2013 Melbourne Storm season

The 2013 Melbourne Storm season was the 16th in the club's history. They competed in the 2013 NRL season. They were coached by Craig Bellamy and captained by Cameron Smith. They had previously won the NRL's 2012 Telstra Premiership therefore started the season as reigning premiers. The Storm had an up and down season finding themselves on top of the ladder in the early stages of the season before suffering a mid season slump. They finished the regular season in 3rd place on the ladder, however, two consecutive losses in the finals ended their season.

Season summary

• 11 February – Craig Bellamy signed a contract that will see him remain as coach of the Storm until the end of 2016.^[1] The Storm also depart for England to compete in the World Club Challenge.
• 22 February – The Storm won the 2013 World Club Challenge 18–14 against Leeds Rhinos to be crowned World Champions for 2013.
• Round 1 – The Storm began the season with a win over St George Illawarra in hot conditions.
• Round 2 – The Storm's win over North Queensland also marked their 10th consecutive win, with the streak beginning in Round 22 of the 2012 season and extending through the finals.
• Round 3 – Ryan Hoffman played his 200th NRL Game.
• Round 4 – The Melbourne Storm played its 400th game. The Storm also won its 12th consecutive game, thus equalling its all-time record achieved in the 2011 NRL season.
• Round 5 – The Storm won their 13th consecutive game, breaking their all-time club record.
• Round 6 – The Storm defeated the South Sydney Rabbitohs to remain the only undefeated side in the NRL in 2013.
• 19 April – Gareth Widdop announces he will leave the Storm for the St George Illawarra Dragons at the end of the season.^[2]
• 19–21 April – The Storm provide 9 players to the three representative games over this weekend.
• Round 7 – The Storms winning streak continued to 15 games with a win over the New Zealand Warriors on ANZAC Day.
• 1 May – The Storm re-sign Will Chambers to a contract that will see him remain with the club until 2017.^[3]
• Round 8 – Melbourne suffers its first loss of the season ending its club record winning streak at 15 games. The Storm are one of only seven teams in the history of the NSWRL/ARL/NRL to have achieved this.^[4]
• Round 10 – Melbourne Storm and Manly Sea Eagles Draw 10 all, the first draw of the NRL season.
• Round 11 – Jordan Mclean made his debut as the 150th player for the Storm. Cameron Smith scored his 1400th point for the club.
• Round 13 – Cameron Smith played his 250th NRL game and Justin O'Neill played his 50th.
• Round 15 – Playing without Smith, Slater, Cronk and Hoffman the Storm lose 18–12 to Gold Coast. Ben Hampton scored 2 tries on debut and Gareth Widdop suffered a dislocated hip, ending his season.
• Rounds 15–20 – The Storm encounter a poor run of form not helped by the State of Origin period where the gave up 4 first choice players to lose 4 out of five games.
• Round 21 – The Storm returned to form with a massive 64-point win over the Canberra Raiders. The win equalled their all-time greatest winning margin record set in 2001 against Wests Tigers. During the Game, Billy Slater also scored his 150th try.
• Round 22 – Brett Finch plays his 50th Game for the Melbourne Storm in a 26–8 win over South Sydney.
• Round 23 – Bryan Norrie plays his 150th NRL Game.
• Round 24 – The Storm defeat the Parramatta Eels 64 – 4 in their biggest ever win over the Eels. Kevin Proctor also plays his 100th game.
• Round 26 – The Storm win their final game of the regular season in Golden point extra time against Gold Coast Titans. Cameron Smith also kicks his 1500th point in the match.
• Finals Series – The Storms season ended with two consecutive losses in the Finals series to South Sydney and then Newcastle.

Jersey

In 2013 the Storm jerseys were again made by Kooga. They created a New Jersey for 2013 which featured more navy blue and a more prominent and deeper V that integrated the sponsor's (Crown Casino) logo into the design better, the lightning bolts are also now purple for the first time. Colours yellow and white were removed and reduced respectively so that the jersey is essentially half navy blue and half purple. The away jersey is a white version of the home jersey.^[5]

Special Jerseys

• For Round 10, the Storm released a special jersey for the "Women of League" round, it was worn on 20 May against Manly Sea Eagles.^[6] The jersey consisted of navy blue and pink horizontal hoops.
• For Round 13 the Storm wore a jersey to promote the Superman movie Man of Steel.^[7] The jerseys design is similar to that of the costume worn in the movie with the red S logo on the front.
• For Round 14 the Storm wore their 2013 heritage jersey, which was a replica of their original 1998 jersey.^[8]
• For the Round 17 game against the Brisbane Broncos they wore their "Big Battle" jersey.^[9]

Statistics

Statistics Source:^[10] Table current as at the end of 2013 season.

