History against favourites Storm in title surge
MELBOURNE may have reached the magical 20-win mark but history says that’s far from an NRL title guarantee.
The Storm enter the finals series as prohibitive $1.85 title favourites after dominating to become just the 10th team to rack up 20 wins in a single season. However, of the six teams who remain in the history books for having passed the coveted mark, only two converted it into premierships.
Manly in 1983, Parramatta in 2001, and Manly and Canberra in 1995 all notched 20 victories but fell in the finals, according to Fox Sports Stats.
Only super coach Jack Gibson’s 1982 Parramatta and 1975 Eastern Suburbs Roosters sides achieved the feat and went on to win the grand final.
Another three teams – Melbourne in 2006 and 2007, and Canterbury in 2002 – reached 20 wins but were stripped of points or premierships for salary cap cheating.
“We’re not going into this week or this finals campaign thinking ‘who are we going to meet in the grand final?’ or ‘who’s going to beat us for this premiership?’ – it’s not about that at all,” says Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith.
“To have 20 wins in this competition, it’s a pretty remarkable achievement. We know we’ve got a talented football side.
“The task now is to go out and play our best football for the remaining four weeks.”
The Storm can advance to within one game of a second successive grand final appearance with victory over Parramatta at AAMI tomorrow afternoon.
While Craig Bellamy’s 2017 Storm team have strong claims to being one of the greatest club sides of all time, it will count for little unless they can lift the Provan-Summons Trophy on the first Sunday in October. Park