2018 Melbourne Storm season

2018 Melbourne Storm season
NRL Rank	2nd
Play-off result	Grand Finalist
2018 record	Wins: 16; Draws: 0; Losses: 8
Points scored	For: 536; Against: 363
Team information
CEO	Dave Donaghy
Coach	Craig Bellamy
Captain	Cameron Smith (26 Games) Billy Slater (1 Game)
Stadium	AAMI Park - 30,050 Suncorp Stadium - 52,500 (1 Game)
Avg. attendance	17,474
High attendance	31,118 vs. Gold Coast Titans, round 10
Top scorers
Tries	Josh Addo-Carr (17)
Goals	Cameron Smith (88)
Points	Cameron Smith (165)
< 2017 List of seasons 2019 >

The 2018 Melbourne Storm season was the 21st in the club's history. They competed in the 2018 NRL season and did so as the reigning Premiers and Minor Premiers. The team was coached by Craig Bellamy, coaching the club for his 16th consecutive season. Melbourne Storm was also captained by Cameron Smith, who has been the sole captain for the team since 2008 — making it his 11th consecutive season. In 2018, the club celebrated its 20th Anniversary, which was launched on 30 October 2017^[1] with the announcement that a new logo would feature for the duration of the 20 year celebrations including on a newly designed jersey.

At the conclusion of the 2018 NRL regular season, the Storm finished on 34 competition points (equal to the Sydney Roosters in first place), the Storm ultimately finished second due to having a slightly inferior points difference (by 8 points) and therefore missed winning the Minor Premiership, the second-placed finish, however, ensured a home final in Week 1 of the finals series. The Storm won both their Qualifying final and Preliminary finals qualifying them for their third straight Grand Final however they were ultimately beaten in the decider and therefore finished the season runners up.

Season summary[]

• 2018 World Club Challenge - The Melbourne Storm commenced their season by competing in the annual World Club Challenge against the 2017 Super League premiers Leeds Rhinos, the match was under a cloud until on 3 November 2017 it was announced that it would be played in Australia at AAMI Park due to the disruptions to the Storm preseason caused by the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.^[2] The Storm prevailed 38-4 to become World Club Champions and in doing so became the fifth Australian team to hold the treble (Premiership, Minor Premiership and World Club Challenge at once).^[3] It was the first World Club Challenge in Australia since 2014 and only the fourth in history.
• 2 March 2018 - Melbourne Storm announce their team of the first 20 years during a celebratory night at Crown Palladium. The 17-man line-up is made up of the greatest players to have pulled on the purple jersey over the last two decades.^[4]
• Round 1 - Melbourne Storm open the season with a victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs. This marks the 16th consecutive season that they have won their opening game of the season and also this was their 11th consecutive victory making this their equal 4th best winning streak.^[5] Sam Kasiano also made his Storm debut.
• Round 2 - Billy Slater played his 300th Game. Kenny Bromwich also played his 100th Game.
• Round 4- The narrow loss to Cronulla was notable for the game having 33 penalties called and Cameron Smith being sin-binned for the first time in his career.
• Round 5 - Was Craig Bellamy's 400th as coach. The Storm lose the match by 1 point and thus mean't that now 2018 was the worst start to a season since 2004.
• Round 6 - Storm return to the winners list with a 40-14 win over Newcastle Knights. Sam Kasiano scored his first try for the Storm.
• Round 8 - ANZAC Day: Storm score a 40 point win over the second placed NZ Warriors with Cameron Smith scoring 9 Goals from as many attempts.
• Round 9 - Josh Addo-Carr scores three tries, (all of the Storm's tries) in the loss to the Dragons. Justin Olam also makes his playing debut.
• Round 12 - Sam Kasioano and Dale Finucare both play their 150th NRL games in the one point win over the Cowboys.
• 30 May 2018 - Young Tonumaipea announces he will leave the club to take up a Mormon mission in Germany.
• Round 16 - Melbourne Score a field goal in the final minute to win 9-8 over the Roosters in Adelaide. Patrick Kaufusi made his playing debut for the Storm.
• Round 17 - Melbourne Score 4 tries in the last 15 minutes to over power the Dragons in a high scoring game 52-30. Albert Vete makes his storm debut after transferring from the New Zealand Warriors earlier in the week and Christian Welch played his 50th Game. Young Tonumaipea also played his final game for the Storm.
• Round 19 - Melbourne Storm defeat the New Zealand Warriors 12 - 6 in Auckland. The win placed the Storm in 1st place on the Ladder for the first time this season.
• 8 August 2018 - Billy Slater announces that he will retire from Rugby League at the end of the 2018 NRL season^[6]
• Round 24 - Storm defeat Titans 10 - 8 to move to outright first on the Ladder.
• Round 25 - The Storm are defeated by the Panthers therefore finishing the season on 34 points. This created NRL history, as due to other results, all teams in the top four finished equal on 34 points ensuring the closest finish to a season for the first time in the games 111 year history. Scott Drinkwater also played his first game and also scored his first try.

