2020 Melbourne Storm season – Wikipedia

The 2020 Melbourne Storm season was the 23rd in the club’s history and they competed in the 2020 NRL season. The team was coached by Craig Bellamy, coaching the club for his 18th consecutive season. Melbourne Storm were also captained by Cameron Smith, who had been the sole captain for the team since 2008—making this his 13th consecutive season. The season was suspended indefinitely on 23 March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; however, on 28 April the NRL announced it would recommence on 28 May as a 20 Round competition with a revised fixture.

After the recommencement of the season, Melbourne Storm initially played home games at AAMI Park as usual; however, an escalation in coronavirus cases and a subsequent second lock-down in the state of Victoria forced the Storm to relocate in late June, firstly, to New South Wales and then to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. This has meant that the Storm have had to play home games at multiple venues interstate throughout the 2020 season including Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in Sydney, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and Sunshine Coast Stadium on the Sunshine Coast.

The club had a successful season on the field and after twenty rounds, finishing the regular season in second spot and earning a “home” qualifying final against the Parramatta Eels which was played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The Storm won this final, progressing through to a week three preliminary final at the same venue, where they played and defeated the Canberra Raiders for a spot in the 2020 NRL Grand Final. The Storm defeated the Penrith Panthers in the 2020 NRL Grand Final to finish the season as Premiers.

Season summary[edit]

