Storm maintains round one winning streak
MELBOURNE has kept alive its remarkable Round 1 record, winning its NRL season opener for the 14th straight year.
The Storm kick-started its premiership defence with a Cameron Munster-led 36-18 dismantling of Canterbury in Perth on Saturday night.
Under Craig Bellamy, the Storm has amassed an incredible firstround record that has seen them win their season opener every year dat- ing back to 2005. “For the last few years we’ve made a point of it,” Bellamy said. “I wasn’t sure how many it was and Cam made the point after the game that it was 14 straight.
“I think that’s a bit of an indication of how hard our guys work in the off-season. Our pre-season we see as pretty important and we like to think players get a pre-season at our club, they’re going to be well prepared for the season.
“That rang true tonight and it’s something we’re quite proud of.”
While several teams have looked scratchy over the opening weekend, the Storm hit the ground running despite Billy Slater missing what would have been his 300th game due to a shoulder injury.
Its previous season-opening loss was against Newcastle back in 2004 and even then it came in Round 2 because of a Round 1 bye.
According to Fox Sports statistics, since their entry into the competition in 1998, the Storm has lost just twice in round one — in 2000 and 2001. There were some worrying signs early when Raymond FaitalaMariner scored in the Bulldogs’ second set of the game. However, they composed themselves and were by far the better team for the final 60 minutes.
“We’re not a club that has a mindset of wanting to build into the competition, we want to start the very best we can,” skipper Cameron Smith said.
“You don’t want to be round 10 and 5-5 or anywhere around that percentage ... Particularly when you’re away, to give you a nice stepping stone into the back half of the year, especially if you’re losing guys to representative football.”