Like most Brisbane players of the past two decades, Corey Parker suffered more than his share of pain at the hands of the Melbourne Storm.
Unlike his fellow Broncos, Parker could quite easily have been on the other side of the intense rivalry, had he accepted an offer to follow Craig Bellamy south in 2003.
The man who played 347 games for the Broncos and tasted grand final glory in 2006, ironically against Melbourne, was a tearaway prop in the early stages of his career when the Storm came calling.
After entering the competition in 1998 and winning a premiership in their second year, the Storm had already made quite the impression in AFL-mad Melbourne when Bellamy came on board.
Having helped the Broncos to the ’98 title in his role as Wayne Bennett’s assistant, Bellamy had seen Parker’s development at close range as the Logan Brothers junior launched his NRL career in 2001.
At just 18, Parker had forced his way into a star-studded forward pack that included Shane Webcke, Petero Civoniceva and Carl Webb.
For a kid who had always dreamed of pulling on a Broncos jersey, life was pretty sweet, but his 16-year journey at the game’s elite level could have been a very different one.
“I had worked under Craig and had respect for him. I knew what he would be like as a coach so it was enticing,” Parker said.
“We were part of that famous Baby Broncos win in 2002 when he coached the side while Wayne was in Origin camp and when he went to Melbourne he was looking for some young front-rowers.
“At the 11th hour [Storm boss] John Ribot offered a deal and it was substantially more… I ended up signing for Brisbane for $80,000 because that’s all I ever wanted to do was play for the Broncos, and at that time the Broncos were a powerhouse and if you could make it there, you could make it anywhere.
“The Bulldogs were interested and so were the Storm, and the Storm deal was 180, 190, 200 [grand] and I stayed at Brisbane for 80 grand.
“I had a good relationship with Craig so it was appealing even aside from the money but that’s as far as that got.
“I could have got more somewhere else but it was about loyalty and pride in the jumper.”
And so it was for the next decade and a half Parker would find himself going to battle against Bellamy rather than alongside him as the Broncos-Storm rivalry intensified.
In the purple corner we had Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman and Bellamy, fast earning a reputation as one of the game’s most astute and meticulous mentors.
Out of the maroon and gold corner came Darren Lockyer, Gorden Tallis, Sam Thaiday, Brad Thorn and the supercoach Bennett.
From a golden point epic at Olympic Park in 2003 where Parker laid on the match-winner for a flying Scott Minto, to a Melbourne masterclass at the same venue two years later when no fewer than four Storm speedsters bagged doubles, the contests invariably delivered.
By 2006, the two powerhouse clubs were squaring off in their only grand final meeting to date, with Bellamy’s Big Three expected to have the last laugh over their Maroons mates Lockyer, Webcke, Hodges and Civoniceva.
Instead it was the Broncos taking home their sixth premiership with a 15-8 triumph, despite having lost both regular season clashes between the two sides.
“The biggest rivalry of all is when you lose a grand final to someone,” Parker said.
“We went in there as heavy underdogs, we should never have won it, the Storm were the red-hot side, but we got the job done.
“You think people don’t hold a grudge but that would still burn Craig and I know it still gets Smithy and those other boys.
“You had players who grew up being Broncos fans and never got the chance to play for the Broncos – Billy Slater, Cam Smith, Cooper Cronk – they ended up at the Storm.
“That also unleashed a bit of rivalry and hatred among those players who said, ‘we’ll stick it up the Broncos because they didn’t think we were good enough to play for them’.
“You can’t get past a grab final loss, so every time after that decider they had the big red pen around the Broncos game on the calendar.
“It was a long-standing rivalry and they have a huge record but we got the one that mattered.”
That ‘huge record’ now stands at 40 wins to Melbourne and just 14 to Brisbane since they first locked horns 26 years ago, with the Storm having won 14 of the past 15.
The Broncos’ only success since 2016 came in last year’s qualifying final, a 26-0 shutout that propelled Kevin Walters’ men into a preliminary final where they downed the Warriors to make the big dance.
They may have lost the decider to Penrith but Ezra Mam’s dazzling hat-trick stamped him as a special talent and Parker says he can be the X-factor in Brisbane’s bid to unsettle Melbourne on Thursday night.
“The Storm struggle against teams that are unconventional,” Parker said.
“Craig has them dialled in so much, they understand the players that are playing, their trends, the intricacies of what they are doing, but if you throw on something the Storm can’t really train for then that’s where they come unstuck.
“The Broncos’ style has changed dramatically over the years, with guys like Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo and Mam, there’s an unpredictability in what they do.
“That creates headaches and instability in the defensive line.”
As he knows all too well from personal experience, the Broncos will need to come up with something special to turn the tide of history against the men from Melbourne.
NRL.com
