After one of the rockiest starts to a season in the franchise’s modern history, the Melbourne Storm is steadily climbing back into NRL finals contention, putting every other top-eight side on high alert. Once written off by league analysts and fans following a catastrophic seven-match losing skid that left many questioning whether the Storm’s 20-year dynastic run had finally come to a close, the club has turned a corner in recent weeks, and its veteran core says nothing is off the table.
The Storm currently sit six points adrift of the eighth and final finals spot, having already conceded more points through 13 rounds than many full previous campaigns. A humiliating 50-10 round five defeat to reigning premiers Penrith Panthers seemed to seal their fate – no first-grade side in Australian rugby league history has ever conceded 50 points in a single game and gone on to win the premiership that season. Compounding the Storm’s early struggles were key injuries to star playmakers Eli Katoa and Xavier Coates, plus widespread growing pains adapting to the NRL’s new rule changes, which left the usually consistent side uncharacteristically disorganized on both sides of the ball.
But the tide has turned dramatically for Craig Bellamy’s side: the Storm have notched three wins from their past four outings, and face a make-or-break home clash this Friday against the Newcastle Knights. A victory this weekend would catapult them right back into the top-eight conversation, coming just ahead of their first bye of the 2024 season. Veteran prop Josh King, the club’s long-time locker room voice, says the squad retains unshakable belief that a deep run is still within reach.
“I have so much belief in this team, and the possibilities are endless,” King said. “The season isn’t written off by any means. The ladder is quite tight, and you don’t really see it settle into place until after the Origin period. Some teams have already had two byes, but we haven’t had a bye yet, so we’ll certainly keep on fighting each week.”
Rather than fixating on the distant goal of qualifying for September football, King says the club has refocused on the core fundamentals that made them the most dominant force in the NRL over the past two decades. He pointed to the club’s round nine loss to the Dolphins as the unheralded turning point of the season – even in defeat, the Storm rediscovered the aggressive, clinical style of play that defined their premiership runs.
“I think at the moment for us, it’s about each week at a time and really making sure we’re building on our performances and every week we can be proud of our performance,” King explained. “I reckon it’s not that we’re trying any harder, or that we’ve explored completely new things – but rugby league has so many moving parts, and you often shift your focus to the wrong areas. After the Dolphins game, we started putting our focus back into some areas that we dominated last year that we’d slipped on without even noticing. Even though we lost that game, it was one of our best performances of the year. We went back to the drawing board, dusted off the systems that worked for us before, and we’ve been a really competitive side ever since.”
Emerging talent is also carrying the Storm through their resurgence: five-eighth Cameron Munster has steadily returned to his elite best form, while young homegrown winger Sua Fa’alogo has emerged as a offensive weapon, turning in a best-on-ground performance in last week’s win over the Sydney Roosters.
Winger Will Warbrick echoed King’s confidence, noting that while the seven-game losing streak was uncharted territory for a club accustomed to consistent top-four finishes, the squad refused to panic. He pointed to precedent of other great NRL sides clawing their way out of slow starts to make deep September runs: the Panthers stumbled to a 3-7 record in 2023 before nearly reaching the grand final, while the 1999 Brisbane Broncos won just one of their first 10 matches before recovering to sneak into the top eight and win the premiership.
“Yeah, we lost seven in a row, but the biggest thing for us was trying to not panic and have doubt and to then maintain belief in the playing group with the way we wanted to play,” Warbrick said. “There are a few things we’ve needed to tweak and improve on, but I think as long as everyone is on the same page with what we’re trying to do, the belief is still strong. One win sometimes helps with building that confidence back up and getting us back on track. The destination’s not the worry. It’s probably more what works for us this week to help us win and just being able to do that and back that up.”
With momentum building and key players returning to form, the once-left-for-dead Storm are now just one big win away from putting genuine pressure on the sides clinging to the top eight, and are on track to pull off one of the most remarkable mid-season turnarounds in modern NRL history.