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Storming toward the ultimate sporting vindication

Sam Clench

by Sam Clench

26 Sep 05:50am

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Filed under: Afl, Grand Finals, Melbourne Storm, Nrl, Sport, Sydney Swans

50 comments

Australian sport is on the verge of an identity crisis. If results go a certain way this weekend then everything will be back to front, with Melbourne seizing the NRL title and Sydney winning the AFL.

Ninja Ryan Hoffman. Picture: Getty

Melburnians in particular have a magnificent chance to stick it to the rest of us on Sunday. The Storm are into their fifth NRL grand final of the century, and this time they got there fair and square.

That is, if having the freakish talents of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith together in one team is your idea of fair.

In the spirit of the Emmys, or Grammys, or whatever nauseating, trumped up award-fest is on next, you really have to (grudgingly) admire these three superstars of sporting entertainment and their formidable supporting cast.

Two years ago, when the Storm were hung, drawn and quartered in public for rorting the league’s salary cap, some pundits questioned whether the club could survive. David Gallop’s righteous anger emptied the team’s trophy cabinet and left its reputation in ruins.

A lesser club may have folded. Not Melbourne. They’re made of stroppy stuff down south.

When coach Craig Bellamy and his players strode out to face the cameras, and the music, in the wake of the scandal, their determination to rise again was obvious. Never has there been such a defiant display of jutted jaws and furrowed brows.

Victory on Sunday would be the ultimate vindication for this team. It would also incite a considerable dose of insufferable Melburnian smugness. The Storm will have redefined themselves as worthy champions.

Ironically, Melbourne’s opposition in the grand final is the only other club to have been caught in a major salary cap breach.

The Bulldogs were runaway premiership favourites in 2002 before they were stripped of 37 competition points and relegated to last place. Two years later, they won the title.

Sound eerily familiar? Melbourne are on the cusp of making the same triumphant comeback, in exactly the same amount of time. The Dogs’ mission on Sunday is to stop their own history from repeating.

Canterbury did finish on top of the ladder this season, so they enter the decider as deserved favourites. No one doubts the difficulty of Melbourne’s task.

But these Storm players have been to grand finals before, and they have one heck of a point to prove. That combination of experience and determination may be too much for the Bulldogs to handle.

Melbourne as a city still has many crimes to answer for, but the footy club has paid for its sins. If the Storm do win on Sunday, it will be a triumph that nobody can take away.

Comments on this post close at 8pm AEST.

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    • waynevan says:

      06:52am | 26/09/12

      Ok, so Bellyache and co have done a great job in getting the Storm to the Grand Final this year. (would have done so last year too if not for a series of brain explosions in the last few minutes against the Warriors), but I’m sick of terms like “vindication"being used.
      They cheated, they knew it and they got what they deserved.
      To all 200 Melburnians (mostly expats from NSW and Qld) aware of the existence of footy (as opposed to cross-country basketball). Enjoy. I hope you beat the only team I despise more than yours.
      I’m now off to apply for that job vacancy at the Tigers.

      Reply

    • Swans and Storm Premiers 2012 says:

      04:15pm | 26/09/12

      your version of “footy” has and always will be referred to as rugby (league or union doesn’t matter) either south and west of the riverina.  cross country basketball as you like to put it has and always will be the national code.  good luck with your job application.

    • #Dynamic_Drifter says:

      04:17pm | 26/09/12

      I hear ya @waynevan! Here’s my top 3 reasons why the rugby league world hates the Melburne Storm:

      1. PLAYERS’ LACK OF CONTRITION: Although the team was caught cheating the salary cap red-handed, all Storm players involved believe that the premierships were legitimate. This is unfair to all of the teams that they beat on the way to the 07 and 09 Grand Finals, with an illegally assembled team. Parra played their guts out in 09, and almost beat an ILLEGAL team - but alas, have nothing to show for it. A bit of humility from the Storm players could heal some wounds.

