Best GF Outcome For The Game

[thorson1987]

I guess as a Storm fan i see a GF win as the start of a new era, i understand other fans frustration and i know how i'd feel if we were to lose to a team cheating the rules, but even you must admire the determination and grit shown by this new squad of players, the rise from adversity from for all you & i know could possibly be innocent players/coaches in this whole fiasco.
I mean people say we didn't really get punished yet we were (rightfully) stripped of 2 premierships and 3 MP, fined $1.5 million dollars, made to play for nothing all year, heckled, abused, laughed at. For 18 months i've personally been abused for standing by my team, even though i've never condoned what we did. Yet other fan's want me to apoligise? We are innocent bystanders like you, except we have to live with the cast shadow over us, just for supporting our footy team.
At the start of the year when we ran out with our rookie 20's like Duffie, O'Neill, Widdop, Bromwich & Proctor along with "Nuffie's" no other club wanted like Woolnough, Lowe, M.Blair, Norrie, Lowrie, Kostjasyn, Waqa etc nobody gave us a chance of doing anything this year, and i think if we ran 10th no one would care, it's because were 1st it irratates people.
I don't know what we can do as a club to show were ready to play fair, all the rats in administration have been weeded out and sacked, all the books are now level, we've gone through 18 months of hell, a large portion of people in the firing line have been innocent people like myself.
There's no smugness here, no siege mentality, i'm embarrassed and ashamed, we cheated the rules and denied everyone else a fair go, but i love my footy, and i will always support my team, and you will be waiting awhile if you think any true fan would ever apoligise for doing so. You say you wish we had downtime's? We as fans have had the darkest imaginable. You say were back like this never happened, this club and it's fans are forever scarred and honestly dude, it f***ing sucks, i just wanna watch some footy and cheer for my team.

You are an example of the genuine Storm fans that got devastated by the f*cked up events of last season. Good on you for facing up to what happened & good luck for this weekend

There are more like us, we just get swamped by idiots such as Butters.

 

[firechild]

I guess as a Storm fan i see a GF win as the start of a new era, i understand other fans frustration and i know how i'd feel if we were to lose to a team cheating the rules, but even you must admire the determination and grit shown by this new squad of players, the rise from adversity from for all you & i know could possibly be innocent players/coaches in this whole fiasco.
I mean people say we didn't really get punished yet we were (rightfully) stripped of 2 premierships and 3 MP, fined $1.5 million dollars, made to play for nothing all year, heckled, abused, laughed at. For 18 months i've personally been abused for standing by my team, even though i've never condoned what we did. Yet other fan's want me to apoligise? We are innocent bystanders like you, except we have to live with the cast shadow over us, just for supporting our footy team.
At the start of the year when we ran out with our rookie 20's like Duffie, O'Neill, Widdop, Bromwich & Proctor along with "Nuffie's" no other club wanted like Woolnough, Lowe, M.Blair, Norrie, Lowrie, Kostjasyn, Waqa etc nobody gave us a chance of doing anything this year, and i think if we ran 10th no one would care, it's because were 1st it irratates people.
I don't know what we can do as a club to show were ready to play fair, all the rats in administration have been weeded out and sacked, all the books are now level, we've gone through 18 months of hell, a large portion of people in the firing line have been innocent people like myself.
There's no smugness here, no siege mentality, i'm embarrassed and ashamed, we cheated the rules and denied everyone else a fair go, but i love my footy, and i will always support my team, and you will be waiting awhile if you think any true fan would ever apoligise for doing so. You say you wish we had downtime's? We as fans have had the darkest imaginable. You say were back like this never happened, this club and it's fans are forever scarred and honestly dude, it f***ing sucks, i just wanna watch some footy and cheer for my team.

I respect those fans that take this position but there are still some HUGE question marks over the involvement of some of those who are still at the club. The biggest one hangs over the head of Smith. He sacked his manager and negotiated his own contract. There is no excuse for him to not know why he was signing multiple contracts with different numbers on them. In the eyes of many fans, the Melbourne club will not be cleansed until they rid themselves of those who are likely to have been involved, specifically Smith, Slater and Bellamy. The fact that the coach and players refused to assist in the investigation raised many eyebrows and I think you'll find that many supporters do not trust what they are being told.

