2014 Melbourne Storm season

The 2014 Melbourne Storm season is the 17th in the club's history. They are competing in the 2014 NRL season and are coached by Craig Bellamy and captained by Cameron Smith. In 2013 they finished the season in 3rd place before exiting the finals with two straight losses. In 2014 they have had a somewhat up and down season stringing together only two or three wins before suffering the same amount of defeats. The Storm did not achieve a good level of consistent success however won enough games late in the season to qualify for the NRL finals in 6th place. The season ended for the Storm in disappointment losing to the Canterbury Bulldogs 28-4 in the 2nd Elimination Final, this meant their overall finish to the season was 7th.

Season summary

• Auckland Nines - The Melbourne Storm competed in the inaugural Auckland Nines tournament on the weekend of the 15th and 16 February. After losing two of three pool games they failed to progress to the finals of the tournament.
• Round 1 - The Storm opened their season with a Golden Point extra time win over Manly Warringah. Cameron Smith kicked the winning field goal. Smith also equaled the Storm games record in the match. George Rose, Ben Roberts and Young Tonumaipea all made their debuts for the Storm. This also meant the Storm won their season opener for the 10th successive year.^[1]
• 11 March - Cameron Smith officially announces that he has signed a four-year contract which will see him end his NRL career at the Storm.^[2]
• Round 2 - Cameron Smith played his 263rd game for the Storm breaking the club record held by Matt Geyer. Also, Billy Slater played his 250th Game for the Club and NRL.
• 18 March - Jesse Bromwich commits to the Storm by signing a new four year playing contract.^[3]
• Round 5 - Dayne Weston makes his playing debut for the Storm.
• Round 6 - The Storm score a try after the siren to secure a 28 - 24 victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons. The Dragons with 13 minutes left on the clock, led 24-10.
• Round 8 - ANZAC Day In front of a record NRL crowd of 28,716 at AAMI Park the Storm go down to the New Zealand Warriors 16 - 10.
• Round 9 - Kurt Mann makes his debut for the Storm scoring the winning try in a 22-19 win over Manly.
• Round 10 - Craig Bellamy coached his 300th NRL game and Joel Romelo made his playing debut for the club. In addition when Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Ryan Hoffman and Cooper Cronk ran out against South Sydney, it was the first time in NRL history four players of the same side had played a combined total of 1000 games.^[4]
• 29 May - Both Kevin Proctor and Young Tonumaipea sign new playing contacts with the Storm.^[5]
• 30 May - Cooper Cronk breaks his arm in the first State of Origin game ruling him out for 12 weeks. Billy slater and Cameron Smith also suffered injuries in the game but Smith was able to follow up in the Round 12 game against North Queensland.^[6]
• Round 15 - Melbourne Storm returned to form with their biggest win of the season thus far (46-20) over the Parramatta Eels. Billy Slater also moved to equal third on the all time NRL try scorers list with Andrew Ettinghausen.^[7]
• Late June - The Storm sign Fijian Marika Koroibete from the West Tigers just before the June 30 deadline, he is one of the fastest players in the NRL and made his impact straight away scoring tries in the Storm's wins over Canberra and Brisbane.^[8] This followed the news that Sisa Waqa would depart for Canberra and the end of the season and Mitch Garbutt would depart for Brisbane.
• Rounds 19 and 20 - The Storm return to the winners list with wins over Canberra and Brisbane.
• Round 22 - Newcastle score two converted tries in the final 3 minutes of the game to snatch victory 32-30. Sisa Waqa scores a Storm season record of 4 tries in the game, he also equals the club record for most tries in a game.
• Round 25 - Cooper Cronk plays his 250th NRL game.
• Round 26 - The Storm defeat the Brisbane Broncos ensuring they qualify for the 2014 NRL Finals Series.
• Finals Week 1 - Following the conclusion of Round 26, the Storm finished in 6th place meaning they were drawn against the Canterbury Bulldogs in an Elimination Final in Week 1 of the Finals Series the Storm's higher placing than Canterbury ensured it was played at home. The Storm ultimately lost the Elimination Final 28-4 ending their season. Ryan Hoffman also played his final game with the Storm.

