Season 28 – Review
2025 was the 28th season of Melbourne Storm rugby league
A second straight NRL Grand Final loss. 2025 wasn’t the year the Storm added a seventh NRL premiership trophy to the cabinet at AAMI Park.
Pre-season
In February Melbourne’s second-string squad went down to the Warriors 36–10 in February, then lost their second hit out against the Cowboys 36–24 at Casey Fields. The only thing of note in either of those matches was the collision between Cody Williamson and Hugo Pell that saw Peel wheeled off and into an ambulance. It was Melbourne’s first winless preseason since 2019.
March
Melbourne’s round 1 streak extended for another season, putting 50 on the Eels in a hot start on a sunny Sunday afternoon at AAMI Park.
A bye week was followed by the rematch of the 2024 Grand Final. An angry Melbourne played sloppy, but did enough to beat the Panthers at a cold AAMI Park.
The following week saw the Storm head north to Kogarah where they failed to adapt to the conditions, getting washed away and out-enthused by the Dragons.
April
Grant Anderson scored a hat trick as Melbourne put the cleaners through Manly at Fortress Shithole. The only down side was letting the home team score three late tries to make the scoreboard look somewhat respectable.
A sold-out AAMI Park witnessed the Melbourne Storm show up and beat the Warriors for the 17th straight time to retain the Michael Moore Trophy. It was the club’s highest regular season attended match since 2014.
It wasn’t a Good Friday for Melbourne as they lost to the Redcliffe Dolphins for the first time, conceding 40 consecutive points against a hungrier opponent as the injury list grew ever longer.
Souths came to Melbourne for another year, another loss. Melbourne doing just enough in the rain to get the points, in a night overshadowed by the own goal scored by the administration and their mistreatment and disrespect of the Victorian Indigenous community.
May
Gerard Sutton penalised Melbourne out of two points at Magic Round. The only magical thing was the try assist from Sua Fa’alogo for a try to Ryan Papenhuyzen. Melbourne’s resilience though was definitely under question.
11 tries and Ryan Papenhuyzen broke the club’s individual points scoring record in a match. Poor Wests Tigers suffering their second 64–0 loss in Melbourne.
Xavier Coates flew high on his way to a hat trick, but Melbourne’s struggles in the first half left them too much to do at Cronulla.
After a bye, Melbourne stopped into the Gold Coast on a Saturday afternoon and actually won an away game in the rain, mostly thanks to tries from Sua Fa’alogo and Grant Anderson.
June
The Cowboys came to Melbourne for the first time in a long time and were frozen out by the home team as the Jahrome Hughes show made its 2025 return.
It took a Paps field goal in golden point for Melbourne to grab the two points at Homebush against Souths. Bellyache bemoaning his players lack of patience as Alex Johnston became the first player to score four tries in a match against the Storm.
Eli Katoa was in supreme form as Melbourne reversed their defeat against the Sharks with a dominant 30–6 win.
July
Missing a bunch of players to Origin camps and injury, Melbourne put in a gritty performance to get the better of the Cowboys in Townsville.
The Storm averaged just a tick under 28 points per match in 2025 and conceded just over 19 points per match. The trip to Newcastle was mostly average, especially when Melbourne stepped up their aerial kicking game against the hapless Knights.
How many errors does it take to lose a rugby league match? For Melbourne it was 14 of them against Manly at AAMI Park. The Storm were undisciplined and their six match winning streak came to an abrupt end.
Melbourne’s tight win away to the Roosters came at a terrible cost when Jahrome Hughes was taken to hospital with a busted shoulder.
Scrappy and inconsistent, the Storm retrieved two competition points from their trip to Parramatta.
August
Melbourne inflicted pain on the Broncos with a 22–2 win, with the visitors seeing their starting halves doing hamstrings on the same play in the first half trying to chase down Xavier Coates. It was one of the Storm’s best defensive efforts for the year, even if the Dally M judges somehow decided the Payne Haas required four points.
He’s a bit of a wizard that Harry Grant! Melbourne took the points in a golden point match that wavered between slugfest and slopfest. Grant’s shithousery winning the day.
Melbourne secured second spot on the NRL ladder, getting the better of a battle against the third-placed Bulldogs at AAMI Park, despite the interventions of Adam Gee. The only downside was the nonsensical suspension of Harry Grant for reasons.
In Craig Bellamy’s 600th match in charge of the Storm, the players forgot how to defend in the second half, conceding 40 points for the second time in 2025. A few players were rested for this one, but that wasn’t a real excuse.
September
Consecutive losses… for the first time since early in 2023. Three losses in a season at Suncorp Stadium. It wasn’t the best end to the regular season for Melbourne, with Jahrome Hughes returning… only to get injured again.