• Pre-season – New recruits took part in Melbourne Storm IDQ camp for pre season training before New Years. Aaron Booth was awarded the IDQ Iron bar. ^[1]
• 14–15 February – Melbourne lose both their matches at the 2020 NRL Nines in Perth, to finish bottom of Pool 4. Sandor Earl and Tui Kamikamica were named as co-captains of a squad which included Fijian Siti Moceidreke.
• Round 1 – The Storm continued their unbeaten run in Round 1 matches a record that stretches back to 2001 by defeating Manly at Brookvale Oval.
• Round 2 – The Melbourne Storm defeated Cronulla at an empty WIN Stadium. All NRL matches were played in empty stadiums for the first time in the league’s history, in response to government restrictions on non-essential public gatherings of 500 or more people due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]
• 23 March – Due to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 NRL season was indefinitely suspended, for the first time in history.^[3]
• 28 April – The NRL announce that the competition will resume on 28 May and that it would be cut back a 20-round season, with the first two rounds scores and points remaining. The NRL will also release a revised fixture.^[4]
• 4 May – The Storm announce that they will temporarily set up a training camp in Albury, New South Wales to prepare for the resumption of the NRL season. Restrictions on group gatherings mean’t it could not happen in Victoria.^[5]
• 7 May – The Storm begin their training camp at the home of Albury Tigers Football Club after the Albury Council elected to prevent the club using the local government managed Greenfield Park.^[6]
• 11 May – The Victorian State Government ease restrictions allowing the Storm to train in Victoria.
• 15 May – The NRL release the revised fixture for Rounds 3 and 4.^[7] Melbourne Storm will play the Round 3 fixture on 30 May.
• 21 May – The full revised fixture is released for the remainder of 2020. Venues are only confirmed to Round 9, with the Storm to play home games at AAMI Park at this stage with no crowd.^[8]
• Round 3 – On 30 May the Melbourne Storm recommenced their season with a 22–6 loss against the Canberra Raiders.
• Round 4 – The Storm return to the winners list with a win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Brenko Lee and Chris Lewis both make their playing debuts (For the Storm and NRL respectively). Brenko Lee also became the 200th player to play a game for the Melbourne Storm.
• 23 June – The Melbourne Storm and NRL announce that the team will relocate indefinitely to either NSW or QLD after a sharp increase in coronavirus cases over the previous week in Victoria ^[9]
• Round 7 – The Storm defeat the NZ Warriors 50–6 in their home game at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in Sydney the match was notable as following the game Cameron Smith, Craig Bellamy and Ryan Hoffman all went into the Warriors’ room to thank and acknowledge the sacrifice that they are making by moving to Australia during the COVID pandemic.^[10] In addition, West Tigers Loan player Paul Momirovski made his debut for the Storm scoring 2 tries.
• 27 June – Further to the report on 23 June the Storm confirm that they will indefinitely relocate to the Sunshine Coast, Queensland playing home games out of Suncorp Stadium.^[11]
• Round 8 – The Storm defeat the Sydney Roosters 27-25 after the game was sent into Golden Point with Ryan Papenhuyzen leveling the scores by kicking a field goal with 10 seconds remaining in regular time.
• 8 July – Melbourne Storm announce that they will play their next three home matches at Sunshine Coast Stadium (Rounds 10, 12 and 13).^[12]
• Round 9 – The Storm defeat the Canberra Raiders 20–14. Darryn Schonig made his NRL debut and Cameron Smith reached another milestone with 300 wins in the NRL.
• Round 10 – Melbourne Storm play their first home game on the Sunshine Coast with a 42–6 win over the Gold Coast Titans.
• Round 12 – The Storm defeat the Knights in their 6th consecutive win. Cameron Smith injures his shoulder while scoring his try.
• Round 13 – Due to the injury and resting of Cameron Smith, Jesse Bromwich was named as acting captain.^[13] Originally Dale Finucane was named as a co-captain but dropped out of the side due to a minor injury. Jahrome Hughes played his 50th game for the Storm after playing his 50th NRL game overall two weeks earlier^[14] in the win over Canterbury.
• 18 August – The Storm announce that the remaining 3 home games in the 2020 season will be played at Sunshine Coast Stadium^[15]
• Round 15 – Kenny Bromwich is announced as captain of the team replacing brother Jesse due to suspension, Kenny becomes the club’s 22nd Captain. Also Cooper John (son of Matthew Johns) will make his NRL debut.
• Round 19 – Melbourne secure 2nd spot on the ladder after defeating Wests Tigers at Sunshine Coast stadium. This game was also notable as it was the club’s 600th game in the NRL.
• Round 20 – The Melbourne Storm make massive changes to the side resting almost the entire team that won in Round 19 due to them not being able to lose second place. Ryan Papenhuyzen is announced as the captain for the team making him the fourth captain in 2020 and 23rd overall for the club.^[16] In addition, the game saw both Aaron Booth and Aaron Pene making their NRL debuts and Ricky Leutele making his Storm debut this also meant that the Storm had used a total of 32 players in its 2020 season more than any other season to date. Finally Max King played his 50th NRL game.
• Finals Week 1 – The Storm defeat the Parramatta Eels to earn a week off and progress straight to Week 3 and a “Home” preliminary final.
• Finals Week 3 – The Storm defeat the Canberra Raiders to advance to the 2020 NRL Grand Final. Dale Finucane plays his 200th NRL Game.
• Grand final – The Storm defeat the Panthers 26-20 finishing with 11 players on the field to be crowned Premiers.

Milestone games[edit]

Fixtures[edit]

Pre-season[edit]

Source:^[17][18]

Regular season[edit]

Source:^[21]

