagan Russell-Smith

Referee: Ashley Klein (Bunker: Liam Kennedy)

Preview

Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors
— AAMI Park, 2:00pm Sunday 13 April 2025

The side that got the job done against Manly get another crack at it this week. Grant Anderson and Moses Leo team up again with Will Warbrick still sidelined. The forward pack and the bench is still missing big NAS, but are otherwise looking settled. Joe Chan might come into calculations after making his season debut for the Bears last weekend, while the usual cavalry are listed in the reserves.

For the visitors from across the ditch, they too are reasonably settled. Tanah Boyd makes way for the return from injury of Rocco Berry, which sees Adam Pompey move out to the wing. The Warriors are missing two of the hyphens at the moment with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck on the sidelines through injury. Erin Clarke plays his 100th match after making his debut for the Warriors against the Storm in 2017.

When I look over the Wahs line up, one name stares out at me and pierces my soul — James Fisher-Harris. He is the boogeyman. The former Panthers enforcer is the Warriors marquee signing for 2025 and will be a force to be reckoned with. After taking over as captain from the now-retired Tohu Harris, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he is in the ears of every Warriors player this week firing them up to end their losing streak against the Storm.

Hence the increased likelihood of an ambush. The Warriors last match against the Wests Tigers feels forever ago. They should have knocked off Melbourne last season but couldn’t seal the deal. You have to expect that Andrew Webster will have his team set for this one. It’s line in the sand stuff for them in a similar way to the line set by the Storm playing group at the moment about losing two matches in-a-row.

So if I was to offer a prediction for this week, my expectation is that we could see a game similar to the one between the teams from last season. The Warriors are going to come hard at Melbourne, especially early. If they can do to the Storm what the Storm did to Manly last week in the first half, this match could get out of hand. Melbourne will need to use the advantage that they have on the edges and hope that Cam Munster and Jahrome Hughes can find some space to get the ball out there. I expect Hughes to again come under a lot of physical pressure, especially from Fisher-Harris, so they was he responds to that will be a key factor. Harry Grant might be needed to make a few more scoots from dummy half this week to get them on the back foot, meaning others will need to be alert to support him.

Melbourne get their first Ashley Klein experience of 2025 this week, so that’s something fun to look forward to dealing with. Spin the wheel as to what antics both teams will have to endure. What will most assuredly not be fun is the forecast which is looking to see mostly sunny conditions and 31°C on Sunday. Having already cooked once at the footy in 2025, that’s not going to be pleasant at all.6

What else is going on?

Get into AAMI Park early on Sunday (kickoff 11:30am) to see the top of the table Storm Jersey Flegg Cup squad face off against 12th placed South Sydney. The under-21s have been in fine form this season and deserve some support making their AAMI Park debut for the season.

Despite my incorrect assertions earlier in the week, the Storm SG Ball Cup squad did make the finals by finishing in eighth position. They’ll travel to Wollongong on Sunday (kickoff 2:30pm) to play the Illawarra Steelers who finished in fifth. The Steelers beat the Storm at the same venue back on 1 February and enter the finals on the back of three wins and a draw in their last four matches.

Fresh off their first win in the Storm Bowl last weekend, the Tigers are at home agains this Saturday (kickoff 3pm) against the Magpies. Karmichael Hunt’s Souths put the hurt on the Falcons a couple of weeks ago but lowered their colours against the Seagulls (Wynnum version) last week and will be looking to bounce back against the Tigers.

The Falcons meanwhile face the Devils fresh off a bye on Saturday (kickoff 5pm) and the top of the table Norths will be looking to end a three match losing streak against the Sunshine Coast squad. The Falcons might have the services of Lazarus Vaalepu and Sua Fa’alogo this week, but who knows really.

In the NSW Cup, the Bears host the Rabbitohs in Gosford on Sunday (kickoff 3pm). On the back of two straight wins, Norths will be looking to make it three in a row against the struggling Bunnies who haven’t won since the opening round.

In round 2 of the Super Netball, the Lightning are at home to play the Adelaide Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon at the same time as the Storm play. The T-Birds will be tough opposition after thrashing the Vixens in round 1 with Romelda Aiken-George dominant in the goal circle.