      2. SUPPORTERS ARE UNKNOWLEDGEABLE: Go to AAMI Park and you’ll find the supporters know who Billy Slater is, and can recognise Cooper Cronk. Ask them to identify a player on an opposing team, and they will struggle. Storm supporters love Melbourne (the city) and love winning. Their team have been winners on-field since the outset, and their fans have not had to patiently wait through tough years to taste success like the rest of us. To find out that much of their success was a result of cheating is something that your regular rugby league punter should rightly be filthy about. MAny storm supporters still deny the cap scandal, saying ‘every other team does it’...hate to break it to you, but the Storm took cap breaches to a new, and astronomical level.

      3. STORM STILL BENEFIT FROM CHEATING: The entire playing roster should have been deconstructed when the salary cap rorts were discovered. In my mind, the club got off way too lightly.The fact that 3 of the best players in the world still run around in purple jerseys is a disgrace.

    • Ben says:

      06:55am | 26/09/12

      Samuel has confused ‘vindication’ for atoning.

      Reply

    • Mahhrat says:

      07:52am | 26/09/12

      Came here to say this.  You cheat, you get busted, you are not “vindicated in your greatness”, you’re just not cheating any more.

    • Al B says:

      09:13am | 26/09/12

      Well in reality, a salary capped league is all about every team cheating in a sense. The lesser teams are all cheating by having the stronger ones pegged back to the pack.

      Systemic cheating so everyone is more likely to get their turn at winning. Aim being to keep the masses interested, and tv monies maximised.

    • Tim says:

      09:28am | 26/09/12

      I think the vindication is that it wasn’t the money they were paying the players that won them the premierships it was their development of players and coaching methods.

      They never bought high profile players, they brought through young players and turned them into superstars. And now they’re doing it again.

    • Sam says:

      12:21pm | 26/09/12

      @Tim That’s about right. A win on Sunday will prove that they are genuinely a champion team. That’s vindication. The Storm have already “atoned”. They were punished, quite rightly, and now their achievements are genuine.

    • Baraby Rordensen says:

      07:14am | 26/09/12

      Cheats.
      Chicken wingin’, grapple tacklin’, salary cap rortin’, cheats.
      Surely the refs have pretty much owned this season for the NRL. So many pivotal sh*thouse decisions have made a mockery of the whole franchise.
      But on the strength of this article, I say, c’morn the dogs.

      Reply

    • Bruce says:

      08:35am | 26/09/12

      Baraby: Yep cheats ! Even if they win, it wont forgive the past. I think the storm still have many of the players who did not even know they were being over paid when their cheating was going on ! Amazing ! Having said that, I am also NOT a “Dogs” supporter. Non event grand final !

    • Borderer says:

      09:44am | 26/09/12

      I had an argument with a Melbourne supporter about how they were all in on it, I pointed out that it was a mathmatical improbability and the NRL never charged the players because of the impact on Qld origin and the the test team as well as any other team found guilty at a later date.
      A team would have about 30 contracted players and they would have managers, lets say 15 as some may represent multiple players in the squad. It is their job to know exactly how much money the team has available within their salary cap in order to get the maximum value for their players. So even if half the player managers aren’t capable of doing their jobs (impossible but lets go with that) you’d still have seven that are aware of what is going on and you’re assuming that all of them have kept their players in the dark… ridiculous. It is impossible to prove but it is inconcievable to believe they were not aware. So when I see them talk vindication, I see the lies, the greed and the players who took performance enhancing payments.

    • Aitch B says:

      10:19am | 26/09/12

      @Bruce

      If you won’t forgive the Storm’s past can we then assume that you won’t forgive the Bulldogs’ past either?

      @Borderer

      Can you explain ‘performance enhancing payments’? You couldn’t possibly be saying that the more a player is paid the harder he tries, could you?

    • Borderer says:

      11:20am | 26/09/12

      Aitch B
      performance enhancing payments.
      The greater the amount paid to players, reasonably the better playing squad you attract. Compare the salary levels of Manchester United and Southhampton in the Premier league, the side with the bigger payroll has the better squad on average. The NRL salary cap is supposed to even out the inequity between rich and poor clubs by limiting the amount paid to the squad as a whole. By breaching the salary cap the Storm attracted a better squad than they would have otherwise been able to afford hence their performance (as a squad) was enhanced by payments.

