For most of the 1990s the Brisbane Broncos dominated the NRL. They were chock full of rep stars and almost unbeatable at times. They also had a big advantage in local juniors, with a whole state from which to pick the best young kids.
Meanwhile the pool of juniors in New South Wales was fought over by a dozen Sydney clubs plus the Raiders and Knights. In Queensland Brisbane had to compete with only the lowly Gold Coast and Cowboys.
Given this unfair advantage, some people pushed for a second Brisbane team. At least that would dilute the Broncos monopoly on juniors. But for some reason it never happened– not officially, that is. Unofficially it did happen with the introduction of the Melbourne Storm.
In 1998 Brisbane had a team made up almost entirely of rep players. Check out their grand final side if you don’t believe me. They hammered the Bulldogs in that game. What do you expect? It was state versus suburb.
The 1998 season was also when Melbourne Storm came into the competition. Due to their Queensland links, the Storm took some of the best Queensland juniors away from the Broncos in the next few years. They ended up doing the job the second Brisbane team was meant to do. The end result? The Broncos won only two titles in the next 20 years: 2000 and 2006. That’s a long time ago now.
What this means is that all the Sydney clubs should get together and buy the Melbourne Storm a big thank you card for saving the competition from Broncos domination. If the Storm didn’t exist, Brisbane would have won at least ten of the last 20 premierships. Without the Storm, Brisbane would have got Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Greg Inglis.
(AAP Image/David Moir)
Wayne Bennett would have won about 18 grand finals and never gone to St George in 2009. Or maybe Craig Bellamy would have begun a 20-year run as Brisbane coach in what was, after all, his hometown. A Broncos side in about 2008 might have looked something like this:
- Billy Slater
- Wendell Sailor
- Greg Inglis
- Justin Hodges
- Israel Folau
- Darren Lockyer
- Cooper Cronk
- Petero Civoneciva
- Cameron Smith
- Ben Hannant
- Sam Thaiday
- Corey Parker
- Tonie Carroll
Never mind the salary cap. Where there’s a will there’s a way, and I don’t see that side losing too many games.
So, Sydney clubs, hate on the Melbourne Storm all you like. Curse them for their success, their grappling, their cap rorting. But without them diluting the Queensland player pool, you would have spent the last two decades living in the Broncos Republic of Australia under the presidency of Wayne Bennett.
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You’ve got to feel for Wayne. His head-to-head record against Bellamy’s Storm is poor, and Melbourne are one of only two clubs Brisbane has a losing percentage against – the Broncos all-time winning record against Melbourne is only 29 per cent, by far their worst against any club (their next worst is Manly, at 40 per cent).
If the Broncos were to ever get hold of a time machine, they would probably go back, Terminator-style, and stop the Melbourne Storm being born in 1998. Maybe the fans of Sydney clubs would do that too. After all, they had to sit through all those Melbourne grand finals from 2006. They won’t be buying Smith and Bellamy any thank you cards.
Yeah, that Storm dominance wasn’t much fun for the fans of Sydney clubs. But think of the alternative – it could have been worse. It could have been the Broncos.
William W
Roar Rookie
Great comeback mate, I agree 110%
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Thanks Wayne, it's always good to trigger a Broncos fan.
Wayne Lovell
Roar Guru
What a fabulously inaccurate bunch of sour grapes. Thanks for putting this up I devastatingly missed it last time
Do Not Like Meblourne Storm
Guest
Melbourne Storm are a dirty and cheating club. Salary cap violations over several years, grappling tackles, crusher tackles, and generally unprofessional play designed to hurt players. I find it a disapointment that they remain in the competition.
Mondo
Roar Rookie
They might've felt a little sorry... Cronulla taking 50 years to achieve what they did in two.
Mungo
Guest
The RL turned a blind eye to salary cap cheating at the raiders and Storm until after they won a string of premierships. Blind Fittler could have seen that both clubs were overloaded with international and SOO players yet let them establish a presence in "foreign" territory. to build a following. And the Sydney clubs just let them get away with it...