 

[AuDragon]

I guess as a Storm fan i see a GF win as the start of a new era, i understand other fans frustration and i know how i'd feel if we were to lose to a team cheating the rules, but even you must admire the determination and grit shown by this new squad of players, the rise from adversity from for all you & i know could possibly be innocent players/coaches in this whole fiasco.
I mean people say we didn't really get punished yet we were (rightfully) stripped of 2 premierships and 3 MP, fined $1.5 million dollars, made to play for nothing all year, heckled, abused, laughed at. For 18 months i've personally been abused for standing by my team, even though i've never condoned what we did. Yet other fan's want me to apoligise? We are innocent bystanders like you, except we have to live with the cast shadow over us, just for supporting our footy team.
At the start of the year when we ran out with our rookie 20's like Duffie, O'Neill, Widdop, Bromwich & Proctor along with "Nuffie's" no other club wanted like Woolnough, Lowe, M.Blair, Norrie, Lowrie, Kostjasyn, Waqa etc nobody gave us a chance of doing anything this year, and i think if we ran 10th no one would care, it's because were 1st it irratates people.
I don't know what we can do as a club to show were ready to play fair, all the rats in administration have been weeded out and sacked, all the books are now level, we've gone through 18 months of hell, a large portion of people in the firing line have been innocent people like myself.
There's no smugness here, no siege mentality, i'm embarrassed and ashamed, we cheated the rules and denied everyone else a fair go, but i love my footy, and i will always support my team, and you will be waiting awhile if you think any true fan would ever apoligise for doing so. You say you wish we had downtime's? We as fans have had the darkest imaginable. You say were back like this never happened, this club and it's fans are forever scarred and honestly dude, it f***ing sucks, i just wanna watch some footy and cheer for my team.

Good on you mate. You and many of the Storm fans who accepted the consequences of what your club did, deserve the reward your team gave you this season. I applaud you for that!

Having said that, any team with a spine of Slater, Cronk, Smith and a very good Widdop would vye for a spot in the top 8. I didn't expect them to be as good as they are admittedly though, so a lot of credit has to go to Bellamy for the way he managed to get those rookies and nuffies to gel into a very tight knit team.

I too struggle with the idea that the Storm may very well win this premiership, still riding the coat tails of their major rort for many years. Not that the club hasn't been adequately punished, but some players and the coach haven't.

Smith for example, would likely have been a Titan now, if it wasn't for the money he got outside the cap, and I very much doubt he didn't know about it.
I believe he should have been punished in the same way GI was (by playing at 50uff$), and shouldn't be wearing the Storm jersey.

Bellamy is an absolute top coach, but he should've been banned from the game for 2 or 3 years at least.
He will not hesitate to use any advantage for his and his team's benefit, legal or not. The wrestling tactics that have emanated from Melbourne under his tenure, and were aimed at disabling/maiming opposition players are definitely proof of this imo. I have little doubt he would even blink at rorting the cap, and even less doubt he knew about it!

As an adversary and one of biggest rivals to my team, I respect the Storm and wish them well in the future. But I will not congratulate them yet, because imo they are still benefiting from the rort, for the above reasons.

 

[Hutty1986]

Good on you mate. You and many of the Storm fans who accepted the consequences of what your club did, deserve the reward your team gave you this season. I applaud you for that!

Having said that, any team with a spine of Slater, Cronk, Smith and a very good Widdop would vye for a spot in the top 8. I didn't expect them to be as good as they are admittedly though, so a lot of credit has to go to Bellamy for the way he managed to get those rookies and nuffies to gel into a very tight knit team.

I too struggle with the idea that the Storm may very well win this premiership, still riding the coat tails of their major rort for many years. Not that the club hasn't been adequately punished, but some players and the coach haven't.

Smith for example, would likely have been a Titan now, if it wasn't for the money he got outside the cap, and I very much doubt he didn't know about it.
I believe he should have been punished in the same way GI was (by playing at 50uff$), and shouldn't be wearing the Storm jersey.

Bellamy is an absolute top coach, but he should've been banned from the game for 2 or 3 years at least.
He will not hesitate to use any advantage for his and his team's benefit, legal or not. The wrestling tactics that have emanated from Melbourne under his tenure, and were aimed at disabling/maiming opposition players are definitely proof of this imo. I have little doubt he would even blink at rorting the cap, and even less doubt he knew about it!

As an adversary and one of biggest rivals to my team, I respect the Storm and wish them well in the future. But I will not congratulate them yet, because imo they are still benefiting from the rort, for the above reasons.

I agree, he's gotten off with no punishment whatsoever. Not to mention his arrogant, deluded views on the stripped premierships. cannot possibly be placed in the same class as Bennett-he was a SOO dud & has yet to win a comp!

