Something to get us riled up for Friday

Discussion on anything to do with Melbourne Storm - games, players, rumours - anything!
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jellyhead
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http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/31/try ... rne-storm/

Have you ever read a bigger load of bullshit?  :x :x :x
Ice
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I read that. After so many years of negative press i've learnt to ignore it or take it with a grain of salt but i have to admit that one had me effing fuming!  :twisted:
Michael :P
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Ive said it countless times, we only lose money because we spend so much. If we reduced our expences to the levels of the Knights or Tigers we would break even or make a profit.
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There's no sense in getting riled up about something like this.  There's always going to be people hating on the Storm no matter what we do.  It's just unfortunate that some of them have an outlet and an audience.
You had me at meat tornado.
routy21
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jellyhead wrote: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/31/try ... rne-storm/

Have you ever read a bigger load of bullshit?   :x :x :x
Sounds like a jealous dragons fan...
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These two lines were my particular favourites.

"Meanwhile Melbourne, which has had its sugar daddy buying premierships for it..."  and "... every other club has to compete under the salary cap for the best players. Not Melbourne, which has been able to spend what it likes ... "

I have never read such a load of crap in my entire life. The tall poppy syndrome has never seemed more real.
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Crikey - independent journalism ? The guy is an editor for SMH  :?

How many times are the deros north of the sanity line going to trot out the same tired lines.

6 million dollar loss - salary cap issues.

Still they need something to take the focus of how many NSW clubs / players are going to float to the surface of the Drug fiasco  :?

Now THERE'S a Crikey bucket I'd like to see tipped  :twisted:
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CooperCronk
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routy21 wrote:
jellyhead wrote: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/31/try ... rne-storm/

Have you ever read a bigger load of bullshit?   :x :x :x
Sounds like a jealous dragons fan...
This must have been the article they were talking about tonight on SEN when I was driving home, but I only heard half of the actual talkback...and yes a couple of Dragons fans rang in to side with the story.

And I wish David Schwartz would make up his mind on which side of the fence he is sitting on.  Just after a Dragons fan rang in to complain about the Storm, David said -  yeah let them go on their own to see if they can cope and after a Storm fan rang in, he said - but guys up north like Ray Hadley should realise the rugby league world is not just based in Sydney.

Part of the new IC's proviso is for the Storm to cut back on expenses and increase revenue and I think we are already starting to do that.  You just have to look at our new membership packages and whats on offer.
However, if we want our team to stay in Melbourne, we need to dip our hands in the back pocket to support them and become members.

It wasn't that long ago that afl teams in Melbourne, e.g. North, Bulldogs, Demons etc were in a heap of trouble with only around the 10,000 members range, but their supporters got behind them and became members.  They all have boosted their numbers to around 30,000 plus members and this has helped alleviate a lot of their financial problems.

I know its not all about memberships, other factors are also important, but its a good damn start.

Just my opinion.
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CooperCronk wrote:
routy21 wrote:
jellyhead wrote: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/31/try ... rne-storm/

Have you ever read a bigger load of bullshit?   :x :x :x
Sounds like a jealous dragons fan...

And I wish David Schwartz would make up his mind on which side of the fence he is sitting on.  Just after a Dragons fan rang in to complain about the Storm, David said -  yeah let them go on their own to see if they can cope and after a Storm fan rang in, he said -
:lol:, some-one should have reminded Shwartz his team has there hand out every year asking for money from supporters or the fact that EVERY team in melbourne now is dependent on Pokies money to make a profit
routy21
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This is more like it...  great article Roy!!

The knives are already out and sharpened for a seasonal trimming of code's tall poppies

ROY MASTERS
April 1, 2010


Rugby league's negative culture of handicapping the premiers was born out of St George's 11 successive premierships. Since that time, every measure in the game has been designed to pull the champions down, rather than to encourage clubs to aspire to their level.

The six-tackle rule, residential qualifications, ceiling payments, import rules and salary caps have all been implemented to hobble the premiers. Publicity over the Storm breaching the salary cap in signing captain Cameron Smith to his last contract by securing a third-party deal with Fox Sports should be seen in this context.

Melbourne have played in the past four grand finals, won the World Club Challenge in Leeds and are undefeated after three rounds, despite having four members of their best starting pack on the sidelines. They are too good. And the other 15 clubs don't like it.

