joshie
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The return
When the full time siren sounded, signalling the end of the 2012 season, every single Storm fan felt a feeling of relief. A feeling that I have never felt after any grand final victory I have seen my team win.
It all felt a little too easy in 2007, 2009 we struggled but I knew we would get there in the end and in 2012 the emotions were all over the place. As I look back to 2010, I can recall a very ironic conversation I was having with my coach and teacher. We were discussing how and why the Melbourne Storm was so good, how many wins they had that season and when they would finally come undone – this was transpiring at 3.00pm. At the end of our conversation I unfairly state that the Melbourne Storm was on their way to back to back titles, with an extreme amount of bias in my voice. He agreed but then I arrived home.
I saw the revelation on Fox Sports and 2010 went by in severe depression. So much drama at school because of my vocal support, and the lack of intensity while supporting the club I had been supporting since I was just 5 years old; it hurt to say the very least. As we came up to our last match at AAMI Park, all the fire in my belly was present, as I could finally move on and look to 2011, when we would be reinstated into the competition.
We were back into the competition and the mighty Melbourne Storm got back to doing what they did best and that was winning. We soared our way through the regular season to claim a reinstated minor premiership, moving on to face the Newcastle Knights. We unconvincingly beat the Knights to claim another preliminary final, something many thought we could not do right out of the blocks, but we just couldn't overcome a brilliant New Zealand Warriors side. They beat us at our own game and this loss was really painful. It just rubbed a lot of salt into the wounds and the feeling of disappointment rang true.
When 2012 began, I told each and every one of my friends and family that the Melbourne Storm were NOT going to lose this grand final. No one believed me, saying that they would be figured out and continued to tell me that they were a product of cheating. I would not listen as I insisted that we would in fact win the title and win convincingly. When we won 9 games in a row, everyone knew about it, and when we lost 5 in a row, everyone made sure I knew about it. This was a big year for everyone involved in my life because they knew how much it hinged on the Storm winning.
When we qualified for our next grand final after smashing the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, my friends told me that the Canterbury Bulldogs were much better than us and that they would roll over the top of us; Ben Barba was just too good they said. I continued to tell them that we would win, no matter how it happened.
When the game kicked off, I was nervous and intense. It was a tough ride but in the 7th minute, as Ryan Hoffman crossed to score the opener, the joy flowed over me. I realized that now we were in front, there was no way back from there for the Bulldogs. It had 2009 written all over it. Cronk to Hoffman early, he crashes over to score with Smith missing the conversion. that was in the 4th minute, this was in the 7th. My prediction came true as we were champions, as the pain was washed away, as every storm rejoiced, we had realized our team, and our dynasty was back.
The week we had our titles stripped, I posted stating a Forum Sevens article that we would be back and we would never give up. I was right again and I always knew I would be. It has taken something special to be a Storm fan through all of it but now I know we are back. I love my club, I love my footy but most of all, I love how we came back from nothing.
WE ARE THE STORM FROM MELBOURNE TOWN, WE’LL BLOW THE OTHERS OFF THE GROUND WE ARE THE STORM AND WE’RE NUMBER ONE!