Milestone games[]

Round	Player	Milestone
Round 1	Sam Kasiano	Storm debut
Round 2	Billy Slater	300th Game
Round 2	Kenny Bromwich	100th Game
Round 3	Suliasi Vunivalu	50th Game
Round 5	Craig Bellamy	400th Game as Coach
Round 10	Justin Olam	NRL debut
Round 11	Harry Grant	NRL debut
Round 12	Dale Finucane	150th Game
Round 12	Sam Kasiano	150th Game
Round 16	Patrick Kaufusi	Storm debut
Round 17	Albert Vete	Storm debut
Round 17	Christian Welch	50th Game
Round 18	Tim Glasby	100th Game
Round 25	Scott Drinkwater	NRL debut
Week 1 Finals	Jesse Bromwich	200th Game

Fixtures[]

Pre-season[]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Source
7 February	Trial Match1	Newcastle Knights	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	22	26	[7]
16 February	2018 World Club Challenge	Leeds Rhinos	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	38	4	[8]
17 February	Trial Match2	New Zealand Warriors	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua	Loss	14	20	[9]
23 February	Cameron Smith & Johnathan Thurston Testimonial Match	North Queensland Cowboys	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Loss	14	16	[10]

¹ Match played behind closed doors.
² Storm players that did not play in the World Club Challenge played the Trial game.

Regular season[]

Source:^[11]

• GP = Golden Point Extra Time
• (pen) = Penalty Try

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Report
10 March	1	Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs	Perth Stadium, Perth (Double Header)	Win	36	18	J Addo-Carr (2), R Jacks, C Scott, K Bromwich, S Vunivalu	C Smith 6/6		[12]
17 March	2	Wests Tigers	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	8	10	S Vunivalu	C Smith 2/3		[13]
22 March	3	North Queensland Cowboys	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	30	14	J Stimson, C Welch, W Chambers, N Asofa-Solomona	C Smith 6/6, B Croft 1/2		[14]
30 March	4	Cronulla Sharks	Southern Cross Group Stadium, Sydney	Loss	4	14		J. Stimson 2/2		[15]
7 April	5	Wests Tigers	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland (Double Header)	Loss	10	11	B Slater	B Croft 3/3		[16]
13 April	6	Newcastle Knights	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	40	14	J Addo-Carr (2), S Vunivalu (2), T Glasby, F Kaufusi, S Kasiano	C Smith 6/8		[17]
20 April	7	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	34	20	J Addo-Carr (2), B Smith (2), W Chambers, S Vunivalu	C Smith 5/7		[18]
25 April	8	New Zealand Warriors	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	50	10	R Jacks (2), J Addo-Carr (2), R Hoffman, C Welch, B Slater, Y Tonumaipea	C Smith 9/9		[19]
6 May	9	St George-Illawarra Dragons	UOW Jubilee Oval, Sydney	Loss	14	34	J Addo-Carr (3)	C Smith 1/3		[20]
12 May	10	Gold Coast Titans	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (Double Header)	Win	28	14	C Scott, F Kaufusi, C Munster, J Addo-Carr	C Smith 6/6		[21]
19 May	11	Manly Sea Eagles	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	4	24		C Munster 2/2		[22]
25 May	12	North Queensland Cowboys	1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville	Win	7	6	C Smith	C Smith 1/2	C Munster 1/1	[23]
	13	Bye
10 June	14	Brisbane Broncos	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	32	16	Y Tonumaipea, F Kaufusi, C Munster, S Vunivalu, J Hughes	C Smith 5/5		[24]
17 June	15	Newcastle Knights	McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle	Win	28	10	J Addo-Carr (2), R Jacks, S Vunivalu	C Smith 6/7		[25]
29 June	16	Sydney Roosters	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	Win	9	8	N Asofa-Solomona	C Smith 2/2	C Smith 1/1, C Munster 0/2	[26]
5 July	17	St George-Illawarra Dragons	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	52	30	C Blair (2), C Scott, B Croft, R Hoffman, Y Tonumaipea, J Hughes, R Jacks, S Vunivalu	C Smith (8/10)		[27]
14 July	18	Manly Sea Eagles	Lottoland, Sydney	Win	14	13	S Vunivalu, B Croft	C Smith 3/3		[28]
22 July	19	New Zealand Warriors	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Win	12	6	W Chambers, S Vunivalu	C Smith 2/4		[29]
28 July	20	Canberra Raiders	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	44	10	C Scott (2), F Kaufusi, C Munster, S Vunivalu, J Addo-Carr, N Asofa-Solomona	C Smith 8/9		[30]
3 August	21	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	20	30	J Addo-Carr (2), D Finucane, C Scott	C Smith 2/3, J Stimson 0/1		[31]
12 August	22	Cronulla Sharks	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	14	17	S Vunivalu (2), B Slater	C Smith 1/3		[32]
17 August	23	Parramatta Eels	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	20	4	W Chambers, N Asofa-Solomona, C Scott	C Smith 3/3, B Croft 1/2		[33]
25 August	24	Gold Coast Titans	Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast	Win	10	8	C Scott, C Munster	C Smith 1/2		[34]
31 August	25	Penrith Panthers	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	16	22	F Kaufusi, S Drinkwater	C Smith 4/5		[35]

