Congrats to Melbourne Storm

[David.C-Mighty Manly 1st]

Just have to say Congrats to the Melboune Storm they were much to good for My Mighty Manly Sea-Eagles on the day, Manly were not up to the task but i do believe possesion was to much in favour of the Storm. With that it was like waves afters waves they just rolled on from there. What do you think.

[Willis 21]

Great win for the Storm...

And to all the Melbourne Storm haters here ( you know who you are...)

[yeenar69]

Congrats to Inglis

[LisaJ]

GO THE STORM!!!!!!!!!

I loved watching the second half, they just ripped Manly to shreds!!!

The Storm Rock!

[Willis 21]

http://news.leaguehq.com.au/storm-ready ... -11x6.html

Storm ready to reap rewards in Melbourne
October 1, 2007 - 4:46PM

They aren't expecting to match the any of the AFL powerhouse clubs just yet but the Storm are ready to reap the rewards of their NRL title.

The newly-crowned champions are already looking at accommodating their expected popularity boom by moving some of their 2008 home games to a larger venue.

The Melbourne club is counting on the momentum gathered through the NRL finals, which culminated in Sunday night's title win over Manly, continuing.

The Storm currently play all of their home games at the 17,500-capacity Olympic Park, where they have only lost once in two seasons.

However, CEO Brian Waldron said they were considering playing some marquee home games at the much larger Telstra Dome.

With approximately 15,000 Melbourne fans in the grand final crowd and 33,000 turning out for their preliminary final win over Parramatta at Telstra Dome - their largest-ever crowd - they are confident they'll have the numbers to warrant the move.

"We've got to continue to tread cautiously but at the same time optimistically," Waldron said.

"The amazing thing last night from our point of view was the amount of people who had come up (to Sydney) for the game, it was quite extraordinary compared to 1999.

"There seemed to be some 30,000 people there at the end cheering us on."

He said his team wasn't trying to compete with AFL but co-exist and felt there was plenty of room in Melbourne for both codes.

According to Storm figures, they had over a $1 million in merchandise sales this year while home crowds have grown from an average of 5,500 to nearly 12,000.

"All the indications are a very recognised sporting brand and the club's well and truly entrenched as part of the Melbourne sporting culture," Waldron said.

"We're never going to take over the AFL, which is the heart and soul of what Melburnians are, but we'd like to think they can still be Storm supporters.

"We've always felt that we've got our place and our niche in the market and that's what it is.

"It's a long haul for the game in Melbourne but we'll continue to grow our niche.

"Our team's our flagship and when we have the team performing like we did last night and winning the ultimate prize, I think it does nothing but enhance the brand and the game of rugby league in the town."

[dogsact]

The support for the Storm is underestimated. People do like the Storm, however, they need to go and put bums on seats at the games. I think the Storm will continue to garner respect and supporters. After all, why can't someone be both an AFL supporter and NRL supporter. There is no rule to say you can't. Only the die Hards and old supporters might see different. I for on support Essendon, Storm, Victory in the soccer, or anything else Victoria might contest. Except basketball, I have been a Perth fan for as long as I remember.

[Macarthur Saints]

It's been a long time since we have seen such a drilled faultless team perform almost every week, looking at them on the field you cannot fault any guy in the line...

Was great to watch 13 guys on the field play as 1..

Many teams need to learn from this before they think they have any hope of beating The Storm next year yet again..

Well done to them..

[haz-dogg]

GO THE STORM!!!!!!!!!

I loved watching the second half, they just ripped Manly to shreds!!!

The Storm Rock!

woooowoooo

Go storm they are magnificant!!!! :P

I am soo glad they beat manly..... it is just awesome!!!

luv yaz
xox