Date	Round	Opponent	Home/away	Venue	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Tries	Goals	Field goals	Report
15 March	1	Manly Sea Eagles	Away	Lottoland, Sydney	Won	18	4	S Vunivalu (2), T Eisenhuth	C Smith 3/4		[22]
21 March	2	Cronulla Sharks	Away	Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney	Won	12	10	T Kamikamica	C Smith 4/4		[8]
30 May	3	Canberra Raiders	Home	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Lost	6	22	D Finucane	C Smith 1/1		[23]
5 June	4	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Home	AAMI Park, Melbourne	Won	22	8	R Papenhuyzen, S Vunivalu, J Addo-Carr, J Olam	C Smith 3/5		[24]
13 June	5	Newcastle Knights	Away	Central Coast Stadium, Gosford	Won	26	12	R Jacks, S Vunivalu, T Faasuamaleaui, B Smith	C Smith 5/5		[25]
19 June	6	Penrith Panthers	Away	Campbelltown Stadium, Sydney	Lost	14	21	F Kaufusi, B Lee	C Smith 3/3		[26]
26 June	7	New Zealand Warriors	Home	Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney	Won	50	6	S Vunivalu (3), P Momirovski (2), R Papenhuyzen (2), B Smith, J Addo-Carr	C Smith 7/9		[27]
2 July	8	Sydney Roosters	Home	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Won (GP)	27	25	J Hughes (2), J Addo-Carr, P Momirovski	C Smith 5/5	R Papenhuyzen 1/1	[28]
11 July	9	Canberra Raiders	Away	GIO Stadium, Canberra	Won	20	14	B Lee, J Addo-Carr, R Papenhuyzen	C Smith 4/4		[29]
17 July	10	Gold Coast Titans	Home	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast	Won	42	6	J Addo-Carr (2), N Asofa-Solomona (2), C Munster, B Lee, B Smith	C Smith 7/8		[30]
24 July	11	Brisbane Broncos	Away	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Won	46	8	J Addo-Carr (2), J Hughes (2), T Faasuamaleaui (2), K Bromwich, R Papenhuyzen	C Smith 7/9		[31]
2 August	12	Newcastle Knights	Home	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast	Won	26	16	S Vunivalu, C Smith, R Papenhuyzen, T Faasuamaleaui	C Smith 2/2, C Munster 3/4		[32]
8 August	13	Canterbury Bulldogs	Home	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast	Won	41	10	J Addo-Carr (2), K Bromwich (2), N Hynes, J Olam, S Vunivalu	C Munster 3/4, N Hynes 3/3	C Munster 1/1	[33]
13 August	14	Sydney Roosters	Away	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	Won	24	6	J Olam (2). J Hughes, F Kaufusi	R Papenhuyzen 4/5		[34]
20 August	15	Parramatta Eels	Away	Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta	Lost	0	14				[35]
30 August	16	Manly Sea Eagles	Home	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast	Won	30	6	J Olam (3), J Addo-Carr (2), N Asofa-Solomona	C Smith 3/6		[36]
4 September	17	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Away	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Won	22	16	R Papenhuyzen, J Olam, T Faasuamaleaui, C Munster	C Smith 3/4		[37]
13 September	18	North Queensland Cowboys	Home	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast	Won	36	20	C Munster (2), N Asofa-Solomona, T Faasuamaleaui, J Addo-Carr	C Smith 6/6		[38]
19 September	19	Wests Tigers	Home	Sunshine Coast Stadium, Sunshine Coast	Won	50	22	S Vunivalu (2), J Addo-Carr (2), N Hynes, J Hughes, J Olam, C Smith, T Faasuamaleaui	C Smith 7/9		[39]
27 September	20	St George-Illawarra Dragons	Away	Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney	Lost	22	30	P Momirovski, S Earl, C Lewis, I Lumelume, N Hynes	R Papenhuyzen 0/4, N Hynes 1/1		[40]

Finals[edit]

Source:^[41]

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Report
3 October	Week 1 – Qualifying Final	Parramatta Eels	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	36	24	R Papenhuyzen (2), S Vunivalu, J Addo-Carr, J Bromwich, B Lee	C Smith 6/6		[42]
16 October	Week 3 – Preliminary Final	Canberra Raiders	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	Win	30	10	J Addo-Carr, R Papenhuyzen, S Vunivalu, J Olam, D Finucane	C Smith 5/6		[43]
25 October	Week 4 – Grand Final	Penrith Panthers	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	Win	26	20	J Olam, S Vunivalu, C Smith, R Papenhuyzen	C Smith 5/6		[44]

Original regular season fixture[edit]

Source:^[45]

This was the original fixture for the Melbourne Storm prior to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the season to be altered and rescheduled.

