The Melbourne Storm will take on the St George Illawarra Dragons this weekend. Today, we’ll look back at the Storm’s biggest win.
In only their second season, the Storm defeated the Dragons to win the 1999 grand final. However, the Storm lost their first four matches of the 2000 season.
There was a lot of emotion in the lead-up to this round-five match. Dragons five-eighth Anthony Mundine had come out and said the Storm were pretenders.
Embed from Getty ImagesBrett Kimmorley (middle) and Scott Hill were instrumental for the Storm in the 70-10 win over the Dragons in 2000.
From what I can remember of the game, it was raining heavily. I was excited to watch a rugby league game on the Melbourne Cricket Ground (I wish I could have been there live). We weren’t expecting it to be a massacre.
The Storm had nine try scorers, with halfback Brett Kimmorley, fullback Robbie Ross, and five-eighth Tasesa Lavea all scoring two. Lavea scored 24 points overall, with two tries and eight goals. So far I haven’t been able to find the full match online, but you can watch the match highlights here.
After the big win, the Storm would back it again the week after beating the Sydney Roosters 42-10. That year, the Storm would finish sixth on the ladder. They were beaten 30-16 in the qualifying final by the Newcastle Knights.
Melbourne Storm 70 (Brett Kimmorley 2, Robbie Ross 2, Tasesa Lavea 2, Marcus Bai, Scott Hill, Aaron Moule, Ben Roarty, Richard Swain, Danny Williams tries, Lavea 8 from 9, Matt Geyer 3 from 3)
St George Illawarra Dragons 10 (Trent Barrett, Lee Hookey tries, Lance Thompson 1 from 1)