Finals[]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Report
7 September	Week 1 - Qualifying Final	South Sydney Rabbitohs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	29	28	S Vunivalu (2), C Blair (2), C Scott	C Smith 4/6	C Munster 1/1	[36]
21 September	Week 3 - Preliminary Final	Cronulla Sharks	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	22	6	B Slater (2), B Croft	C Smith 5/5		[37]
30 September	2018 NRL Grand Final	Sydney Roosters	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	6	21	J Addo-Carr	C Smith 1/1

Ladder[]

2018 NRL season v t
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Sydney Roosters	24	16	0	8	1	542	361	+181	34
2	Melbourne Storm	24	16	0	8	1	536	363	+173	34
3	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	16	0	8	1	582	437	+145	34
4	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	16	0	8	1	519	423	+96	34
5	Penrith Panthers	24	15	0	9	1	517	461	+56	32
6	Brisbane Broncos	24	15	0	9	1	556	500	+56	32
7	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	15	0	9	1	519	472	+47	32
8	New Zealand Warriors	24	15	0	9	1	472	447	+25	32
9	Wests Tigers	24	12	0	12	1	377	460	−83	26
10	Canberra Raiders	24	10	0	14	1	563	540	+23	22
11	Newcastle Knights	24	9	0	15	1	414	607	−193	20
12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	8	0	16	1	428	474	−46	18
13	North Queensland Cowboys	24	8	0	16	1	449	521	−72	18
14	Gold Coast Titans	24	8	0	16	1	472	582	−110	18
15	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	7	0	17	1	500	622	−122	16
16	Parramatta Eels	24	6	0	18	1	374	550	−176	14

Coaching staff[]

• Craig Bellamy - Head Coach
• Adam O’Brien - Assistant Coach
• Jason Ryles - Assistant Coach
• Ben Jack - U/20s Head Coach
• Marc Brentnall – Development Coach
• Aaron Bellamy – Development Coach
• Frank Ponissi - Football Director
• Nick Maxwell - Leadership Coach
• Craig McRae – Kicking & Catching Coach
• Scott Sipple - Easts Tigers Feeder Club Coach
• Craig Ingebrigtsen - Sunshine Coast Falcons Feeder Club Coach

2018 Squad[]

List current as of 23 March 2018 (a): This column denotes the previous RL club the player was signed to and played first grade RL for. If they are yet to debut then this is stipulated. If they were merely signed to the club but did not play then it is not counted.