Fixtures

Pre-Season

^[9]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
8 February	Trial 1	Canberra Raiders	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	12-20	Proctor, Tonumaipea, Hunt			[10]
15 February	Auckland Nines Pool Game	Penrith Panthers	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	Loss	14-10	Chambers, Munster	Munster		[11]
15 February	Auckland Nines Pool Game	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	Win	18-10	Chambers (2), Fonua	Chambers, Waqa		[12]
16 February	Auckland Nines Pool Game	St George Illawarra Dragons	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	Loss	14-10	Garbutt, Fonua	Waqa		[13]
22 February	Trial 2	Brisbane Easts	Langlands Park, Brisbane
23 February	Trial 3	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Loss	20-10	Fonua, K. Bromwich	Smith 1/2	10000	[14]

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals/Field Goals	Attendance	Report
8 March	1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Manly	Win	22-23	Waqa (2), Hampton, K Bromwich	Smith 3/7, Smith 1/1 (FG)	14,200	[15]
15 March	2	Penrith Panthers	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	18-17	Proctor, Fonua, Waqa	Smith 2/5, Cronk 2/2 (FG)	13,952	[16]
24 March	3	Newcastle Knights	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	28-20	Waqa, Proctor, Chambers, Tonumaipea, Smith	Smith 4/6		[17]
29 March	4	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	nib Stadium, Perth	Loss	40-12	Chambers, Slater	Harris 2/3	12,014	[18]
6 April	5	Gold Coast Titans	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	26-28	Waqa (2), K Bromwich, Chambers	Smith 5/5	11,930	[19]
14 April	6	St George-Illawarra Dragons	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	28-24	Chambers (2), J Bromwich, Cronk, Tonumaipea	Smith 4/5	13,130	[20]
20 April	7	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	Loss	24-22	Fonua (2), Hinchcliffe, Waqa	Smith 3/4		[21]
25 April	8	New Zealand Warriors	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	10-16	Proctor, Tonumaipea	Smith 1/2	28,716	[22]
10 May	9	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	22-19	Slater (2), Cronk, Mann	Smith 3/4	13,273	[23]
16 May	10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Win	14-27	Slater (2), Cronk, Waqa	Smith 5/5, Cronk 1/1 (FG)	18,508	[24]
24 May	11	Bye
31 May	12	North Queensland Cowboys	1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville	Loss	22-0				[25]
8 June	13	Sydney Roosters	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	12-32	Fonua,Mann	Smith 2/2	16,757	[26]
24 June	14	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	Win	20-24	Chambers (2), Hampton, Mann, Roberts	Roberts 2/5	6,497	[27]
16 June	15	Parramatta Eels	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	46-20	Waqa (2), Slater (2), Mann (2), Norrie, McLean	Smith 6/7, Roberts 1/1	12,635	[28]
30 June	16	St George-Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Loss	24-12	Slater, Mann	Smith 2/2		[29]
6 July	17	Bye
12 July	18	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	4-6	Proctor	Smith 0/2		[30]
19 July	19	Canberra Raiders	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	28-14	Fonua (2), Koroibete, McLean, Proctor, Waqa	Smith 2/6	11,479	[31]
25 July	20	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	8-30	Hoffman (2), Cronk, Hinchcliffe, Koroibete	Smith 5/6	36,319	[32]
4 August	21	Wests Tigers	Campbelltown Stadium, Campbelltown	Win	6-28	Koroibete (2), Chambers, Smith, Waqa	Smith 4/5	7,782	[33]
9 August	22	Newcastle Knights	Hunter Stadium, Newcastle	Loss	32-30	Waqa (4), Slater, Chambers	Smith 3/6		[34]
16 August	23	Cronulla Sharks	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	48-6	Fonua (2), Glasby (2), Koroibete, Chambers, Waqa, J Bromwich, McLean	Smith 6/9		[35]
25 August	24	Penrith Panthers	Centrebet Stadium, Penrith	Win	10-24	Koroibete, Chambers, Roberts, Slater	Smith 4/5	8,994	[36]
30 August	25	Sydney Roosters	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	Loss	24-12	Slater (2)	Smith 2/2	13,879	[37]
5 September	26	Brisbane Broncos	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	22-12	Fonua (2), Hoffman, Cronk	Smith 2/2, Chambers 1/2	20,032	[38]

Finals Series

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals/Field Goals	Attendance	Report
14 September	Week 1 - 2nd Elimination Final	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	4-28	Waqa	Smith 0/1	19,230	[39]

Source Melbournestorm.com.au:^[40]

