2019 Melbourne Storm season

The 2019 Melbourne Storm season was the 22nd in the club's history, competing in the 2019 NRL season. The team was coached by Craig Bellamy, who coached the club for his 17th consecutive season. Melbourne Storm were captained by Cameron Smith, who had been the sole captain for the team since 2008. On 13 July 2019 Smith became the first NRL player to play 400 NRL games. On 31 August 2019 the Storm defeated the Manly Sea Eagles to win their fourth J. J. Giltinan Shield as the minor premiers.

Season summary

• Pre-season – New recruits took part in Melbourne Storm IDQ camp for pre season training before New Years. Tom Eisenhuth was awarded the IDQ Iron bar with special recognition to both Sandor Earl & Nicho Hynes.
• Round 1 – Prior to the commencement of play, the northern stand of AAMI Park was renamed "The Slater Stand" after Billy Slater. Storm defeated the Broncos 22–12 extending their winning streak in Round 1 to 17 seasons. Tom Eisenhuth makes Storm debut.
• Round 3 – Storm defeat the Panthers 32–2 in Bathurst, Marion Seve scores his first NRL try
• Round 5 – Cameron Smith becomes the game's highest ever points scorer with penalty goal in the 48th minute. Smith finished the game on 2422 points. Sandor Earl made his debut for the Storm and also played his first game following a four year ban from the game.
• Round 9 – The NRL stage their first Magic Round at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. The Storm completed one of the biggest wins in the club's history dominating the Parramatta Eels 64-10. Will Chambers played game 200.
• Round 11 – The Storm defeat the Bulldogs away at Belmore Oval Sydney with Cameron Smith playing his 500th first grade game. Cameron Munster also played his 100th Game.
• Round 16 – Missing 7 players due to State of Origin, Storm win 16–14 against St George Illawarra. The game was notable due to the large number of milestones; with Cameron Smith scoring his 2500th career point, Sandor Earl played his 50th NRL game, Craig Bellamy coached his 300th win and both Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and Billy Walters making their playing debuts.
• Round 17 – Cameron Smith becomes the first NRL player to play in 400 NRL games in the Storm's 40-16 win over Cronulla.
• Round 19 – Cameron Smith captains his 300th NRL Game.
• Round 22 – The Storm lose to the Canberra Raiders 22–18 after leading 18–0 shortly before half time. This result meant that it was the Storm's worst collapse in the history of the club.
• Round 24 – Storm defeat the Manly Sea Eagles 36-6 and clinch the J. J. Giltinan Shield as the minor premiers for 2019. Nelson Asofa-Solomaona also played his 100th game.

Milestone games

Fixtures

Pre-season

Source:

Regular season

Source:

• (GP) - Golden Point extra time
• (pen) - Penalty try

Finals

Source:

Ladder

Coaching staff

• Craig Bellamy – Head Coach
• Jason Ryles – Senior Assistant Coach
• Marc Brentnall – Assistant Coach
• Ben Jack – U/20s Head Coach
• Aaron Bellamy – Development Coach
• Ryan Hinchcliffe – Development Coach
• Frank Ponissi – Football Director
• Ryan Hoffman – Football Administration Coordinator
• Nick Maxwell – Leadership Coach
• Craig McRae – Kicking & Catching Coach
• Billy Slater – Specialist Coach (Part time)
• Scott Sipple – Easts Tigers Feeder Club Coach
• Craig Ingebrigtsen – Sunshine Coast Falcons Feeder Club Coach

2019 Squad

List current as of 24 March 2019 (a): This column denotes the previous RL club the player was signed to and played first grade RL for. If they are yet to debut then this is stipulated. If they were merely signed to the club but did not play then it is not counted.

Player movements

Source:

Representative honours

The following players have played a first grade representative match in 2019.

Statistics

Statistics Source: Statistics current as of the end of the 2019 NRL regular season (this table does not include finals matches)

Scorers

Most Points in a Game: 18 points

• Round 9: Cameron Smith (9 Goals) vs Parramatta Eels

Most tries in a Game: 3

• Round 2: Suliasi Vunivalu vs. Canberra Raiders
• Round 24: Justin Olam vs. Manly Sea Eagles

Winning Games

Highest score in a winning game: 64 points

• Round 9: vs. Parramatta Eels

Lowest score in a winning game: 13 points

• Round 7 vs. New Zealand Warriors

Greatest winning margin: 54 points

• Round 9: vs. Parramatta Eels

Greatest number of Games won consecutively: 9

• Round 9 to Round 18

Losing Games

Highest score in a losing game: 20 points

• Round 6: vs. Sydney Roosters

Lowest score in a losing game: 10 points

• Round 19: vs. Manly Sea Eagles

Greatest losing margin: 4 points

• Round 22: vs. Canberra Raiders

Jersey

On 7 February the Storm announced that the 2019 Jersey will remain the same from 2018 however with updated NRL logos and the new 2019 Melbourne Storm logo. In addition the jersey now features the new Storm sponsor Purple Bricks.

^# Designed by Lenny Briggs.
^ Special jersey designed for Cameron Smith's 400th NRL game.
^^ Heritage jersey inspired by the 2009 home jersey; celebrating both the 1999 NRL Grand Final premiership and 2009 NRL Grand Final winning teams.
^& Women in League jersey featuring pink thunderbolts motif.

Awards

References