Storm defends celebrating stripped premierships, NRL world divided by trophy ‘sh*thousery’

The Melbourne Storm have defended a controversial part of their 25-year anniversary as scenes of a trophy presentation outraged fans.

The Melbourne Storm show off their 2009 premiership trophy.

The Melbourne Storm have defended the controversial choice to include the 2007 and 2009 NRL premiership trophies as part of their 25-year anniversary celebrations.

Ahead of Friday night’s game against the Parramatta Eels, the Storm paid tribute to their six NRL grand final victories, with club legends bringing the trophies onto the field in a pre-game ceremony at Marvel Stadium.

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Melbourne won grand finals in 1999, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017 and 2020 since entering the NRL, but were famously stripped of their 2007 and 2009 titles in one of the biggest salary cap scandals in the history of rugby league.

To add just a little more spice to the ceremony, they celebrated it on the night the team faced the Eels, the team they beat in the 2009 NRL grand final.

Discovered in 2010, the Storm were found to have been cheating the salary cap between 2006 and 2010, ultimately stripped of two premierships along with three minor premierships and a World Club Challenge title from 2010.

The Melbourne Storm show off their 2009 premiership trophy. Photo: NRLRoast

Storm greats who played in the premierships carried the trophies out onto Marvel Stadium, placing them on presentation stands labelled for each year.

Rugby league fans couldn’t quite believe their eyes when Greg Inglis and Dallas Johnson brought out the 2009 trophy, which took pride of place alongside the contentious 2007 trophy.

Rugby league fans were split over the decision to display the “salary cap trophies”, with some applauding the spicy call to it in a game against the Eels whiled others accused the Storm of rewriting history.

The NRL Roast account tweeted: “The Storm bringing out the premiership trophy they beat Parra for and we’re later stripped of for cheating, the night they are playing Parra…is the kind of Rugba Leeg shithousery I’m here for.”

Sports reporter Mark Gottlieb posted: “Love it. Give them back their premierships.”

ESPN’s Matt Bungard said: “I’m usually a huge shithousery guy but I hate this - they were caught cheating, stripped of the titles, and their actions robbed other teams that followed the rules (especially the drought-stricken Eels) of glory. Ridiculous that the NRL even allows this.”

Ryan Papenhuyzen (L) and Nelson Asofa-Solomona of the Storm carry the 2020 NRL Premiership Trophy. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

The Storm celebrated their 25th anniversary in style. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Billy Slater and Will Chambers presented the 2017 trophy, while Ryan Papenhuyzen and Nelson Asofa-Solomona carried out the Storm’s most recent silverware won in 2020.

The Daily Telegraph reports the Storm paid $20,000 each for the six replica trophies and the club has defended the decision to celebrate the 2007 and 2009 premierships.

“The club acknowledges the teams from those two years,” Storm CEO Justin Rodski said.

“They were the winners of the grand final on those days.

“It was appropriate to acknowledge those teams and the players who fought so hard to achieve a grand final victory.

“What happened retrospectively had nothing to do with the players.

“We think it appropriate to celebrate the seasons that they had. It’s part of our history that on those days in 2007 and 2009 our teams won the grand final.”

It was a night to forget for the Eels, as the Storm ran riot to win 46-16 to leave Parramatta’s finals hopes on the brink.

Originally published as Storm defends celebrating stripped premierships, NRL world divided by trophy ‘sh*thousery’