2008 Melbourne Storm season

The 2008 Melbourne Storm season was the 11th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2008 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season as minor premiers before reaching the grand final in which they were beaten by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 40-0, the largest margin in grand final history. The minor premiership won by the Storm in 2008 was later stripped by the NRL in 2010 when it was revealed the club had been in breach of salary cap rules.

Despite losing seven games, Storm managed to finish in top spot on the NRL ladder for a third successive season. They had to wait until the final game to do it though, defeating South Sydney 42-4. A loss to the Warriors in the Qualifying final meant Storm had to do it the hard way and they did just that, defeating the Broncos and Sharks on the road. That tough road eventually caught up with Melbourne in the decider, which they lost to Manly.

Matt Geyer became the first Storm player to reach 250 games while Billy Slater followed on from Cameron Smith the previous year, earning the Golden boot award as the best player in the world. ^[1]

Games

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	17	0	7	2	584	282	+302	38
2	Manly-Warringah	24	17	0	7	2	645	355	+290	38
3	Cronulla	24	17	0	7	2	451	384	+67	38
4	Sydney Roosters	24	15	0	9	2	511	446	+65	34
5	Brisbane	24	14	1	9	2	560	452	+108	33
6	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	640	527	+113	30
7	St. George Illawarra	24	13	0	11	2	489	378	+111	30
8	New Zealand	24	13	0	11	2	502	567	-65	30
9	Newcastle	24	12	0	12	2	516	486	+30	28
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	528	560	-32	26
11	Parramatta	24	11	0	13	2	501	547	-46	26
12	Penrith	24	10	1	13	2	504	611	-107	25
13	Gold Coast	24	10	0	14	2	476	586	-110	24
14	South Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	453	666	-213	20
15	North Queensland	24	5	0	19	2	474	638	-164	14
16	Bulldogs	24	5	0	19	2	433	782	-349	14

2008 Coaching Staff

• Craig Bellamy - Head Coach
• Michael Maguire- Assistant Coach
• Stephen Kearney- Assistant Coach
• Matthew Johns- Halves Coach
• Brad Arthur – U/20s Coach
• Frank Ponissi - Football Director
• Alex Corvo -Strength and Conditioning

2008 Squad

No.	Nat.	Player	Pos	First match with Club	Previous club
18		Matt Geyer	WG	1998	Perth Reds
55		Cameron Smith (c)	HK	2002	Melbourne Storm
58		Dallas Johnson	LK	2003	Melbourne Storm
60		Billy Slater	FB	2003	Melbourne Storm
62		Ryan Hoffman	SR,LK	2003	Melbourne Storm
68		Antonio Kaufusi	PR	2003	Melbourne Storm
72		Steve Turner	WG	2004	Penrith Panthers
73		Cooper Cronk	HB	2004	Melbourne Storm
74		Jeremy Smith	LK	2004	Melbourne Storm
76		Brett White	PR	2005	Melbourne Storm
79		Greg Inglis	CE	2005	Melbourne Storm
83		Michael Crocker	SR	2006	Sydney Roosters
86		Adam Blair	PR	2006	Melbourne Storm
90		Jeff Lima	PR	2006	Melbourne Storm
92		Israel Folau	WG	2007	Melbourne Storm
93		Anthony Quinn	WG	2007	Newcastle Knights
95		Sam Tagataese	PR	2007	Melbourne Storm
96		Russell Aitken	HK	2007	Cronulla Sharks
97		Scott Anderson	PR	2007	Melbourne Storm
98		Will Chambers	CE	2007	Melbourne Storm
99		Sika Manu	SR	2007	Melbourne Storm
101		Clifford Manua	PR	2008	Brisbane Broncos
102		Aiden Tolman	PR	2008	Melbourne Storm
103		Brett Anderson	WG	2008	North Queensland Cowboys
104		Liam Foran	HB	2008	Melbourne Storm
105		Dane Nielsen	CE	2008	Cronulla Sharks
106		Kevin Proctor	SR	2008	Melbourne Storm
107		Sam Joe	WG	2008	Melbourne Storm
108		Joseph Tomane	WG	2008	Melbourne Storm
109		Sinbad Kali	SR	2008	Melbourne Storm
-		Aidan Guerra	SR	Yet to Debut	Melbourne Storm
-		Lucas Miller	FE	Yet to Debut	Melbourne Storm

Awards

References