Melbourne Storm

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Founded in 1998, Melbourne Storm is the only Melbourne-based club in the National Rugby League (NRL).

In 1999, Melbourne won eight of their first eleven games, and went on to make the finals in third position on the premiership ladder. The team was beaten convincingly 34–10 in the quarter final by St. George Illawarra, but came from behind in both the Semi Final and Preliminary Final to make the Grand Final.

Melbourne faced St. George Illawarra in the 1999 Grand Final; St. George Illawarra were favourites due to comfortably defeating Melbourne just 3 weeks earlier. When St. George were ahead 14–0 at half time and Melbourne seemed down and out, 2 tries to Melbourne put the score line at 18–14 in favour of St. George Illawarra with only 15 minutes remaining.

With 3 minutes left on the clock Melbourne winger Craig Smith was knocked out by a high tackle which caused him to lose the ball over the try line. In a historic video refereeing decision, a penalty try was awarded and Melbourne's Matt Geyer kicked the goal that won Melbourne the 1999 Grand final.

Between 2003 and 2005, Melbourne made the finals under coach Craig Bellamy, but lost games in the Semi Finals preventing them from making the Grand Final.

In 2006, the Melbourne team won their first minor premiership for being on top of the NRL ladder. Melbourne only lost 4 games in the season making them outright leaders by 4 wins. They went on to win their 2 finals matches and go on to the Grand Final. But in the Grand Final, against the Brisbane Broncos, they lost 8–15 to make them runners up despite being favourites for the title.

In 2007, they played as they did in 2006, once again finishing on top after 25 rounds. In the first week of the NRL Finals, Melbourne played Brisbane, in which Melbourne won 40-0, securing a spot in a Preliminary Final.

In the Preliminary Final Melbourne came up against Parramatta. It was tied 10-10 at half time, before a superb second half by Melbourne, finishing the game 26-10. The win was particularly satisfying for Melbourne fans, coming soon after Paramatta CEO Denis Fitzgerald saying that rugby league should not be promoted in Melbourne. Melbourne ended up drawing a larger crowd than Manly's Preliminary Final.

Melbourne comprehensively defeated Manly 34-8 in the 2007 NRL Grand Final. The 2007 season for the Melbourne Storm has been the most successful ever year of all time for a Premiership winning side in Rugby League, with the team losing only 3 games.

Interesting Fact:
Originally, the club favoured the name Melbourne Mavericks with a gunslinger logo holding a fistful of aces. The club officials were all set to go with this until News Limited's Lachlan Murdoch told them to go with something else because the Mavericks sounded too American. CEO Chris Johns and John Ribot decided to go with the themes lightning, power and storm. The club then became known as the Melbourne Storm.

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