The 100-year rugby league curse that should worry the Storm

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Shattered Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has challenged his players and staff to work even harder next season as they strive to find a cure for the heartache of back-to-back grand final defeats.

Unfortunately for the Storm and their head tactician, rugby league history suggests that no matter how hard they work, the odds are already stacked against them in 2026.

Melbourne were left lamenting the one that got away after losing Sunday’s NRL premiership decider 26-22 to Brisbane, having led by 10 points on two occasions.

That defeat followed their 14-6 loss to Penrith in the 2024 season finale.

An old rugby league adage declares that you have to lose a grand final to win one, but losing two in a row is a rare misfortune that tends to prove crippling for the club on the receiving end.

In the past 50 years, four clubs – Parramatta (1976-77), Manly (1982-83), St George (1992-93) and Sydney Roosters (2003-04) – have lost consecutive deciders.

Harry Grant comes to terms with another grand final loss.

Only Parramatta reached the finals the following year, bowing out in week two of the 1978 play-offs.

If Bellamy is searching for a glimmer of hope in the game’s history, he’ll need to delve back 100 years, to when South Sydney were beaten by Eastern Suburbs and Balmain in the 1923-24 deciders, only to win the next five titles in a row (1925-29), then two more in 1931-32.

Asked on Sunday if he was concerned about whether the consecutive defeats could derail the club he has built in his image, Bellamy replied: “It will depend on all the people in the club, the staff and the players, how hard they want to work next year, starting in the pre-season.

“If you don’t want to work hard, well we won’t be back here next year. If we want to put the work in, well, we’ll be a chance.”

Bellamy added that it was too early to even be thinking about next season.

“There’s gonna be a lot of games of footy between now and the grand final next year,” he said. “We’re just worried about what we’re doing at the moment.

“I think there were a couple of things we learnt from last year, but obviously we didn’t. So they’ll be doubled down on in the pre-season, and hopefully we can have a good season next year.”

Storm skipper Harry Grant added: “It’s not easy, and you don’t need to be in a rush to get back here. We can’t get back here tomorrow, but what we do tomorrow can certainly help.”

Bellamy is acknowledged as one of rugby league’s all-time great coaches, having won almost 70 per cent of the 605 top-grade games he has overseen, as well as steering the Storm to a remarkable 23 finals series in 24 seasons.

Brisbane celebrate a remarkable grand final win as Cameron Munster walks away on Sunday.

But his record in grand finals has been cruel. He has qualified for 11, but of those, Melbourne have won only five, and two of those (2007 and 2009) were subsequently annulled because of salary cap breaches.

So on six occasions, Bellamy has returned empty-handed from the only game that matters. Not even the hapless Brian Smith, who lost four grand finals, with St George (1992-93), Parramatta (2001) and the Roosters (2010), has endured as much disappointment on grand final day as Bellamy.

“It’s tough to lose a grand final, whatever the situation … we’re disappointed in the result, but to make a grand final is hard work, and the boys have done a good job to do that,” Bellamy said.

Storm prop Josh King, who was also part of the loss to Penrith in 2024, described Sunday’s result as “devastating”.

“It hurts a lot more than last year,” he said. “To lose two different grand finals in a row. I haven’t felt like this before, that’s for sure.

“I mean we’re very lucky to be able to play the two grand finals and get that opportunity. But especially right now, the wounds are still very much open and very much hurting.

“I’ve been knocked out of finals series at different stages. I’ve not made finals series plenty of times, and that certainly doesn’t hurt as much as losing a grand final, I can assure you.”

Melbourne have retained the majority of their squad, other than Brisbane-bound utility back Grant Anderson and back-up hooker Bronson Garlick (South Sydney), which gives King confidence that they will remain a premiership force.

“It is what it is now,” he said. “It’s just important that we let it hurt for a little bit, but then we also use it to fuel us for next year. It starts all over again, come November, so we’ll go again.”

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