The Melbourne juggernaut can win the competition with their attack

The Melbourne Storm, coached by Craig Bellamy, are a special rugby league team.

That was the constant thought last night as the Storm extended their incredible winning streak over the Brisbane Broncos with another monstrous win in the Queensland capital.

Maybe the opening statement doesn’t need to be said, but it does need to be enforced time and time again. I’m not sure there are too many other coaches who could maintain the rage and position at the top of the NRL for as long as Bellamy has at his Storm.

While he once had absolute out and out superstars to do it – think Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and others – the absolute best players of their generation, the way he has now re-shaped and re-modelled his team, but also built a system that works no matter who’s playing is special.

Because even though their opponents weren’t world-beaters on Thursday night, the Storm shouldn’t have been able to do what they did with the cattle they had to any other team in the competition.

This isn’t amateur schoolboy rugby league. It’s the world’s most professional, prestigious competition, and the Storm right now are having a laugh with three of their four best players watching on from the sidelines with various injuries.

It is absolutely outrageous.

If you took players with Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster and Harry Grant’s talent out of any other side, they would struggle undoubtedly. Last week, Jahrome Hughes was also on that list and they blew the Raiders out 34 points to 10.

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Last night’s win over the Broncos, which was Melbourne’s seventh score of 40 or more in the last nine weeks, was another clinic in attacking rugby league.

While their defence hasn’t been lacking during that period, it’s the attack that has simply taken over and stamped its authority as the best in the competition without a doubt.

The way Nicho Hynes has taken over from Ryan Papenhuyzen has been special to watch, and the gun backline utility is adding value to his contract every time he steps onto the field, while Cooper Johns also came into the side last night and played his role admirably.

Without overplaying his hand, Johns had plenty of silky touches of the footy, while his kicking game also complimented the way Hynes and Hughes led the team around the park.

And it all comes down to the way Bellamy has his team structured. Every individual understands their role at both ends of the park, and nothing is over-complicated so that when players are injured and replacements are needed, they can simply pick up where they left off.

Last night might have been Melbourne’s ninth-straight victory, and it may have looked easy by the time the final scoreboard was displayed, but it wasn’t always that way for the entire 80 minutes.

The Broncos actually started the game quite well, and put the challenge up to the Storm for the first ten or 15 minutes. There are signs, particularly after last week’s victory over the Sydney Roosters, that Brisbane are slowly turning a corner.

But the Storm are on a tear, with nine wins on the bounce. It’s only that the Panthers are in the competition stopping them from running away with the minor premiership, as they have done time and time again over the last decade and a bit.

(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

While they say defence wins premierships, and Penrith fans would probably tell you that, screaming until they were blue in the face given their unbelievable record, there is no defence that has currently proven (well, since Round 3 anyway) that it can stop that of the Storm with the form they are currently in.

When you consider how crisp they looked last night, how threatening they looked, without the stars still to return in the coming weeks, it’s a scary prospect just how good the men in purple are going to be.

COVID may unsettle them in the coming weeks, but then again, moving to the Sunshine Coast only seemed to strengthen them last year, and to be fair, the weather isn’t exactly going to make you miserable in Queensland when compared to Melbourne.

But, Munster, Papenhuyzen and Grant are all certified Origin players, and while Bellamy will probably use them carefully during and directly after the Origin period, as he always does his big names, you feel if they come back refreshed after Origin, then it’s going to be an absolute nightmare to play the Storm, as if it wasn’t already.

Their attack is on a level which no club has been able to produce in recent or distant history. You have to remember they put 50 on South Sydney, a top-four side just a few weeks ago, and just haven’t taken their foot off the gas before or after.

It’s not as if their defence is poor either – they still have the second-best record, albeit a distant second behind the Panthers.

Still, this is a team that have the talent, speed, aggression and experience to challenge once again for the premiership, and above all, the best coach in the game.

Bellamy may have been what won the Storm the comp last year given the changing rules, lack of byes and crazy circumstances due to COVID. Things are starting to repeat, and it’s hard to see anything other than a Storm and Panthers grand final once again.

Just don’t be surprised if the result ends up similar to last year.