2006 Melbourne Storm season

The 2006 Melbourne Storm season was the 9th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership, winning a record 20 out of 24 regular season games to finish in first place and win the minor premiership, eight points clear of the second-placed Bulldogs.^[1] They then reached the grand final as favourites only to lose to the Brisbane Broncos.

The Storm's Queensland trio of Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith and Antonio Kaufusi were selected to make their international debuts for Australia in 2006.

Post-season the Storm farewelled Nathan Friend and Jake Webster (Gold Coast Titans), David Kidwell (South Sydney) and Scott Hill (Harlequins Rugby League).^[2]

Match results

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	20	0	4	2	605	404	+201	44
2	Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	608	468	+140	36
3	Brisbane	24	14	0	10	2	497	392	+105	32
4	Newcastle	24	14	0	10	2	608	538	+70	32
5	Manly	24	14	0	10	2	534	493	+41	32
6	St George Illawarra	24	14	0	10	2	519	481	+38	32
7	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	525	573	-48	30
8	Parramatta	24	12	0	12	2	506	483	+23	28
9	North Queensland	24	11	0	13	2	450	463	-13	26
10	New Zealand	24	12	0	12	2	552	463	+89	24
11	Wests Tigers	24	10	0	14	2	490	565	-75	24
12	Penrith	24	10	0	14	2	510	587	-77	24
13	Cronulla	24	9	0	15	2	515	544	-29	22
14	Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	528	650	-122	20
15	South Sydney	24	3	0	21	2	429	772	-343	10

• New Zealand Warriors were stripped of four competition points due to breaches of the National Rugby League salary cap.

Awards and honours

• Player of the year: Cameron Smith^[3]
• Rookie of the year: Adam Blair
• Dally M Medal: Cameron Smith

References