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.

1999 Melbourne Storm season
NRL Rank	3rd
Play-off result	Premiers
1999 record	Wins: 16; Draws: 0; Losses: 8
Points scored	For: 639; Against: 392
Team information
CEO	John Ribot
Coach	Chris Anderson
Captain	Glenn Lazarus (26 Games) Tawera Nikau (2 Games)
Stadium	Olympic Park Stadium
Top scorers
Tries	Matt Geyer (20), Robbie Ross (20)
Goals	Matt Geyer (81)
Points	Matt Geyer (242)
< 1998 List of seasons 2000 >

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, the 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,[1] Melbourne Storm outlasted 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.[2] There was nothing in the Storm's performance to indicate that a comeback was possible.[3]

But Melbourne Storm recovered from their poor start with inspiring[4] 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.[5]

Fixtures

[6]

Regular season

Round	Opponent	Result	Mel.	Opp.	Date	Venue
1	Penrith Panthers	Win	32	10	5 Mar	Olympic Park
2	Balmain Tigers	Loss	6	16	13 Mar	Leichhardt Oval
3	Brisbane Broncos	Win	48	6	21 Mar	QE2 Stadium
4	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	26	17	26 Mar	Olympic Park
5	Cronulla Sharks	Loss	16	20	4 Apr	Olympic Park
6	Auckland Warriors	Win	38	10	9 Apr	Mt Smart Stadium
7	Parramatta Eels	Loss	14	26	17 Apr	Parramatta Stadium
8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Win	52	6	24 Apr	Olympic Park
9	Brisbane Broncos	Win	28	18	2 May	Olympic Park
10	Wests Tigers	Win	62	6	8 May	Lathlain Park
11	Manly Sea Eagles	Win	28	6	15 May	Olympic Park
12	Bye
13	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Loss	16	28	28 May	Olympic Park
14	Canberra Raiders	Loss	6	26	4 Jun	Bruce Stadium
15	Newcastle Knights	Loss	26	27	12 Jun	Hunter Stadium
16	Sydney City Roosters	Win	26	8	18 Jun	Olympic Park
17	Manly Sea Eagles	Win	19	18	27 Jun	Brookvale Oval
18	Parramatta Eels	Loss	6	20	2 Jul	Olympic Park
19	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	24	20	10 Jul	Stadium Australia
20	Canberra Raiders	Win	30	10	16 Jul	Olympic Park
21	Cronulla Sharks	Win	26	18	25 Jul	Toyota Park
22	Auckland Warriors	Win	16	14	1 Aug	Olympic Park
23	North Queensland Cowboys	Win	30	24	7 Aug	Dairy Farmers Stadium
24	Wests Tigers	Win	44	14	15 Aug	Olympic Park
25	North Sydney Bears	Loss	20	24	22 Aug	North Sydney Oval
26	Bye

Finals

Qualifying final 4 September 1999

St. George Illawarra Dragons	34 - 10 [7]	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: Bill Harrigan

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Semi final 12 September 1999

Melbourne Storm	24 - 22 [8]	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: Steve Clark

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Preliminary final 18 September 1999

Melbourne Storm	18 - 16 [9]	Parramatta Eels
Tries: Kimmorley Moule Swain Goals: Smith 3/3		Tries: Kelly Wagon Goals: Schifcofske 4/5

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

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Grand Final 26 September 1999

Melbourne Storm	20 - 18 [10]	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: Bill Harrigan

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

1999 Squad

List current as of 3 June 2017

(a) - This column denotes the previous RL club the player was signed to and played first grade RL for. If they are yet to debut then this is stipulated. If they were merely signed to the club but did not play then it is not counted.

Cap	Nat.	Player name	Position	First Melbourne Storm Game	Previous First Grade RL club (a)
1		Marcus Bai	WG	1998	Gold Coast Chargers
2		Russell Bawden	PR	1998	Brisbane Broncos
3		Paul Bell	CE	1998	Perth Reds
5		Scott Hill	FE	1998	Hunter Mariners
6		Rodney Howe	PR	1998	Perth Reds
7		Robbie Kearns	PR	1998	Perth Reds
8		Brett Kimmorley	HB	1998	Hunter Mariners
9		Glenn Lazarus	PR	1998	Brisbane Broncos
10		Paul Marquet	PR,SR	1998	Hunter Mariners
11		Aaron Moule	WG,CE	1998	South Queensland Crushers
12		Tawera Nikau	LK	1998	Cronulla Sharks
13		Ben Roarty	PR,SR,LK	1998	Melbourne Storm
14		Robbie Ross	FB	1998	Hunter Mariners
15		Craig Smith	WG	1998	Melbourne Storm
16		Richard Swain	HK	1998	Hunter Mariners
17		Danny Williams	LK, SR, HK	1998	North Sydney Bears
18		Matt Geyer	WG	1998	Perth Reds
19		Ben Anderson	FE	1998	Melbourne Storm
20		Wayne Evans	SR	1998	Perth Reds
21		Tony Martin	WG, CE	1998	London Broncos
23		Wade Fenton	SR, PR	1998	Melbourne Storm
24		John Wilshere	CE	1998	Perth Reds
25		Daniel Frame	PR,SR	1998	Perth Reds
26		Matt Rua	PR,SR	1998	Melbourne Storm
28		Stephen Kearney	SR	1999	New Zealand Warriors
29		Aseri Laing	WG	1999	Western Suburbs Magpies
30		Tasesa Lavea	FE	1999	Melbourne Storm
31		Brad Watts	FB	1999	Melbourne Storm
32		Brett O'Farrell	PR	1999	Melbourne Storm

1999 Premiership Team

Melbourne Storm

1999 Premiership Team						Interchange		Coach
1 Robbie Ross - FB  2 Craig Smith - WG  3 Aaron Moule - CE  4 Tony Martin - CE  5 Marcus Bai - WG  6 Matt Geyer - FE  7 Brett Kimmorley - HB  8 Glenn Lazarus (c) - PR  9 Richard Swain - HK 10 Rodney Howe - PR 11 Stephen Kearney - SR 12 Paul Marquet - SR 13 Tawera Nikau - LK						14 Matt Rua 15 Russell Bawden 16 Ben Roarty 17 Danny Williams		Head coach Chris Anderson Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice captain(s)

Awards and honours

Trophy Cabinet

• 1999 Provan-Summons Trophy

Individual

• Clive Churchill Medal: Brett Kimmorley
• Melbourne Storm Player of the Year- Brett Kimmorley[11]
• Melbourne Storm Rookie of the Year- Matt Rua
• Melbourne Storm Rookie of the Year: Matt King
• Melbourne Storm Clubman of the Year: Paul Marquet
• Mick Moore Chairmans Award of the Year: Glenn Lazarus

References

1. "Melbourne Storm History". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
2. "Melbourne Storm History". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
3. "Melbourne Storm History". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
4. "Melbourne Storm History". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
5. "Melbourne Storm History". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
6. http://stats.rleague.com/rl/teams/melbourne/melbourne_by.html#1999
7. NRL 1999 - Qualifying Final. Rugby League Project. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
8. NRL 1999 - Semi Final. Rugby League Project. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
9. NRL 1999 - Preliminary Final. Rugby League Project. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
10. NRL 1999 - Grand Final. Rugby League Project. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
11. "NRL Honour Board". melbournestorm.com.au. Melbourne Storm. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2014.