Cap	Nat.	Player name	Position	First Storm Game	Previous First Grade RL club (a)
55		Cameron Smith (c)	HK	2002	Melbourne Storm
58		Billy Slater	FB	2003	Melbourne Storm
62		Ryan Hoffman	SR	2003	New Zealand Warriors
97		Will Chambers	CE	2007	Melbourne Storm
119		Jesse Bromwich	PR	2010	Melbourne Storm
149		Kenny Bromwich	PR,SR,LK	2013	Melbourne Storm
153		Tim Glasby	PR,SR	2013	Melbourne Storm
154		Young Tonumaipea	WG,FB	2014	Melbourne Storm
160		Cameron Munster	FE,FB,HB,HK	2014	Melbourne Storm
163		Dale Finucane	PR,SR,LK	2015	Canterbury Bulldogs
164		Felise Kaufusi	PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
166		Nelson Asofa-Solomona	SR, PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
167		Christian Welch	SR, PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
170		Curtis Scott	CE,WG	2016	Melbourne Storm
171		Suliasi Vunivalu	WG	2016	Melbourne Storm
172		Cheyse Blair	WG,CE	2016	Manly Sea Eagles
174		Brodie Croft	HB	2016	Melbourne Storm
176		Josh Addo-Carr	WG, FB	2017	Wests Tigers
177		Ryley Jacks	FE	2017	Melbourne Storm
179		Joe Stimson	SR, LK	2017	Melbourne Storm
181		Tui Kamikamica	SR, PR	2017	Melbourne Storm
182		Brandon Smith	HK	2017	Melbourne Storm
184		Jahrome Hughes	FE, FB	2017	North Queensland Cowboys
186		Sam Kasiano	PR	2018	Canterbury Bulldogs
187		Justin Olam	WG, CE	2018	Melbourne Storm
188		Harry Grant	HK	2018	Melbourne Storm
189		Patrick Kaufusi	PR	2018	North Queensland Cowboys
190		Albert Vete	PR	2018	New Zealand Warriors
191		Scott Drinkwater	FB	2018	Melbourne Storm
		Billy Walters	FE	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Sandor Earl	WG	Yet to debut	Canberra Raiders
		Tom Eisenhuth	SR	Yet to debut	Penrith Panthers
		Marion Seve	WG	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
			PR	Yet to Debut	Melbourne Storm
			PR	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Ryan Papenhuyzen	FB	Yet to debut	Wests Tigers
			SR	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Cooper Johns	FE	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
			WG	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm

Player movements[]

Source:^[38][39][40]

Representative honours[]

The following players have played a first grade representative match in 2018. (C) = Captain ^[41]

Player	State of Origin 1	2018 Pacific Rugby League Tests and Internationals[42]	State of Origin 2	State of Origin 3	International Rugby League tests
Josh Addo-Carr	New South Wales	-	New South Wales	New South Wales	—
Will Chambers	Queensland	-	Queensland	Queensland	—
Cameron Munster	Queensland	-	Queensland	Queensland	-
Felise Kaufusi	Queensland	-	Queensland	Queensland	Australia
Justin Olam	-	Papua New Guinea	—	—	—
Suliasi Vunivalu	-	Fiji	—	—	—
Tui Kamikamica	-	Fiji	—	—	—
Sam Kasiano	-	Samoa	—	—	—
Nelson Asofa-Solomona	-	New Zealand	—	—	New Zealand
Billy Slater	-	-	Queensland	Queensland (C)	—
Tim Glasby	-	-	-	Queensland	—
Jesse Bromwich	-	-	—	—	New Zealand
Kenny Bromwich	-	-	—	—	New Zealand
Brandon Smith	-	-	—	—	New Zealand
Jahrome Hughes	-	-	—	—	New Zealand

Squad statistics[]

Statistics Source:^[43] Statistics current as of the end of the 2018 NRL regular season (this table does not include finals matches)

