There is always talk of the Melbourne Storm being one of the dominant teams in the NRL, but with only one legitimate title to their name in the last decade, are they really as good as we think?
You might think to yourself, ‘But they’ve won multiple premierships, how could they possibly be chokers?’, which is a fair point, in fact, that’s what I first thought of when I contemplated whether this would make a good argument.
But the more and more I thought about it, and the more evidence I ended up coming across, the more it made sense to me.
The Melbourne Storm are one of the few NRL sides that have been blessed with a terrific core of players, of course being Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, not to mention more recently the representative players Jesse Bromwich, Will Chambers, Tohu Harris and Kevin Proctor.
And let’s not forget one of the best, if not the best, coach of the modern game, Craig Bellamy, who is able to turn rocks into diamonds.
Yet for some reason, this team doesn’t compete in as many grand finals as they should.
I understand that teams can’t make it every year, but with the squads they have been able to assemble, as well as the high standards they always set in the regular season, you would think that more likely than not they would have competed for the big one, but instead they’ve faltered at the final hurdle, with very little coverage or questioning.
Like I mentioned before, there is evidence showing the Storm’s trends of choking since their last premiership in 2012.
Hark back to 2013, where once again the Storm were in the top four and favourites to win the competition. The team finished third after the regular season, and headed to Sydney to face the Rabbitohs, who had a stellar season but had a very poor record against the Victorian side.
On the night however, the Storm fell 20-10 and were outmuscled against the huge Souths side, but would get another chance at home the week later.
They then lost to the Knights, playing in their first finals series under Wayne Bennett, with a generally inexperienced side, which was a massive choke, especially being in Melbourne. The team fell out of the finals in straight sets.
The next year was even worse, with the team losing at home 28-4 against the Bulldogs, who at the time had no wind in their sails, but eventually made it to the grand final. Another game that should have easily been won, but no one made a fuss.
Finally this year, they crumbled against the Cronulla Sharks. While a lot of wind was in the Sharks’ sails, the Storm could have easily crashed the party and very well nearly did. With so little expectation on them, it was the perfect opportunity to break their recent hoodoo, but once again they fell at the final hurdle, and now 2016 will just be another ‘what if’ year for them.
I feel like the Storm’s biggest problem is the way they try and sprint in a marathon race, and they put too much pressure on themselves to be the best team in the regular season.
Eventually their form plateaus, and when the finals come around other teams have gained momentum heading into the finals, while the Storm is unable to go up another gear.
Perhaps it’s time for Bellamy to slightly tweak with the way his team operates. So many times over the last few seasons they’ve been touted as either premiership favourites or contenders, yet they never improve during the finals, and just continue to get beaten by teams who have that momentum going into October.
A lot of people will disagree with me on this and think I’m absolutely insane, but I believe that the Melbourne Storm are the new chokers of the NRL.
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Pete Nope didn't win . As a Storm supporter I must say they were very fortunate to get past Canberra - the raiders butchered numerous score trying opportunities and should never of lost that game in Melbourne .
Pete bloor
Guest
It's over analyse the loss time. Only one team wins putting the pass fail at a premiership is a ridiculous unachievable benchmark.
Pete bloor
Guest
Hold on a second they lost by 2 points to a pretty darn good side. Now they can't win a premiership with this team?
Rob
Guest
I'm thinking your absolutely insane. Given they won the Minor Premiership without the services of arguably the best fullback in the game is extraordinary. I wish my team choked like the Storm.
Spongebob
Guest
Total chokers. Given most people didn't even have them making the 8 this year, pretty pathetic they only managed minor premiers and one missed inside pass away from a premiership.
shane flanagan
Guest
Here I was thinking the Storm were gracious in defeat - and then Bellamy claims that the Storm were the best team for 6 months while dismissing the premiership winers as only having to be the best team over 1 month. That he is factually incorrect notwithstanding, what a bitter poor loser. If you care to look you will find that the Storm were, in fact, the number 1 ranked team (or best team according to Bellamy) for a grand total of 7 weeks. Whilst the Sharks led the competition for 10 weeks..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_NRL_season
matth
Guest
Well said. Of course we can still make fun of the Proteas right?
Brando Connor
Guest
You do a disservice to Cronulla and its fans with your opinion. Neither team was strongly favoured to win. Both teams went at it hard and one came out on top. Melbourne didn't lose it through choking, Cronulla won it by taking more of their very few chances.
sheek
Roar Guru
I'm going to call the words 'choke' or 'chokers' for what it is - a throwaway line, a cheap shot. It's the sports fans equivalent of the coward punch, that's what it is. Do the people who throw the words choke & chokers around like confetti, really understand the psychology behind what is happening? Far from falling apart or failing to handle the pressure, people often supposedly 'choke' because they are trying too hard, they're over-compensating because they want something too much. If we're truly honest with ourselves, we've all been there. So stop using the words choke & chokers, they are cowardly words, just cheap shots.
correct sometimes
Guest
firstly, this is not NSW jealousy, every poster has disagreed with him. the sharks are not drup fuelled - hardly any players are in that squad from 4 years ago plus i dont think he is an advocate (i still despise him)
brucey
Guest
There is a lot of Storm hate due to; jealousy (from NSW), and small town thinking (from Melbourne), but this is the most absurd thing I've ever read about Storm. The real chokers are the 8 teams that didn't even make the finals when key games were on the line. Then there are the Raiders that had several chances to win the game vs Storm but lost. The drug fueled Cronulla Sharks, with their one punch advocates won the GF - a horrible headline for the code.
Fix the scrums
Guest
Chokers no. Cheaters yes.
michael steel
Guest
Terms like Chokers and Flat track bullies ,and other similar terms are either headline grabbing or lazy. In this article Andrew makes some good points. For me, I was surprised how tired The Storm looked in the first half, or was Phil Gould brainwashing me?.With one minute to go the Storm could have scored the greatest try in rugby league history , however they didn't.
Adsa
Guest
Andrew you are 100% correct, the Storm are chokers they are also chicken wingers, sleepers, crushers, grapplers and more than likely Squirrel grippers, really dodgy in the tackle. The one thing they are also good at is consistently winning. Doggies, and Broncs have a less envious record when it comes to expectations and finals.
Muzz
Guest
It's hard to choke when you have Smith and Cronk managing things out in the middle.
Steve from down south
Guest
I think I have heard that somewhere before.....that's right at the start of every season for at least the last 5 years
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
You're quite welcome to your opinion - after all, that's what this site is all about - however I've rarely disagreed with an article more. I really struggle to see how the Storm could be labelled 'chokers' in any way, shape or form.
matth
Guest
Wow, just wow. Every other club in the comp would love to 'choke' like the Storm. Cowboys lost a GF and two prelims before finally cracking it in 2015 - damn chokers The Sharks lost 3 grand finals before 2016 - damn chokers The Bronc's made the finals for 18 year sin a row but only won 4 grand finals in that time - damn choker. etc, etc, etc. By the way, just look how the Cowboys fell with the enormous pressure the Sharks put on them in the prelim. Then in the GF the Sharks did it again, but Melbourne weathered the storm and were a chance to win right up until the siren. Damn chokers.
matth
Guest
Yes, salary cap or not, they won those GF's on the day, so no choking there.
David Beard
Guest
Bellamy is not the 'rocks to diamonds ' coach that you and others espouse. Go through his coaching record and see how effective he was with Dayne Weston, Tom Leroyd Lahrs, Troy Thompson. They get away with murder in the ruck because of a pre disposed mindset of the referee's allowing them to play that way. Storm are a well drilled team. But their time is nigh