The 2011 Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm

The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....

 season was the 14th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season in first place, taking out the minor premiership

Minor premiership

A minor premiership is the name of the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the playoffs....

. They then came within one match of the grand final

Grand Final

Grand Final is a predominantly Australian sport term used to describe a match that decides a league champion.It originated in Victoria and South Australia and has become specifically significant Australian culture...

 but were knocked out by the New Zealand Warriors

New Zealand Warriors

The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...

 at AAMI Park before a ground record crowd.

Season summary

• The Storm played 9 of their first 13 games at AAMI Park.
• The Storm's 2011 season and revival commenced with their Round 1 clash with bitter rivals, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
  Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
  The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
  
  , and Melbourne won 18-6.
• In Round 5 the Storm played the Parramatta Eels
  Parramatta Eels
  The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
  
   where their original 1998 jersey was worn by the players. This match had extra significance because it was the first time that coaches Craig Bellamy and Stephen Kearney
  Stephen Kearney
  Stephen Peter Kearney, ONZM is a professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Parramatta Eels in the NRL as well as the New Zealand national team...
  
   faced off since Kearney departed the Storm as assistant at the end of 2010, to take on the Eels senior position. The Storm won convincingly, 38-0, for their first win over Parramatta since the 2009 Grand Final.
• The Anzac Day clash saw one of the Storm's largest home crowds with just over 22,000 attending the match, but the match was lost to the New Zealand Warriors
  New Zealand Warriors
  The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
  
   by a narrow scoreline of 18-14.
• In Round 12 the Storm hosted the Cronulla Sharks at AAMI Park, in what was Cameron Smith
  Cameron Smith
  Cameron Smith is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently captains the Melbourne Storm of the National Rugby League...
  
  's 200th NRL Game. The storm won 14-8 after a scoreless first half.
• In Round 19 the Storm travelled to Canberra Stadium
  Canberra Stadium
  Canberra Stadium is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia...
  
   to take on the Raiders. The Storm won 26-0; the scoreline was significant because it marked the first time in the Raiders history that they had been held scoreless on their own home ground.
• In Round 20 the Storm hosted the Brisbane Broncos
  Brisbane Broncos
  The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...
  
   at AAMI Park almost 23,000 spectators attended the match which the Storm won 26 - 6. Cameron Smith notched up his 500th goal during this match, also the team wore a special jersey which was mostly Navy blue with a large grey and white V on the front, it also had the word "Melbourne" printed across the upper back. This jersey was to symbolise Victoria following the City of Melbourne's sponsorship of the match.
• Round 21 saw the Storm stage a remarkable win away at Parramatta Stadium by coming back from 18 - 0 down at the 54 minute mark to win 22 - 18.
• In Round 24 the Storm broke their winning streak record defeating the St George Illawarra Dragons 8-6 to win their 12th consecutive match. They also had their highest home crowd of the season and their 4th highest home crowd of all time, with 24,081 watching the match. Billy Slater also played his 200th game.
• The Melbourne Storm
  Melbourne Storm
  The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
  
   completed the regular season in first place winning the minor premiership.
• Billy Slater was crowned Dally M Player of the Year
  Dally M Medal
  The Dally M Medal is the premier individual award in the Australian rugby league competition, which is given to the player voted by sports commentators as the best and fairest in the competition for that year....
  
   at the Dally M Awards
  Dally M Awards
  The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. The most prestigious of these awards is the Dally M Medal which is only ever awarded to Australian born Players...
  
   on 6 September 2011. Craig Bellamy also won coach of the year and Cameron Smith won the Representative player of the year award.
• The Storm qualified for the 2011 NRL finals series
  2011 NRL season
  The 2011 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth run by the National Rugby League. The NRL's main championship, called the 2011 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, was contested by sixteen teams for the...
  
   and played the Newcastle Knights
  Newcastle Knights
  The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
  
   in Week 1, winning 18-8. This win gave them a one week break and a home Preliminary Final against the New Zealand Warriors
  New Zealand Warriors
  The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
  
  . The Storm lost this final 20-12 ending their season.

Jersey and Sponsors

In 2011 the Storm jerseys are again made by Kooga KooGa KooGa is an Australia-based rugby apparel company. It was established in December 1999. The company is headquartered in Labrador on the Gold Coast of Queensland, with other Australian offices as well as a UK office in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.... . They retain their predominantly purple home jersey from 2010 (far left) and also their predoninantly white away jersey from 2010 (near left). Special Jerseys For the NRL Heritage round, (Round 5), the Storm wore a replica of their original 1998 jersey (far right). In Round 20 the Storm wore a special "Platinum" jersey against the Brisbane Broncos. On 4 February 2011 Crown Casino Crown Casino Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex is a large casino and entertainment precinct located on the south bank of the Yarra River, in Melbourne, Australia. Crown Casino is a unit of Crown Limited....  was named the naming rights sponsor of the Storm in 2011 and chest sponsor on the jersey. Suzuki Suzuki is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu, Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles and 4x4 vehicles, a full range of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles , outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines...  is also continuing as major sponsors as well with their name appearing on the sleeves. There is no sponsorship on the back of the jersey. Makita Makita Makita Corporation is a Japanese power tool company founded in 1915, and based in Anjō, Japan. Makita is a manufacturer of professional and consumer power tools, and operates factories in Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Romania, UK and USA. Annual turnover is equivalent to US$1.8 billion.-...  also announced a continuation of their sponsorship and their name will continue to appear on the shorts.

Melbourne Storm 2011 season crowd averages

	Total Crowd	Total Games	Crowd Average
Home	170,932	12	14,244
Away	172,966	12	14,414
All regular season games	343,898	24	14,329
Finals	43,415	2	21,707
All Games	387,313	26	14,897

Regular season - Rounds 1 to 12

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Regular season - Rounds 13 to 26

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Finals

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Ladders

2011 squad

Although other players may play for the Melbourne Storm during the year, all NRL clubs are required to select a top 25 First Grade squad at the beginning of the season.

Source: Storm 2011 Squad