40 Facts About Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League.

The Melbourne Storm were originally a Super League initiative, created in 1997 during the Super League war following the Super League collapse, the team became a part of the newly formed, united competition.

In 1998, with the game reunited, three clubs had been jettisoned and the Melbourne Storm had bobbed up as an unexpected and initially curious addition to the landscape.

Between 2003 and 2005, Melbourne Storm consistently made the finals, but lost games in the semi-finals which prevented them from reaching the grand final.

Melbourne Storm only lost four games in the season, making them outright leaders by four wins.

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In 2007, the Melbourne Storm finished the season Minor Premiers by finishing on top of the table again.

Melbourne Storm did have something to celebrate in 2010 with the opening of their new home ground AAMI Park in May The stadium was expected to be used right from the beginning of the season construction delays postponed the opening.

In 2011 the club won what, after the salary cap penalties, was considered the club's first Minor Premiership and that season included a club record twelve consecutive wins Melbourne Storm fell just short the Grand Final, losing the preliminary final against New Zealand.

The Melbourne Storm managed to finish 3rd in 2013; however, successive losses to the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Newcastle Knights in the finals saw the Melbourne Storm miss the Preliminary Finals for the first time since 2005 .

In mid 2014 the Melbourne Storm announced a new feeder partnership with the Sunshine Coast Falcons.

On 23 May the Melbourne Storm announced that it had been one of three successful bidders and the only NRL club to gain a licence to field a Netball side in a new expanded Australian Netball League to commence in 2017.

The Melbourne club were nominated by Netball Australia as a preferred bidder for one of three new team licences under their expansion plans and on 17 August 2016 it was announced that the new team will be called Sunshine Coast Lightning and be based on the Sunshine Coast at the Storm sports Academy and in effect be a second Queensland Team.

Melbourne Storm won 20 and lost four games throughout the season making it their most dominant season in 10 years.

The 2017 NRL Grand Final was played against the North Queensland Cowboys, which Melbourne Storm dominated to earn them their 3rd official Premiership 34 – 6.

In December 2017, the NRL announced the formation of a women's competition with Melbourne Storm expressing their interest in applying for a licence to participate in the inaugural NRL Women's season.

The Melbourne Storm made the Grand final lost to the Sydney Roosters to end the season Runner-up.

Melbourne Storm were looking to continue their success into 2020 but 2020 became somewhat of an extraordinary year.

Melbourne Storm would go on to finish second on the table at the end of the 2020 regular season behind Minor Premiers Penrith, before beating Penrith in the 2020 NRL Grand Final to win their fourth official premiership, and cementing their status as one of the most successful clubs of the modern NRL era.

On-field, the Melbourne Storm club had some early hiccups adjusting to life after Smith from round four, began a winning streak that lasted until Round 23 - 19 consecutive wins, becoming the first team since the Sydney Roosters in 1975 to complete this feat.

Melbourne Storm started the 2022 NRL season strongly winning seven of their opening eight matches with their only defeat coming against Parramatta.

Melbourne Storm were always going to go with the colours of their state, Victoria, but club consultant at the time, Peter McWhirter of the JAG fashion house, suggested that they should have purple and gold to make their merchandise more attractive.

Between 1998 and 2001, Melbourne Storm was the only club to display player names on the back of jerseys.

In 2001, Melbourne Storm gained its first major sponsor in Adecco, which was displayed on the jersey chest, while maintaining the players' names on the back until the end of 2001.

In 2002, the Melbourne Storm removed the players' names and displayed Adecco's logo on the back.

Club's original logo of "Melbourne Storm Man" riding over storm clouds and throwing a bolt of lightning was in place from the club's inception through to the end of the 2017 season.

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Melbourne Storm have a number of club songs that are either played over the PA system or exclusively sung by the players at each game.

The main song, which was written by Jon Mol and Phil Wall, is called "We Are the Melbourne Storm" and is played over the public address system following each home victory.

St George Illawarra and Melbourne Storm rivalry was at its highest in the years following the 1999 NRL Grand Final.

The following year, Anthony Mundine declared that the Melbourne Storm side were not "worthy premiers" in the run up to their round 5 rematch.

Melbourne Storm has a rivalry with Brisbane, built in large part on the large number of finals games played between the teams, including one final in each year from 2004 to 2009, with the Melbourne club winning all but one of them.

The move of Brisbane assistant coach Craig Bellamy to Melbourne Storm has been attributed to fueling the rivalry, as well as the wide spread of Queensland Origin players across their squads in the better part of the past decade.

Melbourne Storm won the game with Cameron Smith kicking a penalty goal.

Melbourne Storm players have won the Dally M medal on five occasions with Smith winning in 2006 and 2017, Slater in 2011 and Cooper Cronk in 2013 and 2016.

The Melbourne Storm have thus far had five Golden Boot award winners, more than any other club .

Melbourne Storm's winning streak record for the most consecutive matches won stands at 19 matches, between Round 4 and Round 23 of the 2021 NRL season.

In 1998, the Melbourne Storm established an affiliation with Queensland Cup side the Norths Devils and used the club as a feeder for their first grade team.

In 2005, the Melbourne Storm established an affiliation with the North Sydney Bears in the New South Wales Cup.

The affiliation lasted two seasons before the Melbourne Storm decided to establish their own team in the NSW Cup in 2010 which would share its namesake.

Melbourne Storm established a second feeder relationship with the Sunshine Coast Falcons in 2014, from the Queensland Cup.

The Melbourne Storm further committed to the area in 2015 when it was announced their National Youth Competition U20 side would be based out of the Sunshine Coast from 2016.