1998 Melbourne Storm season

The 1998 Melbourne Storm season was the first in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's inaugural Telstra Premierhsip and by Round 15 had climbed to the top of the 20-team ladder. They finished the regular season in 3rd place but were knocked out in the preliminary final by eventual premiers, the Brisbane Broncos.

The Melbourne Storm's first-up performance across season 1998 was a major surprise to many, with the new team reaching the top of the ladder in Round 15 and finishing the regular season in 3rd place, only one win behind minor premiers Brisbane. Adopting coach Anderson's new "flat-line" attack, the big Storm forwards laid a platform for their young halves Scott Hill and Brett Kimmorley to wreak havoc on opposing teams. Melbourne's front-rowers Glenn Lazarus, Robbie Kearns and Rodney Howe were all selected to play for New South Wales in the 1998 State of Origin series. A late season injury to captain Lazarus combined with a lack of Finals experience saw the Storm knocked out in the play-offs. The club though had proven they were to be taken seriously, and they had easily produced the best debut season of any new team in the game's history.^[1]

Draw and Results

^[2]

Round	Opponent	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Date	Venue
1	Illawarra Steelers	Win	14	12	14 Mar	WIN Stadium
2	Western Suburbs Magpies	Win	26	16	22 Mar	Campbelltown Stadium
3	Cronulla Sharks	Win	26	18	28 Mar	Toyota Park
4	North Sydney Bears	Win	24	16	3 Apr	Olympic Park
5	Auckland Warriors	Loss	12	16	10 Apr	Mt Smart Stadium
6	Parramatta Eels	Win	32	22	19 Apr	Parramatta Stadium
7	Penrith Panthers	Win	22	14	25 Apr	Olympic Park
8	Western Suburbs Magpies	Win	54	16	1 May	Olympic Park
9	St. George Dragons	Loss	14	18	8 May	Olympic Park
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Win	14	6	15 May	Sydney Football Stadium
11	Illawarra Steelers	Draw	14	14	24 May	Olympic Park
12	Gold Coast Chargers	Win	62	6	31 May	Olympic Park
13	Balmain Tigers	Win	25	16	7 Jun	Leichhardt Oval
14	Adelaide Rams	Win	24	4	13 Jun	Olympic Park
15	North Queensland Cowboys	Win	10	8	20 Jun	Dairy Farmers Stadium
16	Auckland Warriors	Loss	21	24	27 Jun	Olympic Park
17	Brisbane Broncos	Loss	16	34	3 Jul	QE2 Stadium
18	Manly Sea Eagles	Win	22	12	10 Jul	Olympic Park
19	North Sydney Bears	Loss	10	34	17 Jul	North Sydney Oval
20	Newcastle Knights	Win	32	16	24 Jul	Olympic Park
21	Sydney City Roosters	Win	32	20	2 Aug	Sydney Football Stadium
22	Cronulla Sharks	Win	20	10	7 Aug	Olympic Park
23	Canterbury Bulldogs	Loss	4	8	15 Aug	Belmore Oval
24	Canberra Raiders	Win	16	12	21 Aug	Olympic Park
Qualifying Final	Sydney City Roosters	Loss	12	26	30 Aug	Olympic Park
Semi Final	Canberra Raiders	Win	24	10	5 Sep	Olympic Park
Preliminary Final	Brisbane Broncos	Loss	6	30	13 Sep	Sydney Football Stadium

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane	24	18	1	5	688	310	+378	37
2	Newcastle	24	18	1	5	562	381	+181	37
3	Melbourne	24	17	1	6	546	372	+174	35
4	Parramatta	24	17	1	6	468	349	+119	35
5	North Sydney	24	17	0	7	663	367	+296	34
6	Sydney City	24	16	0	8	680	383	+297	32
7	Canberra	24	15	0	9	564	429	+135	30
8	St. George	24	13	1	10	486	490	-4	27
9	Canterbury	24	13	0	11	489	411	+78	26
10	Manly-Warringah	24	13	0	11	503	473	+30	26
11	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	12	1	11	438	387	+51	25
12	Illawarra	24	11	1	12	476	539	-63	23
13	Balmain	24	9	1	14	381	463	-82	19
14	Penrith	24	8	2	14	525	580	-55	18
15	Auckland	24	9	0	15	417	518	-101	18
16	North Queensland	24	9	0	15	361	556	-195	18
17	Adelaide	24	7	0	17	393	615	-222	14
18	South Sydney	24	5	0	19	339	560	-221	10
19	Gold Coast	24	4	0	20	289	654	-365	8
20	Western Suburbs	24	4	0	20	371	802	-431	8