The campaign against the Storm began two months ago, during negotiations for an independent commission to take over the running of the game. As a condition for an independent commission, News Ltd, owners of the Storm, wanted funding for the club of $26 million over six years to help it secure a new owner and cover anticipated debts.

News, which is anxious to exit the NRL before its contracted departure date in 2022, is owed $15m by the ARL-News partnership. Both organisations take $8m annually from NRL revenue but News deferred some of its dividends in the early years of the NRL when clubs such as St George and Illawarra, Manly and Norths, and Wests and Balmain were given big cash prizes for merging. News sought its $15m plus another $11m be given directly to the Storm to cover their anticipated losses over six years. The clubs objected, claiming Melbourne already spent too much money on their football department.

They recognised the success of the Storm in the Victorian market was vital for broadcasting revenue but didn't want the money spent on footballers. Their solution was to offer the Storm an annual grant of $1m for six years to be spent only on marketing. In other words, the Storm would receive News's $15m plus $6m in marketing grants, or $21m, about $5m short of what News asked. This position was put to the Storm recently when News's chief operating officer, Peter Macourt, addressed the board. Macourt made it clear the club would not be cut adrift but that News would prefer a consortium, including some of the wealthy members of the existing board, to buy it.

Prospective owners, such as board member and Jayco owner Gerry Ryan, will obviously monitor any increases in revenue after the Storm move into the new 30,000-seat AAMI Park in May.

The Storm's current annual debt of $6m includes about $2m they pay for junior development in Victoria, a cost that would be assumed by ARL Development when the independent commission is set up. The Storm now fund four teams - the NRL squad, the Toyota Cup under-20s team, a NSW Cup team and an under-18s squad. This is a significant increase in football department debts from only a couple of years ago when the club ran just one team. The airfares and accommodation costs of the Storm significantly outweigh those of a Sydney-based club.

While News has been generous to the club, supporting its rise in a market saturated by AFL, don't try to tell its coaches and players the company does them any media favours. Sure, News can be accused of a conflict of interest with TV rights, and causing paralysis at NRL headquarters for over a year on how a News-owned code judges a sponsorship from a News-owned company to a News-owned club.

The Storm football department points to the relentless campaign by News Ltd papers to punish the Storm for the grapple tackle and turn all of Sydney against them on the eve of the 2008 grand final. When a newspaper succeeds in getting everyone to love Manly, it deserves a chapter in the handbook on propaganda. Nor was News helpful when the Storm coaching staff and senior player group wanted to recruit Willie Mason. While the board was unanimous in not wanting Mason, coach Craig Bellamy is convinced News would have vetoed it anyway.

Bellamy's team won't win 11 premierships but if other clubs saw the Storm coaches working on their days off, it might inspire them to rise to the premiers' level, rather than conspire to drag them down.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... -reyu.html
Last edited by routy21 on Thu Apr 01, 2010 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Well said Roy!!

Here's another good article -

Nine pulls the plug - and the Storm's live support system fails Melbourne again
RICHARD HINDS
April 1, 2010
As The Chaser team found, putting any cause - in their case, a clumsy attempt to milk a laugh - up against the plight of sick children is a no-win situation.

So, on the surface, Channel Nine's abandonment of live coverage of tomorrow's Storm-Dragons game in Melbourne in deference to the city's long-running Royal Children's Hospital Appeal, shown on Seven, seems easily defensible. ''What, you'd rather watch Billy Slater than cure Little Johnny? You heartless cad!''

The truth, however, is that an event that could have given the Storm a rare moment in the spotlight in their home town - while making a respectful contribution to the appeal - is just the latest victim of the game's highly conflicted administrative/ownership structure and inability to penetrate beyond its own borders.

Would the Storm be in the perverse position of requesting that the blockbuster game NOT be shown live in Melbourne if they were not owned by News Ltd, a major partner in the Royal Children's Hospital Appeal? Would it have happened if the game's national vision was not clouded by a retrograde and self-destructive administrative structure?


Read it all here - http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... -reyv.html
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Roy Masters...  =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
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Woody
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steaming stormer wrote: Roy Masters...  =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
Agree totally. Nice to see someone north of the border say something positive about us for a change. Just hope it wasn`t his idea of a stupid April Fool`s Day joke ;-)
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mystormboys
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Your a legend Roy
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When the going gets tough the tough get going
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