Melbourne Storm’s plan to future proof roster with local juniors

Now that Ryan Papenhuyzen is locked in, the Storm are targeting home grown domination with Victorian stars to flood the NRL team over the next few seasons.

Ryan Papenhuyzen’s influence at Melbourne can reverberate for years to come after the popular No.1 signed a one-year contract extension this week.

In a trend that started with Robbie Ross in the 2000s, flowed onto Billy Slater and now sits with the star fullback, Papenhuyzen is a mentor for rising gun Sua Fa’alogo who is tipped to take over the No.1 jersey at some stage in the future.

Whether that’s in 2025 only coach Craig Bellamy can say for sure.

How they both fit into the starting 17 next season will be a dilemma to solve over the pre-season but it’s a huge win for the club, either way.

“Enormous. It’s very difficult to measure (Papenhuyzen’s influence on Sua) and we’ve seen that throughout our club for a long time,” said Frank Ponissi, Storm’s director of football.

“Billy Slater tells of when he first came as a young bloke, Robbie Ross played an important role in his development.

“Billy’s done a lot of work with many players but the two who stand out for me are Cameron Munster, and Paps, and Paps is continuing that with Sua.

“It’s what he brings off the field which people can’t see.”

Ryan Papenhuyzen plays a key role in the Storm’s success on and off the field. Picture: Getty Images

Papenhuyzen’s signature was the last major recruitment piece to fall for the Storm for 2025, who recently re-signed back-up halfback Jonah Pezet to a four-year contract extension - with a catch.

However, Ponissi says it’s a stable time for the roster as they ramp up the investment in bringing pathway players through to the NRL over the next two seasons.

Fa’alogo is one of the biggest stars to come through the club’s junior representatives pathways but they want more.

On Saturday the club’s four grades had an open training day at Pakenham, in Melbourne’s southwest, where of more than 120 players, 70 were Victorian.

A mass exodus of players in 2023 was a massive wakeup call for the Storm, who realised they needed to turn their attention to growing their own talent.

They lost Jesse and Kenny Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi to the Dolphins, as well as Brandon Smith to the Roosters in a huge hit to the club’s depth.

“From 2008 until 2017 we used the former NYC, and that was enormous for us. We had a whole heap of players come through there but once that ended we had a dry run,” Ponissi said.

“The catalyst for us was the year the Dolphins came in and we lost three players. That was a big wakeup call for us.

“As a club we knew we had to do something because we weren’t getting players coming through.”

As a policy, the Harold Matthews team is now entirely made of up Victorian players, and the goal is to bring them through to the NRL over the coming seasons.

(L-R) Sua Fa'alogo and Ryan Papenhuyzen.

“We’ve decided we want to give our players from Victoria the first crack at junior representatives with the Storm,” he said.

“We’ll select from the junior league down here. We’ve got a good crop over the next few years develop and the best of those can get an opportunity to continue up the pathway.

“There’s a few who might be considered this year but we had a strong NRL side this year.

“I’d say from 2026 onwards you’ll start to see players. Definitely 2027 and 2028.”

“It’s the transfer of players coming from the juniors into the NRL, that’s an area we have to improve. We haven’t done that as well as we can.

“That’s going to take time.”

Originally published as Melbourne Storm’s plan to future proof roster with local juniors