Wascally Wabbit
Guest
There was already a de facto Brisbane team prior to the Storm -- the Canberra Raiders. From roughly the mid 80's to 90's they had a procession of Qld players. Meninga, Belcher, Jackson P &S, Walters S & K, Coyne.... Maybe we should thank them too ?
jimmmy
Guest
Eternally grateful to the Melbourne Storm. .? .? I would much rather the Broncs have won all those premierships. The premiership should never be allowed to travel South of the Tweed.
Mumbles
Guest
The Storm (under same Broncos ownership) allowed a Brisbane Broncos monopoly to exist and have an undue influence on NRL thinking. News Ltd anyone
Afam
Guest
Broncos winning 10 of 20 grand finals between 1998-2017 is wishful thinking. Whose to say that if the Storm didn't exist, Smith, Cronk and Slater wouldn't be picked up by a Sydney club? No team will dominate like that for 20 years in the modern game
Marty
Guest
The Storm wasn't set up as 'Brisbane's second team', it just happened to work out like that thanks to the lack of a reserve grade team and the relationship forged with a number of BRL clubs as feeder/farm clubs. The Storm was set up with mostly NZ and NSW origin players who were left homeless by the rationalisation of the NRL competition. Just look at the first Storm squad. Hill, Kearns, Lazarus, Kimmorley, Robbie Ross, Geyer, Marquet, Carlaw, Williams - all NSW players, throw in Kearney, Martin, Nikau, Rua, etc from NZ. There were only a few Queenslanders in the squad, and not many of them were regular first graders - the most prominent was Russell Bawden, not exactly a face that people remember. I think its false to suggest that - with what has been a relatively even playing field between the two states for 40 years - without the Storm, there would be a Brisbane/Queensland dominance of the premiership. In the time between their inception (and first premiership) to the era of the Storms apparent dominance (unfairly for the most part), the Broncos won two premierships. In the era of the Storms dominance, no fewer than 5 Sydney clubs have won a premiership, Manly twice to make it 6, and a Queensland team have two premiership wins. IF the Storm is a "Queensland team", then you can bring that number up to 4 (6 if you include the stripped titles). If you count premierships since the Storms inception, you will have 11 NSW premierships to 7 Queensland premierships (9 if you include the stripped titles). You also named a team of players who would have played for Brisbane without the Storm. True, some may have - but that would mean that many talented players not on your list would have made a huge difference to some Sydney clubs and brought them up to the standard of premiership quality. And another thing - the myth generally championed by its Queensland-supporting Victorian fans (and some Queensland based Storm fans) is that they support Queensland because the Storm players all play for Queensland (or vice versa, support the Storm for all its Queensland talent). Over the years, the Storm has provided 14 players to Queensland, and 13 to New South Wales - with the Storm providing 1 coach to New South Wales and none to Queensland. Seems like a pretty even spread to me.
rossco
Guest
Melbourne has always been the second Brisbane team.
14-12
Guest
Thanks Storm, thanks for lOoOoOsing the 2016 grand final hehehe
tommo
Guest
aluminium foil deflector beanies at the ready? So instead of "expanding the game" (which I still believe is a complete fallacy, the Storm have generated three Victorian born players in their entire time in the game, yet blooded an entire generation of Queenslanders in exile), perhaps the real reason for the existence of the Storm was as the defacto second Brisbane team (which was not allowed for a minimum of ten years under the peace treaty of the thing we don't talk about). Interesting...
Wolly
Roar Guru
Should we also send hate mail for the rubbish they’ve introduced to our game?
peeko
Guest
with more money and clubs getting more professional there is no way all those players wold have gone to Brisbane, a lot of those players are from FNQ which is 2000k from Brisbane. Look at how many Kiwi kids getting recruited, the same would have happened in Qld.
KenW
Guest
That terminator idea could lead to a worse continuity than the movies with John Ribot playing all significant parts.