Storm Development

[1910]

12/17 Storm players tonight were signed to the Storm before they were 19 years old.

 

[Cult]

Oooohhh do the Raiders next!

 

[Big Pete]

As Bennett said, nobody does it better than Melbourne and Brisbane.

Let's take a crack...

Cameron Munster
Will Chambers
Suliasi Vunivalu
Cooper Cronk
Jesse Bromwich
Cam Smith
Jordan McLean
Kevin Proctor
Tohu Harris
Kenny Bromwich
Christian Welch
Ben Hampton

Glasby made his NRL debut through Melbourne as well, albeit at an older age.

It's a testament to their systems and ability to identify talent.

 

[Porthoz]

Which is why I am all the way behind the Storm in the GF... please make Gallen cry again!

 

[jarro65]

Bellamy certainly is a fantastic coach, wringing every last ounce of talent out of his players.

 

[lynx000]

I wonder with the benefit of hindsight down the track whether it might be regarded as being the biggest recruiting/retention blunder that the Broncos made letting Bellamy go.

 

[Dash]

I wonder with the benefit of hindsight down the track whether it might be regarded as being the biggest recruiting/retention blunder that the Broncos made letting Bellamy go.

The biggest blunder was missing Thurston, Cronk, Smith and to a lesser extent, Slater.

They all came through around 2000, which is when we had just won by exploiting unlimited interchange and using the biggest rugby league team known to man. I know for at least Thurston, the excuse was 'he's too small'.

Quite ironic for a club that built itself around one Allan Langer.

 

[Mitchell_Broncos]

I reckon the Storm train harder then any other club in the comp.
When you have a look at there training schedules in the offseason they do different sorts of stuff like planting trees, carrying buckets and wheel barrows full of cement, different stuff that build muscle and then run up mountains and this is all in with only limited sleep. If you look at the different stuff they do you would agree. If you want to they have a YouTube channel.
I know our boys train hard as well in the offseason but I reckon the storm train even harder.

Melbourne Storm - I Don't Quit - Preseason Camp - YouTube
2015 Storm Pre-Season - Sights and Sounds - YouTube

 

[Big Pete]

It just goes to highlight how difficult the process is.

Let it be known that even at the junior level, JT was a dominant player. He starred in Under 17s and Under 19s Origin and won a premiership at all three levels during his time at Canterbury. You could argue he wasn't that pivotal in 2004 (I beg to differ) but he certainly played a big part in the 2001 Jersey Flegg premiership and the 2002 Premier League premiership where he nailed the sideline conversion to win it (I believe the game is on YouTube if you were interested).

So he was a gun player...

But Brisbane had plenty of guns as well. Names like Justin Hodges, Corey Parker, Brent Tate, Brett Seymour, Michael Ryan, Danny Bampton were coming through and the club had just replaced Kevin Walters with this bright young prospect in Scott Prince. It wasn't like Prince was some unknown even back then. In fact, it was a similar situation to the Milford signing with Cowboys fans criticizing the Broncos inability to develop talent. What they forget is they had a chance to sign Scott Prince and their administrators fudged the negotiations. The club was a basket case back then, I couldn't blame a player of Scott's calibre clearing out when he did.

So you had Prince, Seymour and a kid from Ipswich by the name of Barnes who was talented enough he could realistically play cricket and union at the highest of levels.

The future was bright, but reality hit.

Prince suffers two horrid injuries and his dad died in a tragic car accident.

Seymour had similar injury issues, was asked to play out of position and just never matured.

Barnes was scouted by Union.

Suddenly the Broncos are short on options and the stars who are ripping it up at the junior level like Joel Moon, Michael Bond etc. fail to find their feet on the big stage.

As for Smith, he went with Melbourne because Brisbane looked sorted in the hooking position. They had Luke Priddis there who still had a good five years left in him at that stage and they weren't short on depth either. Michael Ryan, Nathan Friend, Matt Ballin...the stocks were fine. Smith had big ambitions, and despite being offered a deal, he went to a club with the clearer path.

Nobody expected Cronk to have the career he did. For years he struggled to even hold down a regular position at Norths, for him to kick on like he did at halfback was just good fortune. People seem to forget, but before Cronk discovered his best form in 2006, fans were genuinely concerned about Melbourne following the departures of Orford, Bell and Kearns. Then Inglis, Cronk, Kaufusi all stepped up and Michael Crocker who had been a loose cannon at Sydney stepped up and filled a void whenever he was on the field. In fact Melbourne didn't lose a game with Crocker in the side until 2008 which goes to show how important he was to that side.

 

[Wolfie]

It just goes to highlight how difficult the process is.

Let it be known that even at the junior level, JT was a dominant player. He starred in Under 17s and Under 19s Origin and won a premiership at all three levels during his time at Canterbury. You could argue he wasn't that pivotal in 2004 (I beg to differ) but he certainly played a big part in the 2001 Jersey Flegg premiership and the 2002 Premier League premiership where he nailed the sideline conversion to win it (I believe the game is on YouTube if you were interested).

So he was a gun player...

But Brisbane had plenty of guns as well. Names like Justin Hodges, Corey Parker, Brent Tate, Brett Seymour, Michael Ryan, Danny Bampton were coming through and the club had just replaced Kevin Walters with this bright young prospect in Scott Prince. It wasn't like Prince was some unknown even back then. In fact, it was a similar situation to the Milford signing with Cowboys fans criticizing the Broncos inability to develop talent. What they forget is they had a chance to sign Scott Prince and their administrators fudged the negotiations. The club was a basket case back then, I couldn't blame a player of Scott's calibre clearing out when he did.

So you had Prince, Seymour and a kid from Ipswich by the name of Barnes who was talented enough he could realistically play cricket and union at the highest of levels.

The future was bright, but reality hit.

Prince suffers two horrid injuries and his dad died in a tragic car accident.

Seymour had similar injury issues, was asked to play out of position and just never matured.

Barnes was scouted by Union.

Suddenly the Broncos are short on options and the stars who are ripping it up at the junior level like Joel Moon, Michael Bond etc. fail to find their feet on the big stage.

As for Smith, he went with Melbourne because Brisbane looked sorted in the hooking position. They had Luke Priddis there who still had a good five years left in him at that stage and they weren't short on depth either. Michael Ryan, Nathan Friend, Matt Ballin...the stocks were fine. Smith had big ambitions, and despite being offered a deal, he went to a club with the clearer path.

Nobody expected Cronk to have the career he did. For years he struggled to even hold down a regular position at Norths, for him to kick on like he did at halfback was just good fortune. People seem to forget, but before Cronk discovered his best form in 2006, fans were genuinely concerned about Melbourne following the departures of Orford, Bell and Kearns. Then Inglis, Cronk, Kaufusi all stepped up and Michael Crocker who had been a loose cannon at Sydney stepped up and filled a void whenever he was on the field. In fact Melbourne didn't lose a game with Crocker in the side until 2008 which goes to show how important he was to that side.

I would beg to differ about Cronk developing being good fortune. He trained hard and just practised so much to become what he has. Not many players with limited talent become as good as he has, and its all down to hard work, not luck imo. Melbourne getting Matty Johns to help develop him as well proved to be a master stroke.

 

[Big Pete]

Agreed, Cronk has earned every accolade that has been bestowed to him.

However, it was good fortune for Melbourne that he was able to kick on right as they needed him to. That isn't good recruitment or good instinct, it's right place right time.

 

[Sproj]

On a side point, anyone else think Cronk sounds like Michael Clarke the former cricket captain when he talks?