Inside the gruelling pre-season camp driving Melbourne Storm’s NRL success

For the last 10-years, the Melbourne Storm have spent two weeks in Geelong for a gruelling pre-season camp, and the results speak for themselves. Skipper Harry Grant opens up on his time in the trenches.

Ryan Papenhuyzen during Melbourne Storm’s pre-season training camp at Torquay beach. Picture: David Geraghty

Five days after returning from a long holiday and Harry Grant is in the trenches, he reckons.

He’s exhausted. It’s day four of Melbourne Storm’s annual two-week long camp in Geelong, and training started at 6am that morning.

It’s 1pm when we speak, and he’s still got a weights session, a team meeting and other assorted camp appointments before he can finally crash later in the night and do it all again the next day.

It’s mentally and physically taxing, but that’s standard of any NRL pre-season these days.

Still, after an off-season trip to Bali and time spent with family, it’s a shock to the system for the Queensland and Australian star so soon after returning to work.

(L-R) Mitch Jennings, Sualauvi Faalogo, Eliesa Katoa, Ativalu Lisati, Setu Tu and Harry Grant during Melbourne Storm’s pre-season training camp at Torquay beach. Picture: David Geraghty

“You can sort of go into this camp kicking stones, thinking about how much work you’re going to get done, but I choose to enjoy it.

“There’s 6am skills sessions, you’re doing three or four different sessions in the day, every day, and then meetings at night.

“But the staff here do such a good job of preparing us and having everything ready for when we need to train or when we need to sit in a meeting so we can get the best out of everything.

“You have to make sure you attack the two weeks and it puts you on a clear path as a player and as a playing group for the year ahead.”

The captain is not alone. At the end of this camp, which is the 10th anniversary of the annual gruelling two-week stay at Geelong Grammar School, around 150 Storm players will have passed through the grounds, including NRL, development squads and junior and senior academy hopefuls.

They bunk in the school boarding houses, use the same field and gym and eat every meal together.

It’s quality bonding time. It’s hard yakka. It works.

BIG THREE IMPACT

As captain, Grant’s attitude sets the tone for the entire club.

After losing last year’s grand final to Penrith, there’s a renewed drive.

And the expectations are high again for 2025. They have not lost a season-opening game since 2001, and have made six grand finals in the past 14 years.

They haven’t missed a finals series in that time either.

The foundations for that success started with Craig Bellamy back in 2003, but this camp has raised the bar again.

In the decade since it started they’ve made five grand finals, including three in a row from 2016 to 2018, the first three years of the program.

Long-time football manager Frank Ponissi recalls the 2017 camp and how Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater created standards they now measure every player with.

“In those early years, they really set the definition of what a Melbourne Storm player is and since they put that together, we continue each year to drive it with all the teams,” he says.

“That January, those three really identified and defined what a Melbourne Storm player is and the expectations.

“It was their last year together, and they created that legacy we still drive today.”

That camp was Grant’s first as a Storm player, and nine years later he’s upholding the standards set by his mentors on those fields.

Melbourne General Manager Football Frank Ponissi recalls how the Big Three of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater helped create the standards still driving success at the Storm. Picture: Getty Images

CROSS CODE ASSIST

Each year the senior players put their own stamp on the pre-season.

Grant adds fun where he can.

“You’re going to work every day as a footy player, so it’s pretty good. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, everything’s done for you so I don’t think it’s the hardest thing to do,” he says.

“Obviously it’s physically hard, mentally hard at times, but there’s also a lot of fun that comes with it.”

This is his second year in the job and he’s always looking for ways to improve and reassurance he’s doing all right.

Earlier this week he visited the Geelong Cats leadership group at Kardinia Park, along with senior players including vice captains Jahrome Hughes and Cameron Munster.

They met with decorated captain Patrick Dangerfield and vice-captain Tom Stewart.

“You don’t always have the answers yourself, so just to bounce a few questions off those guys, and especially Patty Dangerfield, he was awesome,” Grant says.

“They’ve experienced so much as a playing group and there’s different ways to do things.

“So it’s kind of finding what works for your team, what works for your playing group, and also a bit of reassurance.

“You go to these professional organisations where they’ve had a lot of success, and when they’re doing the same things as you or might be doing things better, you get a little bit of reassurance and also some accountability to take and get better with.”

BACK TO THE TOP

They’re competition favourites for a reason.

If all goes according to plan, Melbourne have the unique privilege of improving their grand final team from 2024.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona will miss round one through a carry-over suspension, but they’ve added former NSW Origin prop Stefano Utoikamanu upfront to bolster the pack further.

His true potential still untapped, he has the ability to be one of the game’s most improved players this season if Bellamy can work his magic.

“He’s settled in really well, he’s very impressive with just the way he is around the group,” Grant said.

“He’s comfortable to speak up and voice his opinions and his feelings. The way he plays and the way he gets around the field, he’ll be a really good asset for us as a group.”

The 24-year-old joins Asofa-Solomona, Josh King and Tui Kamikamica in the front row rotation.

“There’s a real growth area for our forward pack, especially from last year,” Grant says.

“We took some really good steps last season and our guys are going to be better for the experience.”

Originally published as Inside the gruelling pre-season camp driving Melbourne Storm’s NRL success