This week in Storm history | August 25 - 31
August 25
2011: The NRL, in conjunction with the RL Professionals Association unveil the game’s inaugural “Academic Team of the Year”. The team Includes Melbourne’s Bryan Norrie.
2013: Ruthless Melbourne Storm send Parramatta crashing to a 64-4 defeat at AAMI Park. It is the second time in a month that the Storm have rattled up 60 points, following their 68-4 demolition of the Canberra Raiders.
2015: The Gold Coast grant prop Matt White an early release from the final year of his contract in order for him to join Melbourne Storm.
August 26
2011: The top-of-the-ladder clash between Manly and Melbourne explodes at Brookvale Oval as players trade blows in a wild brawl before forwards Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair are sent from the field after resuming hostilities on their way to the sin bin. Manly win the match 18-4 to end the Storm’s 12-game winning streak but pay a high price with the loss of Test winger David Williams with a fractured vertebra. Ten players are cited and seven are suspended for a total of 15 matches. Blair cops the longest suspension – five weeks – which means he will not play for the Storm again before his move to Wests Tigers in 2012.
2015: Storm fullback Billy Slater inks a new two-year deal with the club.
2016: Melbourne Storm allow an opportunity to seal the minor premiership slip when they are upset 26-16 by Brisbane at AAMI Park.
2017: South Sydney’s bleak record in Melbourne takes a turn for the worse when they are annihilated 64-6 by the Storm at AAMI Park. It is the Rabbitohs’ 14th consecutive loss to the Storm in Melbourne.
August 27
2005: The Wests Tigers’ eight-game winning streak comes to an end at Olympic Park where the Tigers are beaten 34-22 by Melbourne
2007: Melbourne recruitment manager Peter O’Sullivan tells Matthew Johns that Storm rookie Israel Folau will be better than Mal Meninga.
2008: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that NRL boss David Gallop has held secret talks with Melbourne star Greg Inglis to ensure he does not follow Mark Gasnier and Sonny Bill Williams to rugby union.
2011: Former Melbourne Storm players Brett Finch, Jeff Lima and Ryan Hoffman share in Wigan’s 28-18 triumph over Leeds in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
2012: Storm score two tries in the final three minutes to achieve a remarkable 20-18 victory over Cronulla after a mistake-riddled performance at AAMI Park.
August 28
2000: Melbourne and the Bulldogs plan to play their first match of the 2001 season in Hong Kong.
2011: Melbourne fullback Billy Slater is praised for cradling the head of Manly winger David Williams after he suffered a serious neck injury at Brookvale Oval. “The situation could be very different for the Wolfman is it wasn’t for Billy,” said Manly CEO David Perry.
August 29
1999: Storm halfback Brett Kimmorley agrees to a new three-year deal with the club.
August 30
1998: Brad Fittler steers Sydney City to a 26-12 defeat of Melbourne in a preliminary qualifier at Olympic Park.
2007: Melbourne’s rookie sensation Israel Folau tells the Daily Telegraph he will walk away from the game for two years to pursue a Mormon mission overseas.
August 31
2017: The Melbourne Storm announce they have locked try scoring machines Suliasi Vunivalu and Josh Addo-Carr into long-term deals. Vunivalu re-signs until 2020 and Addo-Carr until 2021.
2019: Manly are dealt a body blow in their Round 24 clash with Melbourne at Lottoland when star fullback Tom Trbojevic suffers a season-ending pectoral tear. Making matters worse, the Sea Eagles slip from the top four after a 36-6 loss. On a dramatic night, a Sea Eagles fan is ejected from the ground after clashing with Storm centre Will Chambers in the players’ tunnel after Chambers had been sent to the sin bin. Manly winger Jorge Taufua wins a legion of new fans when his pile-driving tackle on unsuspecting Melbourne five-eighth Cameron Munster goes viral on American sports website Bleacher Report. The result seals the minor premiership for the Storm.
