The 2014 Melbourne Storm season was the 17th in the club's history. They competed in the 2014 NRL season and were coached by Craig Bellamy and captained by Cameron Smith. In 2014 the Storm struggled to achieve consistent success, however won enough games late in the season to qualify for the NRL finals in 6th place. The club finished outside the top four for the first time since 2005 (other than when competition points were stripped in 2010). It was a roller coaster campaign that kicked off with consecutive one-point wins, courtesy of field goals from Smith and Cooper Cronk. Five of the club's wins during season came at a combined 17 points. Injuries to Cronk (broken arm) and Billy Slater (shoulder) during the Origin period saw the Storm lose four of six games during that stretch, as they were left clinging to eighth spot on the NRL ladder. The team managed to steady the ship by winning six of their last eight regular season games to finish sixth.
In a significant boost for the club, captain Cameron Smith signed a four-year contract extension just one week into the season.
Season summary Pre-season – New recruits took part in Melbourne Storm IDQ camp for pre season training before New Years. Matt Duffie was awarded the IDQ Iron bar with special recognition to both Justin O'Neill and Kenny Bromwich. Auckland Nines – The club 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. Ryan Hoffman captained the squad. Round 1 – The Storm opened their season with a golden point extra time win over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. 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. The victory also meant the Storm won their season opener for the 10th successive year. 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.Cameron Smith To Remain At Melbourne Storm For Four More Years After Tough Decision Herald Sun 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 match for the club. 18 March – Jesse Bromwich commits to the Storm by signing a new four year playing contract. 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 had led 24–10 with 13 minutes left on the clock. 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. The Warriors taking home the Michael Moore Trophy in the only meeting between the teams for the season. 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. 29 May – Both Kevin Proctor and Young Tonumaipea sign new playing contacts with the Storm. 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 the North Queensland Cowboys. 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 Ettingshausen. Late June – The Storm sign Fijian Marika Koroibete from the West Tigers just before the 30 June deadline. Koroibete is noted as 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. This followed the news that Sisa Waqa would depart for the Canberra Raiders and the end of the season and Mitch Garbutt would depart for the Brisbane Broncos. 10 July – Injured Storm utility Slade Griffin and young outside back Hymel Hunt are both suspended for two matches after they were named among five players found to have gambled on NRL matches in breach of the league's gambling policy. Round 19 – The Storm return to the winners list with a 28–14 win over Canberra, with Mahe Fonua scoring his second double of the season. 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 sixth 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 before joining the Warriors.
Milestone games Round Player MilestoneRound 1 Young Tonumaipea NRL debut George Rose Storm debut Ben Roberts Storm debutRound 2 Cameron Smith 263rd Storm game (Storm Record) Billy Slater 250th gameRound 5 Dayne Weston Storm debutRound 9 Kurt Mann NRL debutRound 10 Craig Bellamy 300th NRL game as coach Joel Romelo Storm debutRound 12 Cameron Munster NRL debutRound 19 Marika Koroibete Storm debutRound 25 Cooper Cronk 250th game
Jerseys For the 2014 season, sportswear company KooGa completed their rebrand to BLK, releasing a similar home jersey design for the Storm as the 2013 version, with the main difference being the addition of purple shoulder panels. The away jersey was also similar to the 2013 version, worn with white shorts.
After initially not re-signing with the club as main jersey advertiser, Crown Resorts modified their logo on the jerseys to read "Crown Resorts". For the first match of the season, this logo was gold in a black box (similar to the application of their logo on the South Sydney Rabbitohs jersey), before reverting to a white logo inside a navy blue box to match the Melbourne Storm colours.
Special Round 8 – Added ANZAC Appeal logo with text "Storm vs Warriors" in the centre of the chest. Round 9 – A "Women in League" design that featured a pink and purple gradient with thin blue hoops and side panels. Round 13 – Storm wore a heritage jersey design, which was replica of the club's 1999 blue jersey, with wide gold collars. Round 23 – For the NRL's Indigenous Round, Melbourne wore an updated version of the club's 2012 Indigenous jersey designed by Lenny Briggs and Dixon Patten. The 2014 version featured more purple than the original version, but was still mostly orange.
