2015 Melbourne Storm season

The 2015 Melbourne Storm season is the 18th in the club's history. They competed in the 2015 NRL season and were coached by Craig Bellamy, who was coach for the 13th consecutive season and captained by Cameron Smith, sole captain for the 8th consecutive season. He played his 300th NRL Game in Round 19 becoming only the 24th player in history to do so. At the end of the 2015 NRL regular season they finished in 4th place earning themselves the "double chance" and playing the Sydney Roosters in Week 1 of the NRL finals series. They won their Qualifying Final against the Roosters, this earned then a bye in Week 2 and home Preliminary in Week 3 in which they played the North Queensland Cowboys. After a close first half the Storm ultimately lost this game ending their season.

Season summary

• Auckland Nines - The Melbourne Storm competed in the second annual Auckland Nines competition over 31 January-1 February. The Storm lost two of their three pool games thus not progressing to the final stage.
• February 7 - The Storm play Canberra in a preseason trial and go down 32-20 in very hot conditions.
• February 13 - Will Chambers and Jesse Bromwich represent Melbourne in the Annual All Star game.
• February 21 - The Storm complete their trial match period with a come from behind 32-30 win over Canterbury Bulldogs. The Storm added 24 points in the second half.
• Round 1 - The Storm commence the 2015 Season with a win over St George Illawarra. Dale Finucane, Felise Kaufusi and Blake Green all make their playing debuts for the Storm. Ryan Hinchcliffe plays his 150th Game.
• Round 2 - Tom Learoyd-Lahrs makes his playing debut for the Storm.
• Round 4 - The Storm suffer their second loss of the season, during Golden Point extra time. The Storm lost the game after the Cowboys leveled the scores after being 17-10 down with 5 minutes remaining in normal time.
• Round 8 - Nelson Asofa-Solomona makes his playing debut after being elevated from the NYC team.
• 1 May - Representative weekend - 15 Storm Players are chosen to represent the various teams over representative weekend ^[1]
• Round 9 - Christian Welch makes his playing debut after being elevated from the NYC team. Billy Slater scores 2 tries on his return game following a shoulder injury. The Storm equal their biggest win of the season thus far defeating the Eels by 18 points.
• Round 12 - The Storm suffer their worst loss of the season thus far losing to the Roosters by 22 points. The storm failed to score a try in the match.
• Round 13 - The Storm bounced back from the Round 12 loss with their biggest win of the season so far with a 20 nil win over the Panthers. Richard Kennar also makes his playing debut.
• Round 14 - The storm suffer a narrow loss against the Eels playing without their State of Origin representatives. Hymel Hunt plays his first game for the Storm since transferring from the Titans.
• Round 18 - The Storm suffer their fourth consecutive loss in a 28-14 loss to the Warriors.
• Round 19 - Cameron Smith joined an elite group in NRL circles as he lined up for his 300th Melbourne Storm and NRL Game becoming only the 24th player to achieve this. ^[2] The game was also notable as it became the Storms biggest win for the season thus far (42 points) and also scored their highest total (52 points) thus far scoring 10 tries.
• Round 20 - The Storm will stage a home game in ay McLean Park in Napier New Zealand. Storm player Tohu Harris has designed the jersey for the game which takes in his New Zealand, Polynesian and Maori Heritage ^[3]
• Round 21 - Cameron Smith sets another record as he captained Melbourne Storm for the 200th time against Wests Tigers. Mahe Fonua also played his 50th game.
• Round 22 - Cameron Munster scores a Hat-trick of tries as the Storm beat Gold Coast by 22 points
• Round 23 - Kevin Proctor plays his 150th NRL Game in the Storm's big win over Cronulla Sharks.
• Rounds 25 and 26 - The Storm complete the regular season with two hard fought wins over Cowboys and Broncos. Both teams also finished the season in the Top 4. The two wins mean the Storm finished the season in the Top 4.
• Finals Week 1 - The Storm defeat the 1st placed Sydney Roosters in an upset 20-18 to secure a week off and a Home Preliminary Final in Week 3.
• Finals Week 3 - The Storm suffer defeat in their home Preliminary Final against the North Queensland Cowboys ending their 2015 season one game short of the Grand Final. The game was also notable as the attendance of 29,315 spectators was officially the highest attendance so far at AAMI Park for a Storm game.

