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Opinion
Much has been said over the years of what makes the Melbourne Storm such a successful club for over a decade.
It’s not just the premierships they have won that make them such a success – it’s also the statistics regarding winning percentages, points scored, and finals appearances that complete the picture for continuing success over a long period of time.
I guess most people already know that because is there for everyone to see, just as everyone can see that behind that success is their coach, Craig Bellamy.
But there are other things that help Bellamy to maintain the success on the field.
First, there are the people behind-the-scenes working in unison doing all the things that Bellamy can’t do, like scouting, recruiting, relocating players and their families, supporting the players and coaching staff and many other things people don’t see.
They are the engineers that keep the well-oiled Melbourne Storm machine working like a Swiss watch, they never get the credit they deserve from the public but I’m sure they do get credit from Bellamy and the players.
Another thing they have is their vision to see well beyond what people at other clubs do. Most clubs can only see and prepare for next season, Storm can see and prepare three-to-five years ahead.
To illustrate this point, look at some of the current crop of players of this record-breaking Storm side: Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Nicho Hynes, Justin Olam, Josh Addo-Carr, Harry Grant, Brandon Smith, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and players currently at other clubs like Scott Drinkwater and Curtis Scott to name a couple.
While everyone was marvelling at the Storm of five years ago with the big tree of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and all the great players that were at the Storm, they were quietly identifying, recruiting and developing this current crop of players and while the rest of the competition is preparing next year’s roster, the Storm are already working on a succession plan and preparing the 2023-2025 players you haven’t heard of yet.
Next is their ability to recruit discarded or unwanted players by other clubs, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and instead of trying to change the way they play, find a way of incorporating their strengths into the team while helping them to minimise or eradicate their weaknesses.
After all, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but you can perfect the tricks they have.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Other traits that players are taught in the Storm system are resilience, adaptability and readiness. As last year’s NRL season showed, it’s very hard to prepare for sudden change.
COVID-19 was something no one could prepare for; all you could do was adapt and change to deal with extremely difficult circumstances and no team in the NRL adapted better than the Melbourne Storm.
This is partly due to the fact that the Storm from their inception have been fighting against the odds, being in a foreign market to the sport, not only competing against the already stablished sporting codes there but also the resentment of already established NRL clubs north of the Victorian border.
Despite all that, the Storm have not only being able to survive but have become arguably the most successful NRL team in the last decade.
Lastly and most importantly I think is family. If you look at the players, coaching and administrative staff, they all look like a big family.
When you look at the way Bellamy interacts with his players away from the footy field, you realise how much fun they seem to be having, playing pranks on their coach to have a laugh like when Cheese filled Bellamy’s bag with rocks.
Things like that would be unthinkable at other clubs but the Storm have shown this year that when you are having fun, you are more likely to have success on the footy field and that I think is the secret to Storm’s success.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, Roarers.
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