Most Points in a Game: 20

• Cameron Smith – 10 Goals vs Canberra Raiders (4 August)
• Cameron Smith – 10 Goals vs Parramatta Eels (25 August)

Most tries in a Game: 3

• Billy Slater vs Brisbane (29 March)
• Mahe Fonua vs Canberra (4 August)
• Sisa Waqa vs Canberra (4 August)
• Billy Slater vs Parramatta (25 August)

Highest score in a game: 68 points

• vs Canberra Raiders (4 August)

Greatest winning margin: 64 points

• vs Canberra Raiders (4 August)

Awards

• Player of the year: Cameron Smith^[11]
• Rookie of the year: Tohu Harris

The NRL Dally M Awards were held on 1 October 2013. Cooper Cronk won the Dally M Medal (Player of the year) for 2013.^[12] In addition the Storm claimed three other awards on the night namely:

• Halfback of the Year – Cooper Cronk
• Hooker of the Year – Cameron Smith
• Captain of the Year – Cameron Smith

Fixtures

Pre Season

^[13]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
2 February	Trial 1	Brisbane Easts	Gosch's Paddock, Richmond, Victoria	Win	28–4	Auva'a 2, Harris, Duffie, Blair, Sa'u, Fonua		1500 approx	[14]
8 February	Trial 2	Canberra Raiders	Simonds Stadium, Geelong	Loss	8–40	Duffie, Kennar		4,081	[15]
22 February	2013 World Club Challenge	Leeds Rhinos	Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England	Win	14–18	Slater, J Bromwich, Harris	Smith 3/4	20,400	[16]

Regular season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals/Field Goals	Attendance	Report
10 March	1	St George-Illawarra Dragons	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	30–10	O'Neill (2), Slater, Widdop, Fonua	Smith 5/5	16,251	[17]
16 March	2	North Queensland Cowboys	1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville	Win	10–32	Chambers (2), Cronk (2), Hinchcliffe, Hoffman	Smith 3/5, Widdop 1/1	19,288	[18]
21 March	3	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	22–18	Hinchcliffe, Duffie, Fonua, Setu	Smith 3/4	11,982	[19]
29 March	4	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	26–32	Slater (3), Duffie (2), Sau	Smith 4/6	40,071	[20]
8 April	5	Wests Tigers	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	26–12	Vave, Fonua, Cronk, Waqa	Smith 4/4, Widdop 1/1	18,866	[21]
13 April	6	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Win	10–17	Proctor, Fonua, Widdop	Smith 2/3, Cronk 1/1 (FG)	32,671	[22]
25 April	7	New Zealand Warriors	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	28–18	Chambers (2), Fonua, Slater, Waqa	Smith 4/5	25,480	[23]
4 May	8	Canberra Raiders	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	20–24	Bromwich, Slater, Fonua, O'Neill	Smith 2/4	15,464	.[24]
12 May	9	Penrith Panthers	Centrebet Stadium, Penrith	Loss	12–10	J Bromwich, Waqa	Smith 1/2	7,803	[25]
20 May	10	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Draw	10–10	Blair	Smith 3/3	12,921	[26]
25 May	11	Sydney Roosters	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	Win	18–26	Blair, Chambers, O'Neill, Smith	Smith 5/6	19,164	[27]
1 June	12	Bye
9 June	13	Cronulla Sharks	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	38–6	Blair, Harris, Hoffman, O'Neill, Proctor, Slater, Widdop	Smith 5/7	16,231	[28]
16 June	14	Newcastle Knights	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	16–14	Blair, Slater, Waqa	Smith 2/3	12,861	[29]
24 June	15	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	Loss	18–12	Hampton (2)	Blair 1/1, Widdop 1/1	13,044	[30]
29 June	16	Wests Tigers	Leichhardt Oval, Balmain	Loss	22–4	Blair	Smith 0/1	5,288	[31]
5 July	17	Brisbane Broncos	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	32–0	Blair (2), Bromwich, Hinchcliffe, O'Neill, Waqa	Smith 4/6	16,828	[32]
14 July	18	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	39–0			16,406	[33]
20 July	19	Bye
28 July	20	New Zealand Warriors	Mt. Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	30–22	O'Neill, Slater, Blair, Cronk	Smith 3/4	20,152	[34]
4 August	21	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	Win	4–68	Fonua (3), Waqa (3), Chambers (2), Slater (2), Harris, Proctor	Smith 10/12, Smith 0/1 (FG)	10,826	[35]
9 August	22	South Sydney Rabbitohs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	26–8	Chambers, Bromwich, Waqa, O'Neill	Smith 5/7	21,244	[36]
18 August	23	Newcastle Knights	Hunter Stadium, Newcastle	Win	10–23	McLean, Smith, Slater, Norrie	Smith 3/4, Cronk 1/1 (FG)	26,822	[37]
25 August	24	Parramatta Eels	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	64–4	Slater (3), Chambers (2), Hoffman (2), Blair, J Bromwich, K Bromwich, Glasby	Smith 10/11	13,728	[38]
31 August	25	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Manly	Loss	28–8	O'Neill, Waqa	Smith 0/2	17,179	[39]
7 September	26	Gold Coast Titans	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	23–22	Slater (2), Chambers, Waqa	Smith 3/4, Cronk 1/5 (FG)	13,826	[40]