Fixtures

Pre-Season

Source:^[4]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Source
31 January	Auckland Nines Pool Game	North Queensland Cowboys	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	Loss	8-17	[5]
31 January	Auckland Nines Pool Game	Penrith Panthers	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	Win	20-4	[6]
1 February	Auckland Nines Pool Game	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	Loss	24-4	[7]
7 February	Trial 1	Canberra Raiders	Griffith, New South Wales	Loss	32-20	[8]
14 February	Trial 2	Brisbane Easts	Gosch's Paddock, Melbourne	Win	44-12	[9]
21 February	Trial 3	Canterbury Bulldogs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	32-30	[10]

Regular Season

Source:^[11]

• FG - Field Goal
• GP - Golden Point extra time

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals/Field Goals	Report
9 March	1	St George-Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	Win	4-12	Tonumaipea, Chambers	Smith 2/2	[12]
14 March	2	Manly Sea Eagles	Brookvale Oval, Manly	Loss	24-22	Green (2), Tonumaipea, Chambers	Smith 3/4	[13]
21 March	3	Cronulla Sharks	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	36-18	Harris (2), Cronk, Smith, Koroibete, Chambers	Smith 6/6	[14]
30 March	4	North Queensland Cowboys	1300SMILES Stadium, Townsville	Loss	18-17 (GP)	Mann, Koroibete, Kaufusi	Smith 2/3, Cronk 1/2 (FG)	[15]
6 April	5	New Zealand Warriors	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	30-14	Koroibete (2), Fonua, Glasby, Chambers	Smith 5/5	[16]
12 April	6	Canberra Raiders	GIO Stadium, Canberra	Win	10-14	Fonua, Munster	Smith 3/3	[17]
18 April	7	Sydney Roosters	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	17-16	Koroibete, Kaufusi, Chambers	Smith 2/3, Cronk 1/1 (FG)	[18]
25 April	8	Manly Sea Eagles	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	10-12	Koroibete, Cronk	Smith 1/2	[19]
10 May	9	Parramatta Eels	Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta	Win	10-28	Slater (2), Koroibete, Chambers, Finucane	Smith 4/5	[20]
16 May	10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	16-12	J Bromwich, Chambers	Smith 4/4	[21]
24 May	11	Bye
1 June	12	Sydney Roosters	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	Loss	24-2	-	Smith 1/1	[22]
6 June	13	Penrith Panthers	Sportingbet Stadium, Penrith	Win	0-20	Green (2), Munster	Smith 4/4	[23]
15 June	14	Parramatta Eels	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	22-26	Harris, Hampton, Green, Hunt	Harris 3/4	[24]
21 June	15	Brisbane Broncos	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	12-14	Green (2)	Smith 2/2	[25]
29 June	16	Canterbury Bulldogs	Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney	Loss	20-4	Koroibete	Smith 0/1	[26]
6 July	17	Bye
12 July	18	New Zealand Warriors	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	Loss	28-14	K Bromwich (2), Koroibete	Smith 1/3	[27]
17 July	19	Penrith Panthers	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	52-10	Cronk (2), Proctor (2), Koroibete (2), Harris, Green, Fonua, Kennar	Smith 6/10	[28]
25 July	20	St George Illawarra Dragons	McLean Park, Napier	Win	22-4	Asofa-Solomona, Koroibete, Proctor, Fonua	Smith 3/4	[29]
31 July	21	Wests Tigers	Leichhardt Oval, Balmain	Loss	34-16	Koroibete (2), J Bromwich	Smith 2/3	[30]
9 August	22	Gold Coast Titans	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	36-14	Munster (3), Duffle (2), Koroibete, Chambers	Smith 4/7	[31]
17 August	23	Cronulla Sharks	Remondis Stadium, Cronulla	Win	2-30	Duffie (2), J Bromwich, Finucane, Munster	Smith 5/5	[32]
24 August	24	Newcastle Knights	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	6-20	Munster	Smith 1/1	[33]
29 August	25	North Queensland Cowboys	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Win	14-6	K Bromwich, Chambers	Smith 2/2	[34]
3 September	26	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	8-15	Mann (2), Chambers	Smith 1/3, Cronk 1/1 (FG)	[35]

Finals

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals/Field Goals	Report
11 September	1st Qualifying Final - Week 1	Sydney Roosters	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	Win	18-20	Koroibete, Mann, Glasby	Smith 4/4	[36]
26 September	1st Preliminary Final - Week 3	North Queensland Cowboys	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Loss	12-32	Cronk, Harris	Smith 2/2	[37]