Ladder progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 10.
Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
1	Brisbane Broncos	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	29	31	33	35	37
2	Newcastle Knights	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	27	29	31	31	31	33	35	37
3	Melbourne Storm	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	17	19	21	23	25	25	25	27	27	29	31	33	33	35
4	Parramatta Eels	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	24	26	28	28	30	32	34	35
5	North Sydney Bears	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	30	32	34
6	Sydney City Roosters	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	20	22	24	24	26	26	26	28	30	32
7	Canberra Raiders	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	30
8	St. George Dragons	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	22	24	24	26	26	26	26	27
9	Canterbury Bulldogs	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	24	26
10	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26
11	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	18	19	21	23	23	23	25
12	Illawarra Steelers	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	9	11	13	13	15	17	19	19	19	19	21	21	23	23
13	Balmain Tigers	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	18	19	19	19	19	19
14	Penrith Panthers	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	11	12	14	14	14	16	18
15	Auckland Warriors	0	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	18	18	18
16	North Queensland Cowboys	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	18	18
17	Adelaide Rams	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	14
18	South Sydney Rabbitohs	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	10
19	Gold Coast Chargers	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
20	Western Suburbs Magpies	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Finals series

Melbourne surprised everybody by finishing 3rd after the regular season in their first ever year, only to be knocked out by the Brisbane Broncos in the Semi Final.

Major Prelim Semi Final
30 August 1998

Melbourne Storm	12 - 26 ^[3]	Sydney City Roosters
Tries: Bai Marquet Goals: Smith 2/3		Tries: Barnett Elsegood Fittler Gourley Goals: Cleary 5/6

Olympic Park Stadium
Attendance: 18,247
Referee/s: Paul McBlane

Minor Semi Final
5 September 1998

Melbourne Storm	24 - 10 ^[4]	Canberra Raiders
Tries: Martin (2) Bai Geyer Hill Goals: Kimmorley 2/6		Tries: Mullins Stuart Goals: Furner 1/1 McNamara 0/1

Olympic Park Stadium
Attendance: 12,592
Referee/s: Steve Clark

Elimination Preliminary Final
13 September 1998

Brisbane Broncos	30 - 6 ^[5]	Melbourne Storm
Tries: Renouf (2) Campion Carroll Lee Lockyer Goals: Lockyer 3/6		Tries: Geyer Goals: Kimmorley 1/2

Sydney Football Stadium
Attendance: 20,354
Referee/s: Bill Harrigan

Players

1998 Squad

No.		Position	Player
		FB	Robbie Ross
		FB	Tristan Brady-Smith
		WG	Craig Smith
		WG	Marcus Bai
		WG	Matt Geyer
		WG	John Wilshere
		CE	Aaron Moule
		CE	Paul Bell
		CE	John Carlaw
		CE	Tony Martin
		FE	Scott Hill
		FE	Ben Anderson
		HB	Brett Kimmorley

No.		Position	Player
		PR	Rodney Howe
		PR	Robbie Kearns
		PR	Glenn Lazarus (C)
		PR	Wade Fenton
		PR	Anthony Bonus
		HK	Danny Williams
		HK	Richard Swain
		SR	Paul Marquet
		SR	Ben Roarty
		SR	Russell Bawden
		SR	Wayne Evans
		SR	Matt Rua
		LK	Tawera Nikau
		LK	Daniel Frame

^[6]

Awards and honours

Player of the year: Robbie Kearns^[7]
Rookie of the year: Ben Roarty

References

↑ http://www.melbournestorm.com.au/evolution-storm
↑ http://stats.rleague.com/rl/teams/melbourne/melbourne_by.html#1998
↑ NRL 1998 - Major Prelim Semi Final. Rugby League Project
↑ NRL 1998 - Minor Semi Final. Rugby League Project
↑ NRL 1998 - Elimination Preliminary Final. Rugby League Project
↑ "NRL 1998 - Melbourne Storm Summary". Rugby League Project.
↑ "NRL Honour Board". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 10 February 2014.

Melbourne Storm

Est. 1998 in Melbourne, Victoria

The club	Records Players Coaches History (2010 Salary cap breach)

Home grounds	Olympic Park Stadium Docklands Stadium AAMI Park

Culture	Rivalry with Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles We Are the Storm

Important figures	John Ribot Chris Anderson Glenn Lazarus Matt Geyer Craig Bellamy Cameron Smith Billy Slater Cooper Cronk

League	NRL

Titles	Premierships (2) 1999 ~~2007~~ ~~2009~~ 2012 World Club Challenge (2) 2000 ~~2010~~ 2013

Seasons (19)	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	National Youth Competition Auckland Nines New South Wales Cup S. G. Ball Cup

Affiliations	Central Coast Storm Eastern Suburbs Tigers Albury Thunder

1998 in rugby league

« 1997

1999 »

International Rugby League

British Rugby League

Competitions	Super League Grand Final Division One Division Two Challenge Cup

SL Teams	Bradford Bulls Castleford Tigers Halifax Blue Sox Huddersfield Giants Hull Sharks Leeds Rhinos London Broncos Salford City Reds Sheffield Eagles St Helens Warrington Wolves Wigan Warriors

Australian Rugby League

Competitions	State of Origin NRL season Grand Final Queensland Cup NSWRL First Division

By club	Adelaide Rams Auckland Warriors Balmain Tigers Brisbane Broncos Canterbury Bulldogs Canberra Raiders Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Illawarra Steelers Gold Coast Chargers Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Melbourne Storm Newcastle Knights North Queensland Cowboys North Sydney Bears Parramatta Eels Penrith Panthers Sydney Roosters St. George Dragons South Sydney Rabbitohs Western Suburbs Magpies

Other Domestic competitions

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