1999 Melbourne Storm season

The 1999 Melbourne Storm season was the second in the club's history. Coached by Chris Anderson and captained by Glenn Lazarus, they competed in the National Rugby League's 1999 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 3rd out of 17 teams. Melbourne reached the 1999 NRL grand final and defeated the St George Illawarra Dragons, claiming their first premiership.

Stability in playing talent and continued off-field support from Melbourne's core supporters, produced a continued improvement in 1999. Injury took away Scott Hill and Robbie Kearns for much of the season. Melbourne's fullback Robbie Ross, winger Matt Geyer and front-row forwards Rodney Howe and Glenn Lazarus were all selected to play for New South Wales in the 1999 State of Origin series.

In their final home game at Olympic Park, Melbourne Storm lost to the North Sydney Bears and having had a bye in the last round and they had no opportunity to lift their form before fronting the St. George Illawarra Dragons in their first final. The Storm ultimately lost this game to the Dragons by 34-10 and looked set for a repeat of the 1998 exit.

Despite lacking confidence, Melbourne Storm managed to outlast the Canterbury Bulldogs by 24-22 to reach the preliminary final against Parramatta Eels. The Eels had let a place in the Grand Final slip out of their grasp in the same match in 1998, and were tipped to be much hungrier for a win than the Storm. Parramatta took a hold on the match, but the Storm did not relent and thanks to some last-ditch tackling stayed in the game. A late try to the Storm saw them win by 18-16 and secure a re-match against the Dragons for the title.

The Storm had lost twice to the Dragons already in 1999 and by the time Melbourne was behind by 0-14 at half time, it was more than apparent that St. George - Illawarra were going to take the premiership in their first ever season. There was nothing in the Storm's performance to indicate that a come back was possible.

But Melbourne Storm recovered from their poor start with inspiring efforts from Paul Marquet, Brett Kimmorley and Tawera Nikau. Into the final minutes of the game the Dragons led 18-14 but were forced to drop out from their own line. On the fifth tackle Kimmorley kicked high into the Dragons' corner. As the Storm's winger Craig Smith caught the ball over the try-line he was knocked unconscious in a head high tackle by Jamie Ainscough and lost the ball.

Referee Bill Harrigan deferred to the video referee and the replay clearly showed that if not for the illegal tackle Smith would have scored a try. A penalty try was awarded giving the Storm's Matt Geyer a conversion from in front of the posts to take Melbourne Storm to a 20-18 lead and the title. ^[1]

Draw and Results

^[2]

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Cronulla	24	18	0	6	2	586	332	+254	40
2	Parramatta	24	17	0	7	2	500	294	+206	38
3	Melbourne	24	16	0	8	2	639	392	+247	36
4	Sydney City	24	16	0	8	2	592	377	+215	36
5	Canterbury	24	15	1	8	2	520	462	+58	35
6	St. George Illawarra	24	15	0	9	2	588	416	+172	34
7	Newcastle	24	14	1	9	2	575	484	+91	33
8	Brisbane	24	13	2	9	2	510	368	+142	32
9	Canberra	24	13	1	10	2	618	439	+179	31
10	Penrith	24	11	1	12	2	492	428	+64	27
11	Auckland	24	10	0	14	2	538	498	+40	24
12	South Sydney	24	10	0	14	2	349	556	-207	24
13	Manly	24	9	1	14	2	454	623	-169	23
14	North Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	490	642	-152	20
15	Balmain	24	8	0	16	2	345	636	-291	20
16	North Queensland	24	4	1	19	2	398	588	-190	13
17	Western Suburbs	24	3	0	21	2	285	944	-659	10

Finals series details

Qualifying final 4 September 1999

St. George Illawarra Dragons	34 - 10 [3]	Melbourne Storm
Tries: Blacklock (3) Ainscough McGregor Wishart Goals: Bartrim 4/4 Mackay 1/2		Tries: Kearney Moule Goals: Geyer 1/3

Olympic Park Stadium Attendance: 15,653 Referee/s: Bill Harrigan

Semi final 12 September 1999

Melbourne Storm	24 - 22 [4]	Canterbury Bulldogs
Tries: Geyer (2) Bai Ross Goals: Smith 4/5		Tries: El Masri Hughes Sherwin Silva Goals: Halligan 3/4

Sydney Football Stadium Attendance: 20,075 Referee/s: Steve Clark

Preliminary final 18 September 1999

Melbourne Storm	18 - 16 [5]	Parramatta Eels
Tries: Kimmorley Moule Swain Goals: Smith 3/3		Tries: Kelly Wagon Goals: Schifcofske 4/5

Sydney Football Stadium Attendance: 27,555 Referee/s: Bill Harrigan

Grand Final 26 September 1999

Melbourne Storm	20 - 18 [6]	St. George Illawarra Dragons
Tries: Martin Roarty Smith Goals: Smith 3/4 Geyer 1/1		Tries: Blacklock Fitzgibbon McGregor Goals: Bartrim 2/3 Fitzgibbon 1/1

Stadium Australia Attendance: 107,558 Referee/s: Bill Harrigan

Awards and honours

Team

• NRL Premiership (1st)

Individual

• Clive Churchill Medal: Brett Kimmorley
• Player of the year: Brett Kimmorley^[7]
• Rookie of the year: Matt Rua

References