 

[Cronk2011]

It seems to be most people's real gripe, that certain induvidual's escaped punishent. I think the rest of the matter seems to be water under the bridge, and whilst i am inclined to believe that surely atleast AFEW of the the senior players & officials were privy to the details of the rort, i'm afraid no one including myself is ever going to get closure. Regardless of hearsay and suspicion surrounding certain induvidual's, we live in a country where every man is innocent until proven guilty, we sit here and judge those who could be innocent, but then again they could be guilty. Either way eventually due process was followed and after both a governing body & external investigation by both 3rd party accountants, the NRL and the Police, no evidence was ever linked to direct player knowledge, a 3 prong investigation with no reason to be swayed into the Storm's favour ALL cleared ALL PLAYERS & COACHES of knowledge & involvement. I know it's a bitter pill to swallow as i myself have my own suspicions, but whats the point of arguing about? The case is closed, the right people were weeded out and punished, there really is no point losing sleep over it, because none of us will ever really know. Imagine if for instance Cam Smith truly is innocent, isnt it horrible that a once in a generation player like him could be tarnished for life over something he may never of done. It really is just an all round f***about. I wish it was back to being just about the footy.

 

[Eels Dude]

I want to give a rap to Cronk2011 also. It's nice to finally see a Storm supporter who can understand the situation from an opposition fan's perspective and have the humility to face up and aknowledge how their club has hurt the game. It's fans like yourself I actually feel sorry for over this whole incident. I take my hat off to you sir/madam.

 

[Cronk2011]

I want to give a rap to Cronk2011 also. It's nice to finally see a Storm supporter who can understand the situation from an opposition fan's perspective and have the humility to face up and aknowledge how their club has hurt the game. It's fans like yourself I actually feel sorry for over this whole incident. I take my hat off to you sir/madam.

Sir, cheers Eels Dude, the way i see it no matter what colour glasses you wear, we can all tell the difference between right and wrong. Reading back through the pages and seeing idiotic comments from clown's like Butters i can see why there is hostility towards Storm fans, i've had 3 or 4 pretty average responses to posts and i'm a newbie today and i've got no problems with anyone. I just wanna talk some f***in footy!

 

[firechild]

It seems to be most people's real gripe, that certain induvidual's escaped punishent. I think the rest of the matter seems to be water under the bridge, and whilst i am inclined to believe that surely atleast AFEW of the the senior players & officials were privy to the details of the rort, i'm afraid no one including myself is ever going to get closure. Regardless of hearsay and suspicion surrounding certain induvidual's, we live in a country where every man is innocent until proven guilty, we sit here and judge those who could be innocent, but then again they could be guilty. Either way eventually due process was followed and after both a governing body & external investigation by both 3rd party accountants, the NRL and the Police, no evidence was ever linked to direct player knowledge, a 3 prong investigation with no reason to be swayed into the Storm's favour ALL cleared ALL PLAYERS & COACHES of knowledge & involvement. I know it's a bitter pill to swallow as i myself have my own suspicions, but whats the point of arguing about? The case is closed, the right people were weeded out and punished, there really is no point losing sleep over it, because none of us will ever really know. Imagine if for instance Cam Smith truly is innocent, isnt it horrible that a once in a generation player like him could be tarnished for life over something he may never of done. It really is just an all round f***about. I wish it was back to being just about the footy.

If I recall correctly there is still investigations going that could see repercussions for some of the player managers involved. If this is the case and player managers are deregistered, Cameron Smith should be thrown out along with the rest of them.

 

[macnaz]

I just want a team that has supporters, has juniors and can support themselves and not steal from genuine league playing areas, then ill be happy

 

[macnaz]

If I recall correctly there is still investigations going that could see repercussions for some of the player managers involved. If this is the case and player managers are deregistered, Cameron Smith should be thrown out along with the rest of them.

Really . I wish that were to happen BUT do you really believe it would ??

 

[Cumberland Throw]

The broncos are the best outcome for the nrl

Imagine the frenzy if brissie win and Lockyer is a chance next week

 

[Butters]

Jeez i'm a pretty popular guy :/

I don't recall any idiotic comments i've made. I only speak the truth.

 

[Cronk2011]

I just want a team that has supporters, has juniors and can support themselves and not steal from genuine league playing areas, then ill be happy

12,000 members - Check
Toyota cup, Sg ball, Academy squads - Check
Mahe Fonua born n bred through the VRL added to the NRL Full-Time squad 2012 with guys like Tounimepea, Gideon and Robati right behind him - Check

Happy?