Ladder

2015 NRL season
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Sydney Roosters	24	18	0	6	2	591	300	+291	40
2	Brisbane Broncos	24	17	0	7	2	574	379	+195	38
3	North Queensland Cowboys (P)	24	17	0	7	2	587	454	+133	38
4	Melbourne Storm	24	14	0	10	2	467	348	+119	32
5	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	14	0	10	2	522	480	+42	32
6	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	14	0	10	2	469	476	−7	32
7	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	13	0	11	2	465	467	−2	30
8	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	12	0	12	2	435	408	+27	28
9	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	11	0	13	2	458	492	−34	26
10	Canberra Raiders	24	10	0	14	2	577	569	+8	24
11	Penrith Panthers	24	9	0	15	2	399	477	−78	22
12	Parramatta Eels	24	9	0	15	2	448	573	−125	22
13	New Zealand Warriors	24	9	0	15	2	445	588	−143	22
14	Gold Coast Titans	24	9	0	15	2	439	636	−197	22
15	Wests Tigers	24	8	0	16	2	487	562	−75	20
16	Newcastle Knights	24	8	0	16	2	458	612	−154	20

2015 squad

As of 20 June 2015

Cap	Nat.	Player name	Position	First Melbourne Storm Game	Previous club
55		Cameron Smith (c)	HK	2002	Melbourne Storm
60		Billy Slater	FB	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	HK	2009	Canberra Raiders
119		Jesse Bromwich	PR	2010	Melbourne Storm
124		Matt Duffie	WG,CE,FB	2010	Melbourne Storm
143		Mahe Fonua	CE,WG	2012	Melbourne Storm
144		Slade Griffen	HK,LK	2013	Melbourne Storm
145		Tohu Harris	SR,LK,FE	2013	Melbourne Storm
149		Kenny Bromwich	PR,SR,LK	2013	Melbourne Storm
150		Jordan McLean	PR	2013	Melbourne Storm
152		Ben Hampton	FE,HB,FB	2013	Melbourne Storm
153		Tim Glasby	PR,SR	2013	Melbourne Storm
156		Young Tonumaipea	WG,FB	2014	Melbourne Storm
157		Dayne Weston	PR,SR	2014	Penrith Panthers
158		Kurt Mann	FE,FB,HB,CE	2014	Newcastle Knights
159		Joel Romelo	FE,HK,HB,LK	2014	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
160		Cameron Munster	FE,FB,HB,HK	2014	Melbourne Storm
161		Marika Koroibete	WG	2014	Wests Tigers
162		Dale Finucane	PR,SR,LK	2015	Canterbury Bulldogs
163		Blake Green	FE,HB	2015	Wigan Warriors
164		Felise Kaufusi	PR	2015	North Queensland Cowboys
165		Tom Learoyd-Lahrs	PR,SR	2015	Canberra Raiders
166		Nelson Asofa-Solomona	SR, PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
167		Christian Welch	SR, PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
168		Richard Kennar	WG	2015	Melbourne Storm
169		Hymel Hunt	CE,WG	2015	Gold Coast Titans
		Travis Robinson	WG,CE,FB	-	Penrith Panthers
		Shaun Nona	FE	-	Yet to debut

Player movements

Source NRL.com:^[38]

Representative honours

The following players played representative matches in 2015. (C) = Captain

Statistics

Statistics Source:^[39] Current as of the end of the 2015 NRL season.

Most Points in a Game: 16

• Cameron Smith (1 Try, 6 Goals) vs Cronulla Sharks (Round 3)

Most tries in a Game: 3

• Cameron Munster vs Gold Coast Titans (Round 22)

Highest score in a winning game: 52 points

• vs Penrith Panthers (Round 19)

Lowest score in a winning game: 12 points

• vs St George Illawarra Dragons (Round 1)

Greatest winning margin: 42 points

• vs Penrith Panthers (Round 19)

Highest score in a losing game: 22 points

• vs Manly Sea Eagles (Round 2)
• vs Parramatta Eels (Round 14)

Lowest score in a losing game: 2 points

• vs Sydney Roosters (Round 12)

Greatest losing margin: 22 points

• vs Sydney Roosters (Round 12)

Greatest number of Games won consecutively: 3

• Between Rounds 5 and 7

Greatest number of Games lost consecutively: 4

• Between Rounds 14 and 18

Jersey

In 2015 the Storm jerseys were manufactured by BLK and new jerseys were designed for 2015. The home Jersey was predominantly navy blue with Purple across the shoulders and a Silver strip running horizontally across the chest.^[40] The Away Jersey Features a White design with purple hoops down the jersey.^[41] The Storm also broke new ground for Rugby League featuring an AFL style sleeveless jersey for the Auckland Nines.^[42]

References