    • Mark says:

      11:28am | 26/09/12

      @Borderer- Performance enhancing payments? I thought only politicians got those?

    • Rolls Canardly says:

      12:01pm | 26/09/12

      Mark, nothing at all to do with performace…

    • S.L says:

      07:45am | 26/09/12

      A lesser club may have folded. Not Melbourne.
      With News Ltd money and the NRL hellbent on keeping a team in a city that barely knows it exists I don’t think there was ever a question of them folding.
      The Sam Burgess caused penalty try last weekend was mild compared to what Cameron Smith does with his knees to opposing try scorers with impunity on a regular basis.
      My advice to Ben Barba…...........when you score on the weekend old mate make sure you roll out of the way quick smart especially if Smith and Slater (or more specifically their knees) are in close proximity to your back because the refs won’t see anything wrong I can assure you!
      As for the Swans and whoever they’re playing…...............who cares?

      Reply

    • Bruce says:

      08:25am | 26/09/12

      SL: Agree. Most people in Melbourne have little interest in the ‘storm’. As I understand it, the storm does not have one victorian player. All the players are from NSW, Qld, NZ etc. Melbourne could be relocated to “Alice Springs” or Darwin as a home base to promote rugby league in Northern Territory. Go South Melbourne, I think they have one player from NSW !!!!

    • SimpleSimon says:

      08:48am | 26/09/12

      You nailed the reason that I can’t stand Billy Slater or Cameron Smith. They’re dirty players. They’re both extremely talented offensively, but the sliding in late with the knees thing really irks me.

    • S.L says:

      09:29am | 26/09/12

      How’s that Bruce a league and an AFL follower agreeing on something!
      The planets must be aligned somewhere?

    • Borderer says:

      09:30am | 26/09/12

      You forgot to mention Billy’s “habit” of taking out attacking players chasing a kick, a disgrace.

    • Freeman says:

      10:18am | 26/09/12

      @ Borderer

      And a few years back, Slater routinely kicked or stomped the forearms of players scoring a try. That practice was stopped by officials.

      Melbourne are a pack of cheats.  Chicken wings, Grapple tackles, Flops, Knees in the back.

      Was it 2009 or 2010 when Cameron Smith missed the grand final coz he pulled a player over the sideline by his head? (and then pleaded not guilty to attacking the head! ahahaha.)

    • StormCloud says:

      11:02am | 26/09/12

      @Bruce
      Mahe Fonua is a born and bred Victorian

    • Ben C says:

      01:55pm | 26/09/12

      @ Freeman

      “Was it 2009 or 2010 when Cameron Smith missed the grand final coz he pulled a player over the sideline by his head?”

      Incident as you have described never happened. Smith got suspended for a “grapple” - had his arm extending from above one shoulder to the opposite armpit, but his motion was in line with a wrestling move, resulting in him twisting the upper body (in particular the head/neck/chest region). This incident happened in the middle of the field - about 30-odd metres away from either sideline.

    • swans and storm premiers 2012 says:

      04:17pm | 26/09/12

      sports fans south or west of the riverina care about the swans and whoever they’re playing.

    • Don't Kid Yourselves says:

      08:12am | 26/09/12

      So what if the ‘Melbourne’ storm wins and ‘Sticks’ it to the rest of NSW and QLD.

      What they refuse to acknowledge is that most of the players are from QLD and NSW. How many ACTUALLY come from VIC?

      If the Premiership league was actually representative, I don’t think there would even be a Melbourne Storm.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      09:27am | 26/09/12

      And what’s your point?
      Clubs don’t represent junior areas any more and haven’t for decades with the salary cap forcing players to move around.

      The Canberra Raiders have feeder clubs in Brisbane and it’s similar for many others. How many Roosters juniors play for them?

      Clubs have scouts in each state to try and sign up talent early, there’s nothing representative of areas about NRL (or AFL for that matter)

    • Don't Kid Yourselves says:

      10:13am | 26/09/12

      My point is that Melbourne cannot legitimately “stick it” to the rest of us if Storm wins the Premiership, as the win would not be reflective of Melbournian prowess at Rugby League.