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue
15 March	1	Manly Sea Eagles	Lottoland, Sydney
21 March	2	Cronulla Sharks	Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney
28 March	3	Penrith Panthers	AAMI Park, Melbourne
2 April	4	South Sydney Rabbitohs	AAMI Park, Melbourne
11 April	5	Gold Coast Titans	AAMI Park, Melbourne
16 April	6	North Queensland Cowboys	North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
25 April	7	New Zealand Warriors	AAMI Park, Melbourne
3 May	8	St George-Illawarra Dragons	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
11 May	9	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
16 May	10	Parramatta Eels	AAMI Park, Melbourne
26 May	11	New Zealand Warriors	Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
	12	Bye
6 June	13	Canberra Raiders	AAMI Park, Melbourne
13 June	14	Newcastle Knights	McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
26 June	15	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
3 July	16	Wests Tigers	AAMI Park, Melbourne
11 July	17	Gold Coast Titans	Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
18 July	18	Canterbury Bulldogs	HBF Park, Perth
24 July	19	Cronulla Sharks	AAMI Park, Melbourne
30 July	20	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta
6 August	21	North Queensland Cowboys	AAMI Park, Melbourne
14 August	22	Parramatta Eels	Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta
21 August	23	Sydney Roosters	AAMI Park, Melbourne
29 August	24	Brisbane Broncos	AAMI Park, Melbourne
5 September	25	Canberra Raiders	GIO Stadium, Canberra

Coaching staff[edit]

• Craig Bellamy – Head Coach^[46]
• Jason Ryles – Senior Assistant Coach
• Marc Brentnall – Assistant Coach
• Ben Jack – U/20s Head Coach
• Aaron Bellamy – Development Coach
• Ryan Hinchcliffe – Development Coach
• Frank Ponissi – Football Director
• Ryan Hoffman – Football Administration Coordinator
• Nick Maxwell – Leadership Coach
• Craig McRae – Kicking & Catching Coach
• Billy Slater – Specialist Coach (Part-time)
• Craig Hodges – Easts Tigers Feeder Club Coach
• Sam Mawhinney – Sunshine Coast Falcons Feeder Club Coach

2020 squad[edit]

List current as of 10 October 2020

Cap	Nat.	Player name	Position	First Storm game	Previous First Grade RL club [a]
55		Cameron Smith (c)	HK	2002	Melbourne Storm
119		Jesse Bromwich	PR	2010	Melbourne Storm
149		Kenny Bromwich	PR,SR,LK	2013	Melbourne Storm
160		Cameron Munster	FE,FB	2014	Melbourne Storm
163		Dale Finucane	PR,SR,LK	2015	Canterbury Bulldogs
164		Felise Kaufusi	PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
166		Nelson Asofa-Solomona	SR, PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
167		Christian Welch	SR, PR	2015	Melbourne Storm
171		Suliasi Vunivalu	WG	2016	Melbourne Storm
176		Josh Addo-Carr	WG, FB	2017	Wests Tigers
177		Ryley Jacks	FE	2017	Gold Coast Titans
181		Tui Kamikamica	SR, PR	2017	Melbourne Storm
182		Brandon Smith	HK	2017	Melbourne Storm
184		Jahrome Hughes	FE, FB	2017	North Queensland Cowboys
187		Justin Olam	WG, CE	2018	Melbourne Storm
188		Harry Grant	HK	2018	Melbourne Storm
190		Albert Vete	PR	2018	New Zealand Warriors
192		Tom Eisenhuth	SR	2019	Penrith Panthers
193		Marion Seve	WG	2019	Melbourne Storm
194		Ryan Papenhuyzen	FB	2019	Melbourne Storm
195		Sandor Earl	WG	2019	Canberra Raiders
197		Tino Fa’asuamaleaui	PR	2019	Melbourne Storm
198		Nicho Hynes	CE	2019	Melbourne Storm
199		Max King	PR	2019	Gold Coast Titans
200		Brenko Lee	CE	2020	Gold Coast Titans
201		Chris Lewis	SR	2020	Melbourne Storm
202		Paul Momirovski	CE	2020	Wests Tigers
203		Darryn Schonig	PR	2020	Melbourne Storm
204		Cooper Johns	FE	2020	Melbourne Storm
205		Isaac Lumelume	WG	2020	Melbourne Storm
206		Ricky Leutele	CT	2020	Toronto Wolfpack
207		Aaron Pene	PR	2020	Melbourne Storm
208		Aaron Booth	HK	2020	Melbourne Storm
		Daniel Atkinson	HB	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Jack Bowyer	WG	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Dean Ieremia	WG	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Trent Loiero	SR	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Kelma Tuilagi	SR	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm
		Judda Turahui	LK	Yet to debut	Melbourne Storm