Ladder

2014 NRL season Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts 1 Sydney Roosters 24 16 0 8 2 615 385 +230 36 2 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24 16 0 8 2 502 399 +103 36 3 South Sydney Rabbitohs (P) 24 15 0 9 2 585 361 +224 34 4 Penrith Panthers 24 15 0 9 2 506 426 +80 34 5 North Queensland Cowboys 24 14 0 10 2 596 406 +190 32 6 Melbourne Storm 24 14 0 10 2 536 460 +76 32 7 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 13 0 11 2 446 439 +7 30 8 Brisbane Broncos 24 12 0 12 2 549 456 +93 28 9 New Zealand Warriors 24 12 0 12 2 571 491 +80 28 10 Parramatta Eels 24 12 0 12 2 477 580 −103 28 11 St. George Illawarra Dragons 24 11 0 13 2 469 528 −59 26 12 Newcastle Knights 24 10 0 14 2 463 571 −108 24 13 Wests Tigers 24 10 0 14 2 420 631 −211 24 14 Gold Coast Titans 24 9 0 15 2 372 538 −166 22 15 Canberra Raiders 24 8 0 16 2 466 623 −157 20 16 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 5 0 19 2 334 613 −279 14

2014 squad

As of 26 July 2014

No.	Nat.	Player	Pos	First match with Club	Previous club
55		Cameron Smith (c)	HK	2002	Melbourne Storm
60		Billy Slater	FB	2003	Melbourne Storm
62		Ryan Hoffman	SR,LK	2003	Melbourne Storm
73		Cooper Cronk	HB	2004	Melbourne Storm
98		Will Chambers	CE,WG	2007	Queensland Reds
106		Kevin Proctor	SR	2008	Melbourne Storm
110		Ryan Hinchcliffe	LK,HK,SR,FE	2009	Canberra Raiders
119		Jesse Bromwich	PR	2010	Melbourne Storm
123		Bryan Norrie	PR	2010	Cronulla Sharks
124		Matt Duffie	WG,CE,FB	2010	Melbourne Storm
127		Justin O'Neill	WG,CE,FB	2010	Sydney Roosters
136		Sisa Waqa	CE,WG,FB	2011	Sydney Roosters
143		Mahe Fonua	CE,WG	2012	Melbourne Storm
144		Slade Griffen	HK,LK,CE,SR,FE	2013	Melbourne Storm
145		Tohu Harris	SR,LK,PR,FE	2013	Melbourne Storm
146		Junior Moors	PR,SR,LK	2013	Wests Tigers
149		Kenny Bromwich	PR,SR,LK	2013	Melbourne Storm
150		Jordan McLean	PR	2013	Melbourne Storm
151		Mitch Garbutt	PR,LK,SR	2013	Newcastle Knights
152		Ben Hampton	FE,HB,FB	2013	Melbourne Storm
153		Tim Glasby	PR,SR	2013	Melbourne Storm
154		Ben Roberts	FE,HK,HB,CE	2014	Parramatta Eels
155		George Rose	PR,SR	2014	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
156		Young Tonumaipea	WG,FB	2014	Melbourne Storm
157		Dayne Weston	PR,SR	2014	Penrith Panthers
158		Kurt Mann	FE,FB,HB,CE,HK	2014	Newcastle Knights
159		Joel Romelo	FE,HK,HB,LK	2014	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
160		Cameron Munster	FE,FB,HB,HK	2014	Melbourne Storm
161		Marika Koroibete	WG	2014	Wests Tigers
		Travis Robinson	WG,CE,FB	-	Penrith Panthers
		Cody Walker	HB,FE	-	Yet to debut
		Hymel Hunt	CE,WG,SR,LK,FB	-	Gold Coast Titans
		Felise Kaufusi	PR	-	North Queensland Cowboys

Player movements

Source NRL.com:^[41]

Representative honours

The following players have played a representative match in 2014. (C) = Captain

Statistics

Statistics Source:^[44]

Most Points in a Game: 16

• Sisa Waqa vs Newcastle (Rd 22)

Most tries in a Game: 4

• Sisa Waqa vs Newcastle (Rd 22)

Highest score in a game: 48 points

• vs Cronulla (Rd 23)

Greatest winning margin: 42 points

• vs Cronulla (Rd 23)

Jersey

For the 2015 season, the Storm have released a new home jersey, once again made by BLK.^[45] The 2015 jersey no longer features the "lightening bolt V", instead featuring a large navy blue panel which highlights the crown resorts logo and purple shoulders. A silver horizontal strip also features across the chest. A new away jersey is also set to be released in December.

References