Melbourne’s 25th finals series kicked off against the Bulldogs at AAMI Park. It was a seesawing struggle with the Storm led by Jonah Pezet finding just enough to earn the a week off.
Game 739 – S28E28 Review
Broken, but not beaten. Melbourne advance to their 10th preliminary final in 11 seasons earning a much-needed week off.
Big names, big games. Jahrome Hughes returned and even when they conceded two tries to the Sharks in the first half, they had just enough in reserve to get the job done.
Game 740 – S28E30 Review
Melbourne seal a 12th NRL Grand Final appearance with a memorable win in front of a roaring full house at AAMI Park.
Meanwhile the Jersey Flegg Cup squad won the club’s second junior trophy, beating the Panthers 38–16. Look out for some of these boys in the years to come.
October
The 2025 NRL Grand Final looked good for about 40 minutes for the Storm. Then it was season down the toilet.
Game 741 – S28E31 Review
In a shattering defeat that will leave a permanent scar, Melbourne lost their sixth NRL Grand Final.
Melbourne – 22
Brisbane – 26
Narrative
So what’s the TL;DR for Melbourne Storm in 2025? A second successive Grand Final loss hurts. Like a lot. Getting to a third straight end season decider has been historically difficult across a number of sports, so 2026 might not offer any salve to the wound either. Finishing second on the ladder at least gave the club the rails run through to the decider, but in the end the Broncos had one particular player that was too good for a Melbourne team that has since had the veil of negativity descend.
Storm Machine Player of the Year
Eli Katoa was crowned the Storm Machine Player of the Year, taking out the honour by 11 points from Cameron Munster, with Harry Grant finishing in third position.
Official awards
Xavier Coates took out his second Cameron Smith Medal at the club’s award night, beating out Eli Katoa:
Cameron Smith Medal (Player of the Year Award): Xavier Coates
Members’ Player of the Year: Eli Katoa
Billy Slater Rookie of the Year: Ativalu Lisati
Most Improved Player: Grant Anderson
Best Forward of the Year: Eli Katoa
Best Back of the Year: Ryan Papenhuyzen
Try of the Year: Harry Grant (Round 24)
At the Dally M Awards, Eli Katoa (second row) and Xavier Coates (wing) were all honoured in the official Team of the Year.
Debuts
Three new faces for the Storm in 2025:
Round 1: Stefano Utoikamanu
Round 5: Moses Leo
Round 18: Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown
Farewells
It’s bon voyage to Grant Anderson and Kane Bradley who are heading to Queensland — Anderson with the Broncos (although he didn’t play in their very amusing World Club Challenge loss to Hull KR), while Bradley was on a train and trial deal while signing for the Burleigh Bears. Bronson Garlick got a pay day to return to his junior club at Souths, while Dean Ieremia has been spotted at preseason training with the Gold Coast Titans. The massive contract signed by Jahrome Hughes spelled the end of Jonah Pezet’s time in Melbourne, the youngster signing with Parramatta in 2026 and the Broncos from 2027.
But the big news was the releases sought and granted to Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Ryan Papenhuyzen. Big NAS looks to have been legislated out of rugby league and has embraced boxing as his next sport. The man-mountain could be one to watch in the sweet science, but we’ll see how he adapts when not fighting against Mundine-level bums.
Paps though seems to have taken the route of a living Ken doll who function is golf. From caddying, playing in pro-ams and travelling, he seems to be embracing life after footy. More power to him, especially after the injuries he’s suffered since reaching the highs of his Clive Churchill Medal performance in the 2020 Grand Final. I do hope that he ever gets the itch to return to rugby league that it’s with Melbourne, but I doubt we’ll ever see him playing professionally again.
Tries of the year
Harry Grant’s match-winner against the Panthers won the try of the year for the club, but I think that Xavier Coates’ massive leap against the Sharks was the pick of the bunch. Here’s the 2025 try compilation:
The minutiae
Melbourne played matches on four days of the week in 2025:
Thursday: 6 matches, 5 wins, average 23 points per game;
Friday: 7 matches, 5 wins, average 23.14 points per game;
Saturday: 7 matches, 4 wins, average 23 points per game;
Sunday: 7 matches, 5 wins, average 40 points per game.
Melbourne ended up winning:
11 of 13 games in Victoria;
3 of 5 games in Queensland; and
6 of 9 games in New South Wales.
Jerseys
Melbourne wore five different jerseys during the 2025 season:
Home (15 matches, 10 wins)
Clash (9 matches, 7 wins)
ANZAC Day (1 match, 1 win)
Alternate (1 match, 1 loss)
Indigenous (1 matches, 1 win)
