When Cameron Smith officially announced his retirement a day out from the 2021 NRL season, there were questions on how the Melbourne Storm would continue to keep dominating the NRL without their greatest player.
Fast forward to Round 19 and those worries are dead and buried as of now. Having lost two games so far and boasting a massive points differential, the Storm are on track to receiving the 2021 NRL minor premiership and the club will be backing their players to go back to back in the finals.
As the Storm gear up to take on the North Queensland Cowboys, I’ve come up with a statistical analysis of the Storm’s past two seasons and comparison of the numbers.
Average number of tries scored per game – 6.71 (approximately)
Tries conceded – 37
Average number of tries conceded per game – 2.18 (approximately)
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Points scored – 632
Average points scored per game – 37.18 (approximately)
Points conceded – 198
Average points conceded per game – 11.65 (approximately)
Average winning margin – 28.67 (approximately)
Average losing margin – 3
Games won by less than 10 points – 2
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Games won by 10-20 points – 1
Games won by 21-30 points – 6
Games won by 30-40 points – 2
Games won by more than 40 points – 4
So far, the numbers show the Storm have bettered their 2020 NRL regular season numbers both in attack and defence.
Despite a number of injuries and the gap of Cameron Smith’s experience missing, the ruthlessness in the Storm’s attack regardless of the 17 on the park shows the mentality of the Storm playing group this season.
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In the past two seasons, the Storm have played only five games at AAMI Park with a crowd and have relocated to the Sunshine Coast three times due to lockdowns in Victoria.
Despite all of the challenges they’ve had to face, they have thrived as a club during a global pandemic which is a huge indication of how the club wants to be run in the short and long term.
Despite the way the Storm have dominated the 2021 NRL season, two massive tests in facing the Panthers and Sea Eagles in consecutive rounds will be an eye opener in how the Storm will be prepared for the big games come finals time.
But as of now, you’d be a madman not to back the Storm to go back to back.