S29E20 Preview – Szechuan chicken

Will Melbourne takeaway sweet or sour memories from The Bad Place on Friday?1

I’ve looked back at quite a few Storm versus Roosters matches here, so instead of trawling the archives again for another grinding match between these teams, I’ve decided to go in a more colourful direction…

The annual NRL Women in League celebration returns this weekend, apparently for the 20th season.

To crib off the words from a wise subscriber:

I am unsure how I feel about the Women in League round. A lot more work needs to be done about teaching respect for women in sport and life, and anything raising awareness must do some good. While wearing pink on jerseys and pink socks is a nice touch to acknowledge the very important part women play in the greater rugby league community, perhaps it should also be coupled with a bit of education.

Whether that education has been forthcoming or anything close to increased amounts of respect has been seen in the orbit of rugby league… well… there’s still a lot of work to be done. The NRL Women’s competition is fun though right? The Women’s State of Origin definitely contributed to the NRL’s bumper broadcast deal.

In any event, between 2013 and 2019 Melbourne Storm wore a special jersey on this weekend with varying results.

Melbourne’s first injection of pink into the jersey was this effort worn against Manly in May 2013.

On a Monday night, the teams would play out a 10–all draw after golden point2 in wet conditions at AAMI Park — Melbourne came from 8–0 down at half time. Cameron Smith levelled the scores with a penalty goal with a minute left in the match. It was the first time Melbourne had worn a hooped jersey, which featured silver numbers on the back.3

A year later Melbourne went even pinker with another hooped design.

The match was again in May, again versus Manly at AAMI Park. On another moist evening, Melbourne won 22–19 with Kurt Mann scoring the winner on his NRL debut. Manly had kicked a first half field goal to take a 5–4 lead, Mann’s try sealing a comeback win orchestrated by Cooper Cronk.

The next May there was a little less pink from the Storm as the Women In League round changed it’s colour palette.

This time around Souths were the visitors to AAMI Park — Melbourne holding on to a 16–12 victory after leading 16–2 at half time. The Storm were fortunate to escape with the win with Greg Inglis almost conjuring up a win for the Bunnies.

ISC ramped up the pink in 2016 producing this jersey when Women in League round moved to August…

The club slapped on the Ovarian Cancer Australia logo with the club sponsor presenting a Challenge Cup to the winner of the match against the Bunnies. That was the home team in an extraordinary finish at AAMI Park — Cameron Smith kicked a 39m penalty goal after Damien Cook was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Cameron Munster in the final minute of the match. In #goldengallop, Smith kicked the winning field five minutes into extra time after both Cooper Cronk and Adam Reynolds missed field goal attempts.

Keen observers will notice something unusual about the Storm Women in League jerseys — they have offered something of a preview of future jersey design directions. The hooped jerseys eventually evolved into the 2015 away jersey. This 2017 design was seen again when it was recoloured for the 2018–2020 white jersey.

Souths were again the visitors to AAMI Park in round 22, but it wouldn’t be a close match this time around as Melbourne ran rings around the Bunnies to win 64–6. Suliasi Vunivalu started the scoring in the second minute, and the Fijian winger would have a first half hat-trick when he was awarded a penalty try just before the interval. Souths only fight came when Sam Burgess was his usual thuggish self, somehow escaping being put in the sin bin for an illegal head-slam tackle on Felise Kaufusi in the final ten minutes.

In the week of Billy Slater’s retirement announcement, Melbourne welcomed the Sharks to AAMI Park for the 2018 match in round 22. This design was a pink and purple take on the 2018 home jersey with pink numbers.

This was Melbourne’s first loss in a pink hued jersey, the Sharks upset Melbourne to do the double over the Storm in 2018 — the visitors led 13–4 at the break and hung on to claim a 17–14 win.

This would be the final year that Melbourne had a specific Women in League jersey as the design brought back the club’s lightning bolt motif, this time coloured pink.

The Raiders were the visitors to AAMI Park this August and they again left Victoria with the two points. Melbourne had what should have been a match-winning lead inside the first 30 minutes when they led 18–0, but the visitors scored 22 unanswered points to take the win ahead of their first Grand Final appearance since the 1990s. Josh Papali’i scored under the posts to ice the match.

Instead of a match jersey, since 2021 Melbourne have worn a special warm-up shirt for Women in League round. They’ve all sported the Victorian Women’s Trust branding, with the club relaunching the Women of Storm group and event during this time.

• Melbourne have played ten previous matches on 17 July, losing their first four between 1998 and 2010 which were all played away from Victoria. The club then won their next five matches between 2011 and 2021, losing 20–16 to the Raiders at AAMI Park when they last played on this date in 2022.

• Melbourne have won eight of their last night matches against the Roosters, having lost just twice since the Roosters won the 2019 preliminary final against the Storm at the ShitCG.