2020 Premiership Team[edit]

Player movements[edit]

Source:^[47]

Representative honours[edit]

This table lists all players who have played a representative match in 2020.

Representative season changes[edit]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 representative season was rescheduled by the NRL as follows:

• State of Origin – The 2020 State of Origin Series was moved from its usual time slot in June/July to November – post NRL season.^[49]
• Internationals – All international matches were cancelled.

Statistics[edit]

This table contains playing statistics for all Melbourne Storm players to have played in the 2020 NRL season. The table is up to date as of end of the 2020 regular season, it does not include statistics from finals matches.

Statistics source:^[50]

Scorers

Most points in a game: 18 points

• Round 19 : Cameron Smith (1 Try, 7 goals) vs. West Tigers

Most tries in a game: 3

• Round 7: Suliasi Vunivalu vs. New Zealand Warriors
• Round 16: Justin Olam vs. Manly Sea Eagles

Winning games

Highest score in a winning game: 50 points

• Round 7: vs. New Zealand Warriors
• Round 19: vs. West Tigers

Lowest score in a winning game: 12 points

• Round 2: vs. Cronulla Sharks

Greatest winning margin: 46 points

• Round 7: vs. New Zealand Warriors

Greatest number of games won consecutively: 8

Losing games

Highest score in a losing game: 22 points

• Round 20 vs. St. George Illawarra Dragons

Lowest score in a losing game: 0 points

• Round 15 vs. Parramatta Eels

Greatest losing margin: 16 points

• Round 3 vs. Canberra Raiders

Jerseys[edit]

On 1 March 2020 at the Melbourne Storm family day the Storm unveiled their new jersey for 2020 which included a new major sponsor – Redzed Lending Solutions. The new jersey is predominantly navy blue and purple with fading chevrons down the front and white lightning bolts on the sides.^[51]
Throughout the season the club also wore some commemorative jerseys namely for Indigenous round also an Anzac jersey was created, but because of the suspension of the season it was not worn until June.
Also as of 13 June 2020 the Club added an embroidered V with the words “Our home Victoria” to both home and away jerseys to show support for their home state during the COVID pandemic.^[52]
There was a change in sponsorship from Round 18 onwards with Rockcote replacing TigerAir on the front of the jersey and fuelyourlife.com.au replacing Tigerair on the back, this was due the brand being retired in Australia by Virgin Australia. Both new sponsors are also sponsor of the Sunshine Coast Lightning as well.^[53][54]

Jersey choice

RD1	RD2	RD3	RD4	RD5	RD6	RD7	RD8	RD9	RD10	RD11	RD12	RD13	RD14	RD15	RD16	RD17	RD18	RD19	RD20	QF	SF	PF	GF
Clash	Home	Home	Home	Clash	Clash	ANZAC#	Home	Home	Home	Clash	Indigenous^	Home	Clash	Clash	Home	Clash	Home	Home	Home	Home	—	Home	Clash

^#The jersey designed for ANZAC Day commemorations was eventually worn against the Warriors in the Michael Moore Trophy game.
^ Designed by Ky-ya Nicholson Ward.^[55]

References[edit]