Finals

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
13 September	Week 1 – Qualifying Final	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Loss	20–10	Slater,Chambers	Smith 1/3	21,609	[41]
21 September	Week 2 – semi-final	Newcastle Knights	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	16–18	Blair, J Bromwich, Waqa	Smith 2/3	19,649	[42]

Source NRL.com:^[43]

Ladder

2013 NRL season Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts 1 Sydney Roosters (P) 24 18 0 6 2 640 325 +315 40 2 South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 18 0 6 2 588 384 +204 40 3 Melbourne Storm 24 16 1 7 2 589 373 +216 37 4 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 24 15 1 8 2 588 366 +222 35 5 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 14 0 10 2 468 460 +8 32 6 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 13 0 11 2 529 463 +66 30 7 Newcastle Knights 24 12 1 11 2 528 422 +106 29 8 North Queensland Cowboys 24 12 0 12 2 507 431 +76 28 9 Gold Coast Titans 24 11 0 13 2 500 518 −18 26 10 Penrith Panthers 24 11 0 13 2 495 532 −37 26 11 New Zealand Warriors 24 11 0 13 2 495 554 −59 26 12 Brisbane Broncos 24 10 1 13 2 434 477 −43 25 13 Canberra Raiders 24 10 0 14 2 434 624 −190 24 14 St. George Illawarra Dragons 24 7 0 17 2 379 530 −151 18 15 Wests Tigers 24 7 0 17 2 386 687 −301 18 16 Parramatta Eels 24 5 0 19 2 326 740 −414 14

2013 squad

As of 16 July 2013.

No.	Nat.	Player	Pos	First match with Club	Previous club
55		Cameron Smith (c)	HK	2002	Melbourne Storm
60		Billy Slater	FB	2003	Melbourne Storm
62		Ryan Hoffman	SR,LK	2003	Melbourne Storm
73		Cooper Cronk	HB	2004	Melbourne Storm
98		Will Chambers	CE	2007	Queensland Reds
106		Kevin Proctor	SR	2008	Melbourne Storm
110		Ryan Hinchcliffe	SR	2009	Canberra Raiders
115		Brett Finch	FE,HB	2009	Wigan Warriors
119		Jesse Bromwich	PR	2010	Melbourne Storm
123		Bryan Norrie	PR	2010	Cronulla Sharks
124		Matt Duffie	WG,CE	2010	Melbourne Storm
125		Gareth Widdop	HB	2010	Melbourne Storm
127		Justin O'Neill	WG	2010	Sydney Roosters
135		Maurice Blair	WG,CE	2011	Penrith Panthers
136		Sisa Waqa	CE,WG	2011	Sydney Roosters
139		Siosaia Vave	PR	2012	Cronulla Sharks
140		Jason Ryles	PR	2012	Sydney Roosters
143		Mahe Fonua	CE	2012	Melbourne Storm
144		Slade Griffen	HK	2013	Melbourne Storm
145		Tohu Harris	SR	2013	Melbourne Storm
146		Junior Moors	PR,SR	2013	Wests Tigers
147		Lagi Setu	SR	2013	Mormon Mission
148		Junior Sa'u	FB,WG	2013	Newcastle Knights
149		Kenny Bromwich	PR,LK	2013	Melbourne Storm
150		Jordan McLean	PR	2013	Melbourne Storm
151		Mitch Garbutt	PR,SR	2013	Newcastle Knights
152		Ben Hampton	HB	2013	Melbourne Storm
153		Tim Glasby	PR	2013	Melbourne Storm
		Kirisome Auva'a	WG	-	Yet to debut
		Kurt Mann	FE	-	Newcastle Knights
		Matt McGahan	HB,FE	-	Yet to debut
		Danny Solomona	FB	-	Yet to debut
		Young Tonumaipea	WG,FB	-	Yet to debut

2013 Squad Signings

2013 Squad Departures

Representative honours

The following players have played a representative match in 2013. (C) = Captain

References