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NRL Rugby League, Melbourne Storm v Warriors at Etihad Stadium, Sunday April 25th 2010. Digital image by Brett Crockford, © nrlphotos
Some pride may have been restored in the hearts of Melbourne Storm fans following their rousing 40-6 victory over the New Zealand Warriors at Etihad Stadium in front of an impressive 23,906 crowd, but where do they go from here?
Now that the emotion of proving a point to themselves, their fans and the rest of the competition has been left at Etihad on Anzac Day, the reality that the rest of the 2010 season will be a point-less exercise with that emotion of last night’s match dwindling with each round sets in.
Aside from playing for their representative careers and contracts for next season, will the Storm players really lift to the extent they did last night to tear the poor Warriors apart for the remainder of the season, particularly when the true story of culpability hasn’t emerged as yet?
And now that the fans have shown their solidarity with the club following their week from hell, will they continue to turn out each week?
Watch the replay of the match closely and beyond all the celebrations of the Storm’s performance during the game, there were two moments that bookended Fox Sports’ coverage that suggested the hurt of the scandal has infested the club.
At the beginning of the coverage, as Fox panned across Etihad’s expansive stands, the faces in the crowd seemed particularly downcast, undoubtedly still reeling from the lost 2010 season and premierships.
Fast forward to the end of the coverage and despite the big win, the final shot was of the Storm players looking as downcast as their fans did before the game; reality having hit them hard following the initial exaltation of the prize-less win.
That pain and hurt will only grow as the resilience they showed last night washes away and recriminations and accusations emerge.
Unlike the Bulldogs previously, Melbourne faces a much longer haul to get to the end of the season with so little to play for.
On the crowd, 23,906 was a strong statement from the Storm faithful – a figure not far off the record home and away crowd of 25,404 achieved on Good Friday.
It was the expected show of support for the club in crisis.
One banner in the crowd read: “We believe in the Storm players. Sin bin the admin.” The overwhelming feeling from the core Storm supporters is that the club is the victim.
But how many fans will be there in Round 26 when the Storm host the Newcastle Knights?
Again, as the hard reality of the draconian 2010 punishment sets in, the Storm is buried in the Victorian press by the AFL, and the emotion of the controversy fades, crowds could well hit A-League Gold Coast lows.
Let’s judge the Storm’s future in Melbourne based on that Round 26 crowd, not on last night’s turnout as that will be the truer test away from the immediate emotional reaction.
On the park, the shattering display from the Storm highlights that there is a significant gulf between the illegally formulated squad and the rest of the competition – and this was with Greg Inglis and others watching from the sidelines.
Once the Storm are forced onto an even playing field with the rest of the competition next season, the overall spectacle of the NRL, with this great side in the competition, will regress – and as Phil Gould has said, the NRL must ask the question of whether they want Storm ilk teams or the inconsistent teams that make up the majority of the competition.
A tinkering of the salary cap may be required.
As the great Storm side parades around the competition, Penrith coach Matt Elliott has said they could well become the Harlem Globetrotters of the NRL – entertaining with their brand of exciting football and tinkering for future reference with their highly talented squad.
But remember, as you watch the Storm on their “globetrotting” tour of the NRL that this team is at its core a fallacy, or a mirage.
As a result, the Warriors, for example, have a right to feel aggrieved, particularly should the miss the finals by the points they could have won on their trip to Melbourne.
Should they miss the finals series as a result, do they not have a claim at being cheated?
Any team who succumbs to the Storm for the remainder of the season has a legitimate case for protesting the fact that they have lost to a team formulated by breaching the rules, and still doing so – particularly those who face them twice.
This is the greatest flaw in the punishment.
Gould – who has made some salient points amongst the throng of media deliberations on this issue – wrote that the NRL has two immediate choices to make: either force the Storm to sit out the remainder of the 2010 season (something he acknowledges would kill the club), or force them to make the necessary changes and abide by the salary cap.
The latter appears to be the only just solution if the Storm are allowed to steal their competition’s points this season.
The calls for a review of the punishment for this season will increase in the coming weeks, as will the unraveling of who was culpable, or knowing, of the salary cap breaches within the Storm organisation.
The Fairfax press is reporting that seven players – Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Dallas Johnson, Brett White, Michael Crocker and Steve Turner – will have their salaries scrutinised in the coming weeks.
The Sunday Herald Sun even reported that some players were given “boats, cars, tens of thousands of dollars in shopping vouchers and paid-for home renovations,” raising the prospect that some players could well have been aware of the breaches.
Already there are reports of fractured relationships developing in the Storm camp, which could well grow as this current state of unity evaporates into the reality of the fraud.
The Storm must act swiftly if it emerges that players were involved, cutting out the cancerous tumors immediately to try and stop the wave of irreparable damage.
This is a necessity to try and limit the hurt – particularly with the fans, if stars players were aware – and help the Storm carry on this growing perception that they are the victims rather than villains.
Meanwhile, across town earlier in the afternoon, the AFL hosted its now traditional Anzac day clash at the MCG between Collingwood and Essendon, with the Magpies romping home over the sorry Bombers in front of over 90,000.
It was quite a contrast.
Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph probably summed up the feeling of many Victorians when he tweeted: “What a contrast – Essendon and Collingwood play for everything on Anzac Day. Hours later Storm play for nothing… literally.”
Only in its sixteenth season, you’d think the Anzac contest has been played for decades judging by the fanfare and reverence in which the fixture is received, with all its ceremony and the rivalry that has developed between the two clubs.
This is just one strong indication of how intrinsically linked the AFL is with a Melburnians DNA and the power it has over the state.
That is the behemoth rugby league and the NRL has faced in the Storm’s brief history in the Victorian capital, and must now face with its damaged brand and the baggage of its breach.
Beyond the diehard supporters who turned up to AAMI Park on Saturday and at Etihad Stadium yesterday to support the Storm, the casual Victorian supporters may be lost in the mire of the corruption, for whom Essendon, Collingwood and co remain the only football in their hearts – and an untainted code, in their minds.
These are the Victorians upon whom the future of the Storm rests, otherwise 25,000 crowds will become a distant memory and the club’s size and influence will shrink.
Melbourne is the most congested sporting city in the country, and remember that as the Storm stumble to the end of their point-less season and rebuild within the restriction of a salary cap they so blatantly ignored, the Rebels will be born with a clean slate.
Remember that the Storm that will be reborn next season will be complying with the same rules as everyone else in the competition and could well be buried in the mid-table or worse.
This won’t be an easy rebirth and last night’s events do not change the immense challenges the club faces.
As they continue on in 2010, let’s hope the fans remain committed and faithful.
It won’t be an easy ride, but for the sake of the 23,906 fans who parted with their money to watch the Storm last night let’s hope they can survive and one day return to the summit of the NRL legitimately.