The Jaws theme song is growing louder for the 16 other NRL clubs as the Melbourne Storm show signs of life in their quest to defy history and make a shock finals push. Despite sitting six points outside the top eight and having conceded more points in the opening 13 rounds than in entire seasons past, veteran prop Josh King insists 'the possibilities are endless' for his team.
Storm's Mid-Year Charge
People wrote off the back-to-back beaten grand finalists after a record seven-game losing streak earlier this season, with Melbourne struggling under new rules and battling injuries to key stars like Eli Katoa and Xavier Coates. The 50-10 loss to Penrith in round 5 theoretically ended their premiership hopes, as no team in Australian first-grade history has conceded 50 points and won the title. However, the Storm have slowly turned the tide with three wins from their past four games.
A huge home match this Friday against the Knights presents an opportunity to push towards eighth spot ahead of their first bye of the year next week. 'I have so much belief in this team, and the possibilities are endless,' King said. 'The season isn't written off by any means. The ladder is quite tight, and you don't really see it settling until after this Origin period. Some teams have had two byes, but we haven't had a bye yet, so we'll certainly keep on fighting each week.'
Turning Point Against the Dolphins
King pointed to a round 9 loss against the Dolphins as the turning point in their season. 'I don't think there's a point in worrying about the end result at the minute; the destination is where we're trying to get to,' he said. 'At the moment for us, it's about each week at a time and really making sure we're building on our performances. I reckon it's not that we're trying any harder or exploring different things, but rugby league has so many different things that happen in a game, and you tend to put your focus in different areas. The Dolphins game, we started putting our focus back in some areas that we were doing last year and probably didn't realise we'd fallen away in. Even though we lost, we put in one of our better performances for the year. On the back of that, we revisited a few other things that really worked for us last year, and since then, I think we've been a really competitive side.'
Belief and History
The losing streak was foreign territory for everyone at the club, but the past month suggests they could be about to do something special as they try to qualify for the finals after a shocking 2-7 start. They only have to look at the Panthers, who were 3-1-7 last year and almost made the grand final, while the 1999 Broncos won one of their first 10 matches but recovered to finish eighth. 'Yeah, we lost seven in a row, but the biggest thing for us was trying to not panic and have doubt and to then maintain belief in the playing group with the way we wanted to play,' winger Will Warbrick said. 'There are a few things we've needed to tweak and improve on, but I think as long as everyone is on the same page with what we're trying to do, the belief is still strong. One win sometimes helps with building that confidence back up and getting us back on track. The destination's not the worry. It's probably more what works for us this week to help us win and just being able to do that and back that up.'