      Queenslanders could… Winning 7 Origins in a row proves Queensland has a better talent pool of players. If Melbourne wins this GF, all it would really do is validate Queensland’s domination of talent in the game.

      Before I get slammed as a Toad, I need to point out I’m a New South Welshman who follows the Blues every year consistently. What I write above, I write begrudgingly. I do so however because it is fact.

    • Tim says:

      10:34am | 26/09/12

      Don’t Kid Yourselves ,
      The club is called Melbourne and represents them, it doesn’t matter where the players come from, they still have to be trained and coached into great players, which is what the Melbourne club has done.

      I think winning the Grand final is harder than winning Origin. I love Origin but all it proved this year is that 17 players from QLD (and NZ haha) are better than 17 players from NSW.

      QLD didn’t make those players good, their talent and their clubs did.

    • Don't Kid Yourselves says:

      11:15am | 26/09/12

      You say QLD didn’t make those players good, but I say neither did VIC.

      You say they need to be coached and trained to achieve success? I’m not disputing that at all. However, the Coach himself is a New South Welshman.

      Look, what I’m trying to get across is that Victorians have nothing to be proud of as far as Rugby League goes, regardless of whether or not Storm wins this weekend.

      If you are a Storm supporter, that’s fine. Be excited, just as Dogs fans will be as well. And if they win, congratulations on your clubs success! Enjoy the celebrations. Just don’t kid yourself into thinking that a win would put Victoria at the top as a Rugby League state.

      Also worth mentioning, before you pointed out that the Rugby League Premiership is not representative. Why? What is your point exactly? Did you read my original comment? I never said it was. What I did say was that IF it was representative, a Melbourne team would not exist, or if it did, it would perform quite poorly. Can you honestly argue with that?

    • Tim says:

      12:13pm | 26/09/12

      Don’t Kid Yourselves,
      I’m not a Storm supporter although I don’t mind watching them win.

      Fair enough it’s not Victorians winning but I think in the future the comp will be less about representing juniors or League strongholds as opposed to simply the area they’re based and trying to grow the game.
      Of course the premiership isn’t representative but I don’t necessarily want it to be.

    • Don't Kid Yourselves says:

      02:02pm | 26/09/12

      I don’t disagree with you there. I was a Balmain Tigers supporter (before they became Wests) and didn’t even live in Sydney let alone Balmain.

      I also agree that it really shouldn’t be representative… that would leave a lot of League supporters without any representation.

      I’m a traditionalist, but I’d be very interested to see if they ever one day considered creating a third side for a sort of extended Origin series. I doubt they would, and I certainly doubt VIC would have a side. Would probably be NZ maybe?

      Either way, maybe it’s best not to try and fix something that isn’t broken.

      Thanks for the discussion.

    • Bob of the Freezing tropics says:

      09:16am | 26/09/12

      Funny thing that, both teams in this years NRL grand final are convicted salary rort clubs!!!  Goes to show cheaters do prosper

      Reply

    • Joel says:

      02:06pm | 26/09/12

      They’d be crazy to make the same mistakes again though right?

      ......... Right?

      God dammit.

    • Bomb78 says:

      03:05pm | 26/09/12

      So Bob, because they got caught previously they/we can’t celebrate their greatness ever again?
      Plenty of Newcastle players got done for drugs in the late nineties, but we don’t drop our collective bundle everytime they take the field.
      To all those saying that because of the past I can’t/won’t watch or enjoy this weeks game, you are not a rugby league fan. My team haven’t played for a month, but I can’t wait to watch what should be a fantastic game.

    • Mick says:

      05:21pm | 26/09/12

      Someone tell Parra to start rorting the cap!

    • Black Dynamite says:

      09:41am | 26/09/12

      A lesser club would’ve folded, between the arguments made for keeping a Melbourne team and the bulldogs going through a similar ideal and surviving your point holds little creedence. This article belongs on the Melbourne Storm fan forums, not The Punch.

