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From rogues to riches: an imperfect Storm
Richard Hinds
September 10, 2011 - 12:05
YES, there will be plenty of NRL fans who feel about as warm and fuzzy at the thought of Melbourne winning the premiership as they would about an anal wart. Many who would rather see Adam Sandler win a best actor Oscar or Muammar Gaddafi win a Nobel Peace prize than watch the Storm lift - and this time keep - the trophy.
As underdog tales go, the Storm's story is unorthodox. Not your typical ''lowly club somehow finds magic ingredient, overcomes adversity and battles its way to the top'' tear-jerker. For those who find it hard to forgive and forget, more like the Germans getting up off their knees in 1946 and reinvading France - only, this time, they get to keep the wine and cheese.
It takes a leap of faith to embrace what some have described as, potentially, the greatest story in Australian sport - the Storm being transformed from (if you will forgive the alliteration) pointless pariahs to proud premiers in a single season. You first have to reconcile the fact that these underdogs are no innocent victims of ill fate or cruel persecution. Remember that Melbourne dug the grave from which they have risen - a concept those at the Storm who continue to blame a few bad apples have not fully embraced.
Of course, when clubs succeed, we hear grandiose speeches about how everyone is vital, interdependent and equally accountable - even if the office boy did not plant the ball between the posts or the boot studder did not muster the courage to knock Paul Gallen on his backside.
Surely it follows that, when a club cheats, it also cheats together. Even if, as the NRL later found, the players, the coaching staff and practically no one else who did not have the keys to the club's secret filing cabinets were directly responsible. Storm cheated, Storm got caught, Storm were punished.
For others, it is the Storm's aggressive, sometimes stifling tactics that put them at the Ivan Milat end on a scale of ''loveability''. Television presenter James Mathieson sent up each of the leading contenders during his introduction at the Dally M Medals on Tuesday night. As Mathieson breezed past Billy Slater, his message was about as subtle as an elbow in the Adam's apple. ''Enjoy the chicken wings.''
Yet, if that light-hearted jibe might once have raised the Storm's hackles, the night itself only elevated the club in the public's esteem. Not just because Slater won the Dally M after another superb season; the Storm's big three - Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith were all voted best in their positions; Smith, who was also best captain and best representative player, spent more time on the stage than the organisers did building it; and Craig Bellamy was - surely by a unanimous acclaim - coach of the year.
It was the dignity the club brought to the ceremony - and to its season as a whole - that was uplifting. Sixteen months later, the Storm did not use their renewed excellence as a source of ill-advised retribution. Bellamy is still clearly unhappy about the ordeal his team endured last season. Yet, in his acceptance speech, he managed to say he felt the club had still ''won'' the two confiscated titles without sounding bitter, defiant or ungrateful. A decent effort with David Gallop sitting not more than 10 metres away.
No doubt, the NRL chief executive will find all is far from forgiven when he presents the JJ Giltinan Shield to the Storm at AAMI Park tomorrow. But the Storm's campaign does not feel like it is based on spite or anger. It feels more like a determined, almost bloody-minded demonstration that the fundamentals upon which those past two premierships were ''won'' - discipline, hard work and camaraderie - were as important as the salary cap advantage.
At finals time, there are always more fairytales than at a Grimm family reunion. The Newcastle team the Storm will attempt to eliminate tomorrow also has a few. Coach Rick Stone, who will stand aside for Wayne Bennett despite taking his team to the play-offs, has performed with unusual grace and dignity. The eccentric veteran Adam ''mad dog'' MacDougall plays his last final. There is the emergence of another potential legend, Akuila Uate, perhaps the only genuinely shy man ever to wear a Mohawk.
Yet, as unlikely as it might have seemed 16 months ago when the Storm suffered their self-inflicted wounds, the real feelgood story is Melbourne. That might not be enough for many to overcome old grudges and cheer them on. But, surely, even those who shouted abuse and waved $50 notes in the players' faces would have some grudging respect if they went all the way.
Replies
agreed even though they have shed players and are now under the cap you can't say for sure if they weren't paying slater etc so much before if they would still be at Melbourne at all.
I won't be able to forget for another 2 - 3 years until then they are cheating scum and I hope they loose as often as possible. I hope its not a manly storm final I really could not decide who I hate more.
Whatever the outcome, the Storm will always be remembered as the team that got caught cheating and stripped of 2 premierships.
Just as Billy Slater will always be remembered as a fucking grub, no matter how many awards he wins with that ferret looking head
Spot on Clive - ALL the contracts should have been cancelled so that every club had a real opportunity to bid for the superstars not just the Storm hacks saying who can we ditch and still be fantastic.
Every media wanker seems to be dwelling on the fact the Storm came last in 2010 but conveniently forget that the amount of games they actually won when seemingly playing for nothing would still have seen them come 5th or thereabouts. In the FN playoffs and possibly winning anyway!!
IT STINKS I TELL YA!!!
Mr Hinds (aka Peanut) and his media cronies including legends such as Laurey Daley seem to think it is such an achievement by the Storm to move on a bunch of first graders and replace them with other first graders, all the while keeping 3 superstars. Inglis is the exception but his overall form for tha Rabbits was poor.
The proof is the form of the 'real quality' they lost in the off season.
The Raiders must be real happy with the work of Brett White.
That Ryan Hoffman returns after 12 months in England does not sound dodgy at all.
Brett Finch, well he was just a sensational player, as evidenced by his time at the Eels.
Actually, Bellamy is in actual fact a magician. He turned a side that contains Smith, Slater, Cronk, Blair, Neilson, Hinchcliffe, Champion, Proctor, Manu and co. and turned them into minor premiers.
Bellamy is God, Bellamy should be NRL CEO, Bellamy, Bellamy, Bellamy.
That's right, I forgot. He is also a cheat, who has the arrogance to believe that the world owes him an apology because the organization he worked for was caught cheating.
Screw you Bellamy and the Storm. I hope the so called experts (Daley and co.), journalist dicks like Hinds and the NRL realize how bad it will be for the game and it's supporters if the Storm win. Some will walk away and with good reason.
I could NEVER respect Melbourne as long as Bellamy, Smith, and Slater are associated with the team as there is no way that these guys were not duplicitous in rorting the cap for years, especially when their only regret is that they got caught (and still managed to field 3 Dally M players, Australian reps and QLDers in the one team after they got punished)
And as for Bellyache as coach of the year, give me a break I would have rathered that longhaired git from Manly get it, it's not like they were REAL wooden spooners because of poor play all year so there was no big turnaround and the core of the team is still there (with the exception of Inglis)
It's not going to be this year...
It may not even happen next year...
But one year...
We will face Melbourne in a do or die semi
and we will win!
and i will never forget that moment, for i will rest easier at night.
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