Attendance averages Total Matches Average Home 178,728 12 14,894 Away 166,547 12 13,879 All regular season games 345,275 24 14,386 Finals 19,230 1 19,230 All Games 364,505 25 14,580
Fixtures
Preseason (BP) - Bonus point try Date Opponent Venue Result Tries Goals Field goals 8 FebruaryTrial 1 Canberra Raiders AAMI Park, Melbourne1220K Proctor, Y Tonumaipea, H Hunt 15 FebruaryAuckland NinesPool Game Penrith Panthers Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand1114W Chambers, C Munster (BP)C Munster 15 FebruaryAuckland NinesPool Game South Sydney Rabbitohs Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand1810W Chambers (2 (BPx1)), M Fonua (BP)W Chambers, S Waqa 16 FebruaryAuckland NinesPool Game St George Illawarra Dragons Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand1014M Garbutt, M FonuaS Waqa 22 FebruaryTrial 2 Eastern Suburbs Tigers Langlands Park, Brisbane121623 FebruaryTrial 3 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane1020M Fonua, K BromwichC Smith 1/2
Regular season Result by round
Matches Source: – Golden Point extra time (pen) – Penalty try Date Opponent Venue Result Tries Goals Field goals 8 March1Manly Warringah Sea EaglesBrookvale Oval, Sydney 2322S Waqa (2), B Hampton, K BromwichC Smith 3/7C Smith 1/115 March2Penrith PanthersAAMI Park, Melbourne 1817K Proctor, M Fonua, S WaqaC Smith 2/5C Cronk 2/224 March3Newcastle KnightsAAMI Park, Melbourne2820S Waqa, K Proctor, W Chambers, Y Tonumaipea, C SmithC Smith 4/6 29 March4Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogsnib Stadium, Perth1240W Chambers, B Slater T Harris 2/3 6 April5Gold Coast Titans AAMI Park, Melbourne 2628S Waqa (2), K Bromwich, W ChambersC Smith 5/5 14 April6St George-Illawarra Dragons AAMI Park, Melbourne 2824W Chambers (2), J Bromwich, C Cronk, Y Tonumaipea C Smith 4/5 20 April7Canberra Raiders Canberra Stadium, Canberra2224M Fonua (2), R Hinchcliffe, S Waqa C Smith 3/4 25 April8New Zealand WarriorsAAMI Park, Melbourne1016K Proctor, Y TonumaipeaC Smith 1/2 10 May9Manly Warringah Sea EaglesAAMI Park, Melbourne2219B Slater (2), C Cronk, K MannC Smith 3/4 16 May10South Sydney RabbitohsANZ Stadium, Sydney2714B Slater (2), C Cronk, S WaqaC Smith 5/5C Cronk 1/1 24 May11Bye31 May12North Queensland Cowboys1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville022 8 June13Sydney RoostersAAMI Park, Melbourne1232M Fonua, K MannC Smith 2/2 24 June14Gold Coast TitansSkilled Park, Gold Coast2420W Chambers (2), B Hampton, K Mann, B RobertsB Roberts 2/5 16 June15Parramatta EelsAAMI Park, Melbourne4620S Waqa (2), B Slater (2), K Mann (2), B Norrie, J McLeanC Smith 6/7, B Roberts 1/1 30 June16St George-Illawarra Dragons WIN Stadium, Wollongong 1224B Slater, K MannC Smith 2/2 6 July17ByeBye12 July18Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsAAMI Park, Melbourne46K ProctorC Smith 0/2 19 July19Canberra RaidersAAMI Park, Melbourne2814M Fonua (2), M Koroibete, J McLean, K Proctor, S Waqa C Smith 2/6 25 July20Brisbane BroncosSuncorp Stadium, Brisbane 308R Hoffman (2), C Cronk, R Hinchcliffe, M Koroibete C Smith 5/6 4 August21Wests TigersCampbelltown Stadium, Sydney286M Koroibete (2), W Chambers, C Smith, S Waqa C Smith 4/5 9 August22Newcastle KnightsHunter Stadium, Newcastle3032S Waqa (4), B Slater, W ChambersC Smith 3/6 16 August23Cronulla-Sutherland SharksAAMI Park, Melbourne486M Fonua (2), T Glasby (2), M Koroibete, W Chambers, S Waqa, J Bromwich, J McLeanC Smith 6/9 25 August24Penrith PanthersCentrebet Stadium, Sydney2410M Koroibete, W Chambers, B Roberts, B Slater C Smith 4/5 30 August25Sydney RoostersAllianz Stadium, Sydney1224B Slater (2)C Smith 2/2 5 September26Brisbane BroncosAAMI Park, Melbourne2212M Fonua (2), R Hoffman, C Cronk C Smith 2/2, W Chambers 1/2
Source:
Finals
Ladder
2014 Coaches Head coach: Craig Bellamy Assistant coaches: Justin Morgan & Anthony Seibold Coaching consultant: Nathan Brown Halves coach: Brett Finch NRL Under-20s coach: Matt Adamson Head Physiotherapist: Tony Ayoub
2014 Squad As of 26 July 2014