NRL: Storm win back their respect

Cameron Smith of the Storm in action last night. Photo / Getty Images

Turning an ill-fitting salary cap into a premiership crown was always going to be tough for the Melbourne Storm.

But the enormity of what the club has achieved in a remarkable NRL season will be fully appreciated only with time and a rear-view mirror.

A trophy cabinet stocked by creative accounting, then stripped bare by forensic accounting, now houses the 2011 minor premiership.

The team that lost the lot was within sight of gaining one of its major premierships back.

That was denied by the Warriors in a 20-12 preliminary final defeat on Saturday night.

Trophies are hard fought and won. But nothing is harder to win, easier to lose and more difficult to rebuild than reputation.

The Storm exit 2011 having won back on-field respect - a byproduct of coach Craig Bellamy and his players' brave and tireless efforts to rebuild morale and personnel.

Those inside Melbourne's inner sanctum have rarely let the salary-cap-scandal hurt show publicly. Being labelled Australia's biggest sporting cheats doesn't lend itself to the touchy-feely - more thick skins and tinfoil hats.

Seventeen months on and one win short of a grand final, the pride in what the Storm have been able to achieve is starting to show.

"This club's come a long way to what we were this time last year," Bellamy said. "We've had a lot of new players come to our club.

"Half our squad were here last year, and they know how tough it was - no one else would know how tough it was unless you went through it."

Winger Anthony Quinn admits the salary-cap shellshock shook hard, but toughened the resolve of all at the club to rebuild.

"[We were] pretty low - those early days, they were pretty bad," said Quinn.

"But the fans helped you out. They turned up to every game last year and they turned up to every game this year.

"Your teammates were always there to pick you up. We always tried to stick together and work together.

"It's the hardest pre-season I've ever seen, in intensity and duration.

"Towards the end of Christmas, everyone just got in there, worked and did what was asked of them."

The culmination was the Storm, in a city gripped by AFL finals fever, drawing a packed house of more than 28,000 to watch them fall just short.

"The boys should really just sit back and reflect on this year. Everyone wrote us off. No one expected us to do anything," Quinn said.

"It was extremely disappointing to fall one game short.

"But with what we've done this year in turning things around, it's a great job by the players, coaching staff, admin staff and the fans as well.

"They could have dropped off. The sponsors could have dropped off.

"But we were all in it together. I feel very privileged to be involved with these guys. It's been quite a ride."

- AAP