RIP Melbourne Storm 2003-13

[Hutty1986]

Who gives a shit. Over rated big time. Good luck St George. Money poorly spent.

Lol, thanks for the well wishes champ. We'll be okay

 

[Spot On]

Lol, thanks for the well wishes champ. We'll be okay

f**king bookmark this stupid comment for 12 months time. Open your eyes Mutty.

Please don't tell me you have confidence in your clubs ability to identify talent when they let Jeremy Smith and Beau Scott go to name just a few and now hinge their prospects on Gareth Widdop. Just what are Gareth's great strengths Mutty?

 

[Big Pete]

Don't count on it.

They got beaten by two quality footy teams - one that is riding a wave of belief and another who just played out of their skin. They weren't absolutely humbled and there is still plenty of talent there for them to challenge.

Some of the players they blooded this season will be better for the experience and they have some talented players coming through. The window is definitely starting to close but I still think they'll be in with a shot in the next couple of years.

Now if Smith signs with Brisbane, it's a completely different story but I get the impression that it's just managerial talk and I hope Smith retires a one club player.

 

[Hutty1986]

f**king bookmark this stupid comment for 12 months time. Open your eyes Mutty.

Please don't tell me you have confidence in your clubs ability to identify talent when they let Jeremy Smith and Beau Scott go to name just a few and now hinge their prospects on Gareth Widdop. Just what are Gareth's great strengths Mutty?

Mutty? Brilliant!

We're talking about a bloke who has been out of the game for 3 months, for a start. A massive ask to come back into two high-stakes finals matches and be straight back to his best. Im surprised bellamy played him at all to be honest.

Saints havent had a decent 6 since Soward was in his prime (09-probably halfway thru 2011). Widdop brings a brilliant running game and a good kicking game to a side thats been crying out for a decent half for a long time now.

I have plenty of faith in the bloke and hoping he can string some good performances together in the world cup.

And you wont get any arguments for me re. Scott/Smith, especially Jezza. Hes an absolute champion.

 

[herbert henry1908]

I feel sorry for fans of Manly and Parramatta who had premierships stolen during this dark reign.

An extremely simplistic way of looking at it.


The storms cheating covered the whole season, not just the one game.

 

[herbert henry1908]

I see the storm making the 8 again.


Its very hard to see them winning another premiership in the near future though.

 

[the dude]

God it was nice seeing them lose tonight.

With that being said I wouldn't write them off as a spent force just yet. Going out in straight sets will be disappointing for them, but they're capable of bouncing back - I still think they will be a top 4 outfit next year.

 

[Spot On]

Mutty? Brilliant!

We're talking about a bloke who has been out of the game for 3 months, for a start. A massive ask to come back into two high-stakes finals matches and be straight back to his best. Im surprised bellamy played him at all to be honest.

Saints havent had a decent 6 since Soward was in his prime (09-probably halfway thru 2011). Widdop brings a brilliant running game and a good kicking game to a side thats been crying out for a decent half for a long time now.

I have plenty of faith in the bloke and hoping he can string some good performances together in the world cup.

And you wont get any arguments for me re. Scott/Smith, especially Jezza. Hes an absolute champion.

Thank you.

I'm not basing my opinion of Widdop on tonight's game rather from what I've seen the past few seasons. Even Sean Rudder had a lot of people fooled. Harsh but you get what I mean.

He'll be another Adam Blair.

Over rated and over paid.

 

[Spot On]

Don't count on it.

They got beaten by two quality footy teams - one that is riding a wave of belief and another who just played out of their skin. They weren't absolutely humbled and there is still plenty of talent there for them to challenge.

Some of the players they blooded this season will be better for the experience and they have some talented players coming through. The window is definitely starting to close but I still think they'll be in with a shot in the next couple of years.

Now if Smith signs with Brisbane, it's a completely different story but I get the impression that it's just managerial talk and I hope Smith retires a one club player.

Surely one or two of these blokes will have to cop a long term injury one day.

 

[Big Pete]

Hopefully not.

 

[unbreaK]

It's pretty much inevitable that any Storm side with Slater, Cronk, Smith will make the 8, probably even the 4, every year until they retire.. But the era of dominance may be coming to an end rather rapidly, next season may be their last real shot at another title.

 

[HowHigh]

Most consistent team of the past decade and have 1 premiership to show for it but I guess it's better than zero

 

[POPEYE]

They won the premiership last year and made the top 4 again this year.

RIP indeed :roll:

And got knocked out by the Warriors in exactly the same way the year before, the biggest worry is that Manly will be convinced it's their turn and be buoyed by Melbourne losing . . . not a happy scenario for everyone other than a Seagle supporter

 

[DC_fan]

may struggle to make the top 8 next year

 

[Rudderriffic]

Lol, if the refs had done their job and called the block on Slater we would still be talking about the possibility of Storm going back to back. Hopefully the big 3 will retire from origin next year and concentrate on winning back the title.

And what if the refs had done their job right and given an 8 point try after Slater's shoulder charge during the first try? Or if the ludicrous "head high with arms by your side" penalty hadn't been given which lead directly to a try? Shoulda, woulda coulda is fun eh?

 

[benntash]

Storm are definitely past it. Top 8 next year for sure, top 4 I doubt it. There are alot of other clubs on the rise that have showed alot of promise this year. To have the bulk of their cap tied up in 3 players with only one premiership to show for it was never going to last for long

 

[miccle]

It's the ebb and flow of how things work in the salary cap era (don't I know it at the moment!), so inevitable that their dominance will wane sooner or later. And of course would've happened earlier had they been adhering to the rules, but let's leave that aside.

Plenty of good teams on the up... I've got a sneaking suspicion that Newcastle will lift the trophy at some point in the next three years.

 

[simostorm]

Eh.. You cant win it every year.. Storms wheels fell off after Origin, they have struggled for a couple of months. Not surprised to see them out in straight sets.
Good overall season. I enjoyed it. I'm not let down by the Storm.

As for age of the Big 3.. They are fine.. another few good years in them.

 

[simostorm]

Next year they all turn 31 and there's no Widdop.

It's an incredibly controversial suggestion but they would have been better off extending Widdop instead of Slater for the sake of roster balance. I don't think Slater has much left as an elite FB. Widdops best years are ahead of him.

Billy has been in great form the last couple of months.. out of the Big 3 he's been in the better form.

 

[Brutus]

Show's over folks. They're a myth.

The big three have hit the big three-oh and boy does it show. They've dished up some very ordinary performances in the last half of the season.

Melbourne to miss the 8 next year.

And Parramatta to replace them in the top-eight???