• The Roosters have lost just once at the new SFS this season, while Melbourne have won both of their previous matches at the venue.

• Daniel Tupou has scored six tries in his last six matches against Melbourne. Tupou is the leading tryscorer in matches between these teams, scoring 14 tries in his 26 appearances.

• Of the 375 players who have played in the 54 matches between Melbourne and Easts, players that have played for both teams in this fixture include James Aubusson, Michael Crocker, Cooper Cronk, Brett Finch, David Kidwell, Paul Momirovski, George Rose, Jason Ryles, Brandon Smith, and Sisa Waqa.

Birthdays:

• 14 July: Todd Lowrie ⚡️121; Brodie Croft ⚡️174; Cooper Johns ⚡️204

• 15 July: Willie Leyshon ⚡️052

• 17 July: Tom Eisenhuth ⚡️192; Cooper Clarke ⚡️243

• 19 July: Christian Welch ⚡️167; Paul Momirovski ⚡️202

Blast from the past:

Reliving it all hurts but I knew I had nothing to fear (The Daily Telegraph/Craig Bellamy)

16 July 2010

As I watched yesterday unfold,4 I questioned whether our salary cap situation was better or worse than when first revealed in April.

I’m still not sure of the answer.

The past three months have been an extremely tough time for all involved with Melbourne Storm.

It has probably hit home the most this week as we continue to relive it over and over.

When players you have watched develop into men walk into your office to tell you they are leaving, it hurts.

That’s the human side of the ledger that is often overlooked.

None of these players want to leave. But some are going to.

It’s hard not to get emotional when players come in to your office and tell you they are leaving.

It’s emotionally draining. I’ve been going home and kicking cans for the rest of the day and so I should be.

It’s in those tough times that I’ve turned to my family. They have been my rock through all of this.

In April, when this situation was first revealed, my children, Aaron and Rachel, dropped everything and flew down to Melbourne to be by our sides.

It got me through that dark period.

When Aaron left, for an extended holiday in New Zealand, he penned me a letter.

I read that letter once or twice a week to give me a lift.

Every time I feel like the going is getting too tough, I pull it out of the drawer where it’s safely kept.

Aaron’s letter is one of two things that have kept me going through this all.

The other is the tremendous support our members and supporters have provided. They are without doubt the greatest supporters in the country.

Recounting our game against the Warriors, immediately after the cap breaches were first revealed, I’ll never forget the size and noise of the crowd.

It followed on from the 4000 members who attended our open training session the day before the game.

To be honest, I was expecting two men and a dog.

But they’ve stuck by us. They’ve been exceptionally loyal, so can I say to them that when the dust clears, we will repay you.

I still believe that the Storm and rugby league have a big future here in Melbourne.

It was pleasing to hear that, along with the players and the rest of the staff still at the club, I had been cleared.

I knew I had a clear conscience because when I first started coaching I made a choice.

I decided that, should I ever make it as a coach, contractual negotiations would not be part of my role.

If you want to be a coach, you can't also be an administrator.

At some stage players can become aware of what others are earning.

And if they think they’re getting a raw deal, it’s the club negotiator who wears the brunt of the resentment.

If that was me, the player would be almost impossible to coach.

That was always the No. 1 consideration for me. I definitely didn’t want that pressure.

What I do want to do is coach this team. I’m here for a while yet and leading us out of this position is something I’m going to take on for the long-term survival of this club.

Do you remember:

The highest score conceded by Melbourne came against the high-scoring Parramatta Eels5 on 20 July 2001 at Colonial Stadium. The Eels piled on the points in the second half after Melbourne were only down 18–6 at the break. Jason Taylor ended the night on 2,034 career points, level with then record holder Daryl Halligan. Taylor left the field midway through the second half with a bruised shoulder. Eels coach Brian Smith got fired up the press conference calling the media “sick” for suggesting that Taylor was taken off so that he would break the record the next weekend at Parramatta.

This big loss came only a couple of weeks after Melbourne had won 64–0 against the Wests Tigers.

1. Sualauvi Fa’alogo

2. Will Warbrick

3. Jack Howarth

4. Nick Meaney

5. Moses Leo

6. Tyran Wishart

7. Trent Toelau

8. Stefano Utoikamanu

9. Harry Grant ©

10. Josh King

11. Cooper Clarke

12. Oryn Keeley

13. Trent Loiero

14. Gabriel Satrick

15. Jack Hetherington

16. Josiah Pahulu

17. Alec MacDonald

18. Stanley Huen

19. Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown

20. Davvy Moale

21. Manaia Waitere

22. Hayden Watson (possible NRL debut)

Referee: Gerard Sutton (Bunker: Chris Butler)6

Forecast: Showers 13–18°C

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Sydney Roosters vs Melbourne Storm
— Allianz Stadium, 8:00pm Friday 17 July 2026

Cameron Munster… broken. Out at least a month, probably more with a knee injury.

