Todays crowd figure goes a long way to show the amount of incredibly good work the Melborne Storm RLFC has done down in Victoria.
That the Storm had so many young up starts playing in their team tonight plus the early injury to Aiden Tolman against a Warriors team with everything to play for... well this assists the argument that the hard work behind the scenes that promote player development and quality attitude is the key ingredient to winning premierships.
Yeah the recent uncovered facts show that over the last five seasons the Storm overpent the cap by 1.7 million (that's a rough average of $340K per season), I personally don't think this is the main reason for their success, I truly don't. This team is full of great players yeas, but most of these players were internally developed by the Club which has been seriously let down by a certain CEO and his cronies, most of these cronies aren't even at the club any longer, yet these players and the current people involved in the club are left to carried the burden and the stain that the cronies have left behind.
Well done Storm fans, stay loyal. I'm a Manly Warringah Sea Eagles supporter who has felt a strong recent rivalry with your club for the past 4 or so seasons. These the particular seasons under review. I began to feel a heated hatred for your club because of our rivalry, but after tonight I have a new found respect for you as supporters. You showed me you are not merely "Johnny come lately's" that most of us NSW people think you are. I have a new respect for the majority of good people who administer your club, the true supporters and current and past players within your club.
I now understand that your club in reality represents high quality people, high quality attitude and excellent performance but unfortunately the Storm name has been unfairly tarnished by some terribly rotten eggs. These bad eggs aren't true Storm people, I can now see that. Hell, the main dude behind this mess is an AFL interloper who showed by moving on to The Super 14 Rebels that he NEVER truly had Rugby Leagues best interests at heart anyway. Then asked for a quote, instead of taking responsibility, Waldron spins out the line "everyone's doing it", just bagging the whole league in an under handed dog act manner that has left the mess our game is in today. Brian Waldron doesn't care and he never cared for our game, his actions prove it, and you people of the Storm are paying for it and as a result of the punishments dished out the whole game is also bleeding badly.
Incredible crowd result tonight and on a Sunday afternoon in the heart of Melbourne on ANZAC day while other big AFL games took place during the the day. When I look at the big picture, yeah there is punishment, yeah there is deserved punishment, however this particular punishment dished out by the NRL goes a long way to damaging Rugby League as a whole, damaging the credibility of season 2010 and damaging the future of Rugby League in a necessary pioneering outpost.
Tonight once again proved the Storm Rugby League Club during an era soden with negative League headlines and scandals, while trying to grow in severely hostile territory, in a market that apparently would never love them, without live to air free to air TV coverage, without print media support, without local radio support and without a significant junior base, have indeed done some incredible work over the past 12 years.
Three Cheers from me.