      BD

      Reply

    • Alex says:

      10:13am | 26/09/12

      Great article, although I wouldn’t use the word vindication. When they won, they were rorting the salary cap. Maybe the players didn’t know but many inside the Storm must have. (Why didn’t we all know and find the truth much earlier? You couldn’t possibly have maintained all those great players under the cap).

      It’s a great effort by the current players to bounce back and that needs to be applauded. They came so close last year as well. But win or lose this weekend, the club will not be ‘vindicated’ for what they did.

      The Storm might not have the silverware in the cupboard anymore and they were shamed at the time, but everyone still respects them and everyone talks about them winning those premierships. Players still have their rings and are described as premiership-winning players, so I wouldn’t say the penalties were harsh at all.

      Reply

    • Bill says:

      10:22am | 26/09/12

      Soon enough the premiers from both football and rugby will be Melbourne based. Not surprising considering Melbourne is not only the nation’s only premier sporting entity, but has also been acknowledged as the world’s Greatest Sporting City.

      Reply

    • TimB says:

      10:29am | 26/09/12

      Isn’t it a bit early in the day to be hitting the turps Bill?

    • Tim says:

      11:00am | 26/09/12

      Bill,
      finally acknowledging the greatness of the NRL and it’s importance in the Australian sporting landscape.

      Good work Bill, I knew you’d come around.

    • Al says:

      04:17pm | 26/09/12

      Wrong city Bill. Sydney on top of both codes mate.

    • Bill says:

      11:03am | 26/09/12

      As always, our national code has been followed by vastly greater numbers than that rugby game. And, as always, the fair weather fans from NSW who never bother to actually attend a game are pretending that their silly game can hold a candle to Australian footy. The facts speak for themselves - Australian football is supported by more than DOUBLE the number of people who watch the rugby.

      Makes you wonder why the rugby fanboys even bother to post comments here. They are on a hiding to nothing.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      11:18am | 26/09/12

      Bill,
      where were you on the weekend after you claimed that the AFL was going to get a larger crowd in Sydney?
      *crickets*

      “Australian football is supported by more than DOUBLE the number of people who watch the rugby.”

      Evidence please? 
      Rugby League has a bigger TV audience than AFL and is the main sport in the states and territories with over half the population of the country. How do you justify your figure of Double?

      Makes you wonder why delusionals keep on coming here to sprout about a “national game”. A massive inferiority complex at its finest.

    • Levi of Bris says:

      12:06pm | 26/09/12

      This Bill guy is just beyond a joke. He has been presented with evidence over and over again that League is followed by more people than AFL (even excluding the other “rugby” code as he refers to it haha). That kind of thickheaded arrogance typical of some Victorians is hard to fathom

    • HappyG says:

      12:11pm | 26/09/12

      Personally I love the AFL internationals. You know, the ones they play with a soccer ball cause they can’t find another country interested enough to play the bloody silly game. Cross country wrestling played by hand bag carrying ponces.

    • JamesH says:

      11:22am | 26/09/12

      Though I’m a born and raised League man, I reckon the NRL can learn a lot from the AFL.  The draft, financial support for clubs and the expansion policy should all be looked at as areas we could copy.  Though the remarkable arrogance of some of those from down south who have their heads up their proverbials and act as though there’s only one sport in existence we could do without.  There’s room in Melbourne for League and room in Sydney for Aussie Rules.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      12:15pm | 26/09/12

      Great comment,
      exactly the point that people like Bill above don’t get.

    • DJ says:

      12:56pm | 26/09/12

      I agree to an extent on financial support and expansion but have to take issue with the draft. Not having a draft in league is a god send, the Polynesian players in particular like staying close to family and as such can choose what city they live in , a big plus. Also if a player in a key position goes down you can simply go out and get the best replacement possible rather than suffer mediocrity whilst you wait to get lucky enough in the draft a la the AFL when a couple of ruckman go down in the one year.

    • Sam says:

      03:21pm | 26/09/12

      @DJ Agree with you re the draft. Don’t like it one bit.

      Reply
 
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