Jahrome Hughes is out… that winter hamstring awareness striking again.

Maybe instead of playing Tyron Wishart and Trent Toelau in the halves, Melbourne could call up another debutant… Hayden Watson is still in the 22-man squad after all.

Harry Grant returns to the starting lineup, and with Wishart and Toelau named in the starting team, Gabriel Satrick is back on the bench after his two tries against Newtown in the NSW Cup win last weekend. In other team news, Moses Leo slots back onto the left wing after recovering from the concussion he suffered a few weeks ago… maybe he and Mark Nawaqanitawase can exchange Yawnion stories while treating each other as turnstiles in defence.7

Elsewhere, Oryn Keeley slips into the second row after impressing on his Storm debut last week, while Stanley Huen also will be in contention for another NRL appearance in the forward pack. Now that Josiah Pahulu finally has a Storm player number, can he double his appearances count…

Over at Bondi Junction, Easts will be without James Tedesco who was concussed in the Origin decider. It means Cody Ramsay will be starting at fullback behind what is a fairly stacked outside backs lineup, especially assuming Robert Toia is fit to play. That firepower has seen the Roosters lose just three times since March, although one of those was against the Storm back in May.

Without Munster and Hughes, Grant is going to have to shoulder a lot of the load in attack. To do that though he’ll need to avoid going for every single tackle in defence. That might be easier said than done though, as the Roosters will be looking to tire out the hooker as others have successfully done in the past. It will be imperative for the forwards to help their skipper out. That means getting in for tackles, stopping the offloads from their big forwards like Naufuhu Whyte and Spencer Leniu. Cutting down the space afforded to both Reece Robson at dummy half, as well at DCE and Sam Walker when they look to move the ball.

When in possession it would be something different to see more than just Stefano Utoikamanu running onto passes with speed and movement. All too often Storm forwards are only available for runs late in the tackle count and usually from static positions near to the ruck. Offloads too would be a treat from those given that licence, while the ball playing of Trent Loiero is only to be encouraged. Perhaps he can bring out the idiocy of his opposite number and get him put in the bin.

But this match looks like a tough ask for Melbourne. It won’t be terminal for their finals hopes should they lose this one, but it makes the mountain they need to climb ever steeper. Win this one though and the Storm are somehow back to parity after 18 matches. Not sure anyone would have thought that entirely possible a couple of months ago.

Apparently the very rich owners of the Storm are partially cashing out and selling out by “inviting new investors” into the club. Oh they’re potentially Chinese consortium. Okay sure.8 Wait, the club is worth how much?

The Storm could be going global with two international bidders in negotiations with Melbourne bosses to explore a mega $160 million investment in the NRL powerhouse.

This masthead understands three investors, including a Hong Kong hedge-fund firm, have expressed interest in buying a stake in the Storm to capitalise on the NRL’s $5.3 billion TV rights deal.

One consortium is keen to purchase a majority 80 per cent stake in the club.

Should the sell-off go through, it would value the Storm at $200 million, putting Melbourne alongside the Broncos and Collingwood as one of the most powerful brands in Australian sport.

Storm chairman Matt Tripp confirmed the interest, but stressed he is not walking away from the club and is determined to remain as chairman if there is a change to Melbourne’s shareholding.

…

The Storm currently have five co-owners. Tripp owns a 33 per cent stake alongside Bart Campbell, Tom Carroll, Gerry Ryan and Brett Ralph, the latter of whom came on as an investor five years ago.9

I mean if Brett Ralph’s percentage of the organisation was diluted to near nothing, well that would be a good thing for all concerned.

The NSW Cup squad will also be hitting Allianz Stadium on Friday, their match against the Roosters starting at 5:30pm. Hugo Peel is back in action and has been named to return at fullback, with Manaia Waitere named on the wing if he isn’t required in the NRL squad. We haven’t seen a Storm injury report video for some time, so let’s assume that Shawn Blore is injured again and not question things beyond that. He’s not been named in the NSW Cup squad after playing 67 minutes against the Jets. Melbourne’s consecutive wins in this comp haven’t seen them move up the ladder, while the Roosters are in ninth with eight wins from their 16 matches.

Melbourne’s Jersey Flegg Cup squad are in tenth on the ladder and face off against the 11th placed Roosters on Sunday afternoon (kickoff 12:30pm) at Wentworth Park.

The FIFA World Cup Final will be on early Monday morning our time from New Jersey. I’m not a fan of tiki-taka football, but Spain are there again — however, praise be, thankfully Argentina accounted for the English — because it’s never coming home.