Name	App	T	G	FG	Pts
Josh Addo-Carr	22	17	0	0	68
Nelson Asofa-Solomona	22	4	0	0	16
Cheyse Blair	7	2	0	0	8
Jesse Bromwich	17	0	0	0	0
Kenny Bromwich	22	1	0	0	4
Will Chambers	17	4	0	0	16
Brodie Croft	9	2	5	0	18
Scott Drinkwater	1	1	0	0	4
Dale Finucane	15	1	0	0	4
Tim Glasby	21	1	0	0	4
Harry Grant	1	0	0	0	0
Ryan Hoffman	20	2	0	0	8
Jahrome Hughes	11	2	0	0	8
Ryley Jacks	13	5	0	0	20
Tui Kamikamica	5	0	0	0	0
Sam Kasiano	13	1	0	0	4
Felise Kaufusi	18	5	0	0	20
Patrick Kaufusi	2	0	0	0	0
Cameron Munster	21	4	2	1	21
Justin Olam	3	0	0	0	0
Curtis Scott	21	8	0	0	32
Billy Slater	17	5	0	0	20
Brandon Smith	15	0	0	0	0
Cameron Smith	23	1	88	1	181
Joe Stimson	21	1	2	0	8
Young Tonumaipea	7	3	0	0	12
Albert Vete	1	0	0	0	0
Suliasi Vunivalu	20	13	0	0	52
Christian Welch	23	2	0	0	8
29 Players used	—	85	97	2	536

Scorers

Most Points in a Game: 18 points

• Round 8: Cameron Smith (9 Goals) vs. New Zealand Warriors

Most tries in a Game: 3

• Round 9: Josh Addo-Carr vs. St. George Illawarra Dragons

Winning Games

Highest score in a winning game: 52 points

• Round 17: vs. St. George Illawarra Dragons

Lowest score in a winning game: 7 points

• Round 12: vs. North Queensland Cowboys

Greatest winning margin: 40 points

• Round 8: vs. New Zealand Warriors

Greatest number of Games won consecutively: 8

• Round 12 to Round 20

Losing Games

Highest score in a losing game: 20 points

• Round 21: vs. South Sydney Rabbitohs

Lowest score in a losing game: 4 points

• Round 4: vs. Cronulla Sharks
• Round 11: vs. Manly Sea Eagles

Greatest losing margin: 20 points

• Round 9: vs. St. George Illawarra Dragons
• Round 11: vs. Manly Sea Eagles

Greatest number of Games lost consecutively: 2

• Round 4 to Round 5
• Round 20 to Round 21

Jersey[]

On 1 November 2017 the Storm revealed their new 2018 Home jersey ^[44] which is once again produced by ISC. The new jersey is a tribute to the original jersey worn by Storm during its inaugural 1998 season. It has been produced to celebrate and acknowledge the history of the club as it celebrates its 20th anniversary throughout 2018. The signature ‘V’ representing Victoria returns although is more of a traditional V rather than the style used on the original jersey and it is showcased by the heritage colours of purple and white, while the iconic purple also features around the edging of the sleeves. The popular yellow returns with trimming around the neck a throwback to the late 90s when i featured as part of the collar. Purple lightning bolts also sit on either side of the jersey. Navy has been made the primary colour to commemorate the original Storm jerseys worn during the Club's formative years. On the front of the Jersey is the new Storm logo that was revealed on Monday as part of a launch of the 20-year celebrations.^[45] This logo is a temporary logo for the duration of the 20 year celebrations.

On 3 November 2017 the club revealed the new 20th Anniversary away jersey ^[46] The away jersey is another tribute to the past with the Club's iconic lightning bolts watermarked on the front of the jersey. The heritage colour of navy also features on the all white jersey, with horizontal stripes running across the bolts. Purple appears around the edging of the sleeves, identical to the home jersey.

On 24 January 2018 the club released its special jersey that will be worn in the 2018 World Club Challenge.^[47] The Jersey design is not new but the same as the design worn in the 2017 NRL Auckland Nines competition, with the new logos featuring on the front.^[48]

On 25 April 2018 - ANZAC Day - Melbourne Storm wore a special version of their 2017 Jersey with a red "Poppy" V to commemorate ANZAC Day.

Jersey choice

RD1	RD2	RD3	RD4	RD5	RD6	RD7	RD8	RD9	RD10	RD11	RD12	RD13	RD14	RD15	RD16	RD17	RD18	RD19	RD20	RD21	RD22	RD23	RD24	RD25	QF	SF	PF	GF
Home	Home	Home	Home	Home	Home	Clash	ANZAC	Home	Indigenous	Home	Clash	—	Home	Clash	Clash	Anniversary#	Clash	Clash^	Home	Clash	WIL&	Home	Clash	Home	Home	—	Home	Clash

^# Special jersey celebrating 20th anniversary of the club.
^ Alternative sponsor logos worn due to New Zealand restrictions on gambling advertising.
^& Women in League jersey - mostly purple version of the home jersey with pink accents.

Awards[]

References[]