 

[Cronk2011]

If I recall correctly there is still investigations going that could see repercussions for some of the player managers involved. If this is the case and player managers are deregistered, Cameron Smith should be thrown out along with the rest of them.

Any player implicated should be stood down and the NRL would have my blessing (not that they'd need it )

 

[Billythekid]

I just want a team that has supporters, has juniors and can support themselves and not steal from genuine league playing areas, then ill be happy

Has fans? I don't think the storm are doing that much worse than most Sydney clubs. In fact the storm are ahead of quite a few and the only reason some others are in front of us is because of away fans.

As for juniors they are starting to come through but it was always going to take time.

You talk about the storm stealing juniors but look at some of the people the storm have developed or careers they have resurrected. Would Lowe, Woolnough or Blair even be playing first grade if it weren't for the storm?

What about Jeff lima or Matt King? There are a host of players that wouldn't have made the NRL or would never have reached the heights they have if not for the storm.

Also what's with this continued assertion that the storm can't sustain themselves? The storm already pull in as big crowds as most Sydney clubs and are pretty close to leading the comp in terms of sponsership deals from what i understand.

The money given to the storm from news ltd allows the club to run it's operations with a similar amount of money to the broncos. Without this the storm would just have to cut back and would probably have to spend a similar amount to most of the big Sydney clubs.

The storm wouldn't just die off without news ltd.

Smith for example, would likely have been a Titan now, if it wasn't for the money he got outside the cap, and I very much doubt he didn't know about it. I believe he should have been punished in the same way GI was (by playing at 50uff$), and shouldn't be wearing the Storm jersey.

This is total crap. If we weren't cheating the cap we would have been forced to get rid of the players we did last year in order to keep Smith. Our team is now under the cap so we shouldn't be forced to shed anyone.

I want to give a rap to Cronk2011 also. It's nice to finally see a Storm supporter who can understand the situation from an opposition fan's perspective and have the humility to face up and aknowledge how their club has hurt the game. It's fans like yourself I actually feel sorry for over this whole incident. I take my hat off to you sir/madam.

You're so full of sh*t. You basically go into any thread that is even slightly related to the storm (and even ones that aren't) and constantly troll the storm and fans of the storm.

Humility? Is if you would know anything about that. You've got a massive chip on your shoulder and you need to get over it.

 

[HowHigh]

Jeez i'm a pretty popular guy :/

I don't recall any idiotic comments i've made. I only speak the truth.

Bingo

 

[Eels Dude]

You're so full of sh*t. You basically go into any thread that is even slightly related to the storm (and even ones that aren't) and constantly troll the storm and fans of the storm.

Humility? Is if you would know anything about that. You've got a massive chip on your shoulder and you need to get over it.

So you're attacking me because I actually had the decency to aknowledge a Storm supporter's view and praise a Storm supporter's post? If more Storm fans acted this bloke did then your club wouldn't be so hated.

This is the NRL forum, any fan has the right to express their point of view in this forum on any given thread. I've never gone into the Storm forum trolling and I've never gone around creating threads in the NRL forum about the Storm in an attempt to troll either.

You're the one with a chip on your shoulder... you should take a leaf out of Cronk2011's book.

 

[Billythekid]

So you're attacking me because I actually had the decency to aknowledge a Storm supporter's view and praise a Storm supporter's post? If more Storm fans acted this bloke did then your club wouldn't be so hated.

No i'm not attacking you because of that post, in fact i'm not attacking you at all. I just find it hilarious to see you telling storm fans to show some humility considering the way you act towards the storm and their fans.

Also our club was hated long before the salary cap drama unfolded. It's all the same faces on here that insult the club that did it before all this happened. This has just given them more ammunition.

This is the NRL forum, any fan has the right to express their point of view in this forum on any given thread. I've never gone into the Storm forum trolling and I've never gone around creating threads in the NRL forum about the Storm in an attempt to troll either.

I never said you didn't. You have the right to say whatever you want and troll whoever you want just as i can reply to said posts.

You're the one with a chip on your shoulder... you should take a leaf out of Cronk2011's book.

What chip do i have on my shoulder?

What should i take from Cronk2011's posts? I don't deny that the storm cheated and i accept that the club was punished for that. I'm not going to act like an idiot like Butters and just pretend the club was innocent.

I'm still going to defend the club from the bullsh*t people like you post (much of which has nothing to do with the salary cap drama).