Melbourne look set to miss out on the finals for the first time since the 2010 salary cap scandal – can Craig Bellamy’s men still mix it with the NRL’s elite?

FOR years, reports of the Melbourne Storm’s decline have been greatly exaggerated.

First came the salary cap scandal that derailed their 2010 campaign and tore holes in their all-conquering playing roster.

Then came Cooper Cronk’s departure for the Sydney Roosters after the Storm’s 2017 premiership, splitting up the ‘big three’ of Cronk, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.

When Smith called time on his decorated career after the 2020 Grand Final win over Penrith, surely that was when the curtain would drop on the Storm’s decades of dominance.

Instead, Craig Bellamy continued to find ways to keep his team in contention, including narrow defeats in the last two deciders.

However, 2026 finally felt like the year Melbourne became mortal. Or at least it did before they halted their seven-game losing streak.

The campaign started with business as usual: a 52-4 demolition of Parramatta, then a 46-20 dismantling of St George Illawarra.

Not even the bravest tipster would have predicted the Storm would go on to lose their next seven matches.

Their Round Three defeat to the Broncos felt like a carbon copy of last year’s premiership decider, coughing up a 14-point half-time lead.

Losses to the Cowboys, Panthers, Warriors, Raiders, Rabbitohs and Dolphins followed.

Most worrying was their defence – the backbone of Bellamy’s quarter-of-a-century reign. Melbourne leaked an average of 34 points per game over their seven-game winless run.

Clubs that are usually tormented by the men in purple suddenly rewrote the record books.

The Warriors snapped a 17-match losing streak against the Storm with a 38-14 thrashing at AAMI Park in Round Six.

A fortnight later, the Rabbitohs piled on 48 points to collect their first-ever win in Melbourne at the 21st time of asking.

The visit of the Wests Tigers to Melbourne – a club they haven’t lost to since 2018 – arrested the slide.

Then mid-season wins over top-four teams the Roosters and Knights reminded the entire competition of the threat Bellamy’s men still pose.

The uncharacteristic dip wasn’t without excuses. The Victorian club has been battered on the health front.

Coach Bellamy was diagnosed with an unspecified neurodegenerative disorder in April. The club announced the shock news in the midst of the losing run, insisting Bellamy’s health would not affect his ability to coach the club.

It came just weeks after Tui Kamikamica suffered a stroke that left him temporarily unable to speak or move.

Kamikamica required emergency brain and heart surgery in March, and further setbacks threaten to sideline him for the rest of the NRL season – and potentially rule the Fiji captain out of the end-of-year World Cup.

Joining Kamikamica in rehab is star second-row Eliesa Katoa, who underwent brain surgery last November after being concussed multiple times in Tonga’s post-season clash with New Zealand.

The Storm have sorely missed the destructive Katoa, who was named a Dally M Second-Rower of the Year in each of the past two seasons.

Throw in Australia and Queensland winger Xavier Coates, who injured his Achilles during pre-season, then fully ruptured it at training in June.

That’s three internationals sidelined for virtually the whole of 2026 at least.

Off-season comings and goings also toyed with Bellamy’s team sheet.

Out went dynamic full-back Ryan Papenhuyzen, who surprisingly walked away from the final year of his contract after the 2025 Grand Final.

The 28-year-old was dogged by injuries throughout his time in the NRL, and has rejected rumours connecting him with the new Perth Bears franchise, rugby union breakaway league Rugby 360 or a return to the Storm.

Hulking forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona also departed to pursue boxing, while promising playmaker Jonah Pezet – who impressed when deputising for the injured Jahrome Hughes last year – headed to Parramatta on a one-year deal before joining Brisbane in 2027.

Local Victorian product and Samoa international Sualauvi Fa’alogo has been an outstanding replacement at full-back, but the personnel issues have chipped away at their strength in depth.

In February, Bellamy extended his contract until the end of 2028, by which time he’ll have led the Storm for an extraordinary 26 seasons. That’s by far the longest tenure in the history of Australian first-grade rugby league.

Bellamy has remained tight-lipped about his private health matter. But speculation naturally has turned to the succession plan in the coaches’ box.

Slater – a club legend who spent all his 16 years as a player under Bellamy, and has now begun his coaching career with five years in charge of Queensland – is the heir apparent.

The 43-year-old gave cryptic responses to questions about his future leading into the State of Origin decider in July.

Whoever holds the clipboard certainly has plenty to work with.

Fa’alogo, Cameron Munster, Hughes and Harry Grant – who will all star in this year’s World Cup for Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and Australia respectively – form one of the strongest spines in the competition.

Will Warbrick and Nick Meaney provide points in the backline, Stefano Utoikamanu and Josh King supply starch in the middle, and Cooper Clarke and Jack Howarth inject quality youth.

That recipe of stars in the key positions of full-back, stand-off, half-back and hooker, supported by a dependable core of solid if unspectacular role-players, is the recipe that’s delivered Bellamy so much success for more than two decades.

State of Origin is always a rocky period for the Storm, who invariably contribute troops to the interstate series. This year, that means Queensland captain Munster plus Maroons team-mates Grant and Trent Loiero.

Although Melbourne have emerged from Origin relatively unscathed, three straight defeats since means with only a month of the home-and-away season remaining, the Victorians sit three wins outside the top eight.

On paper, it appears unlikely they’ll be able to force their way into the play-offs. Most teams can’t afford to go two months without a win and still sneak into the finals.

Bellamy’s Storm aren’t most teams, mind, and no club in the competition would relish a September date with a side that’s qualified for the last two Grand Finals.

But while Melbourne have been defying predictions of their demise for more than 15 years, it doesn’t look like that tradition will be extended this year.

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 523 (August 2026)