The 2001 season was the least successful in the Storm's history, missing the play-offs for the first time. After making a decision to move base from Olympic Park to the larger Colonial Stadium, the club seemed to lack the support, atmosphere and composure they had built up. It reflected in the team's on field performances, losing four of their first six homes games and 7 from their opening 10 overall. Amidst this time the Storm was rocked when coach Anderson quit the club after the 42-18 loss to Parramatta in Round 7.
Along with Richard Swain and Matt Orford, replacement coach Mark Murray lifted the Storm from their bad beginning. Melbourne won seven of their next ten games to reach 6th place on the ladder.
But the bad start had taken its toll, and with the 2001 finals in sight they won only two more games. A last round loss to Canberra saw the Storm finish outside the Top 8.
The 2001 season continued to mark the endurability of Kiwi Test hooker Richard Swain. He was on the field for every minute of the Storm's season and had yet to miss a game for Melbourne in the club's history.
[2]
Season Summary
Round 1 – 15,070 fans watch the first ever rugby league game played indoors, as Melbourne go down 10-14 against Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Colonial Stadium. Referee Tim Mander, the touch judges and video referees are dropped after the round for failing to send off Storm prop forward Rodney Howe for a reckless high tackle on Steve Price. Howe is suspended for six games after pleading guilty to the charge.
Round 6 – Despite a ruling from the NRL, the Colonial Stadium roof stays open for Melbourne's game against Newcastle Knights.
2 April – Head coach Chris Anderson quits after a poor start to the season and rumours of a falling out with club management. It had been reported that Anderson was interested in replacing outgoing Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks coach John Lang.[3]Norths Devils coach Mark Murray is installed as caretaker coach.
9 April – Storm owners News Limited indicate that the company was willing to sell its 50% share of the North Queensland Cowboys, but had no intention of deserting Melbourne.
Round 14 – Richard Swain plays his 100th consecutive first grade game.
Round 16 – Tasesa Lavea becomes the first Melbourne player to be an unused interchange player in club history.[5]
1 July – The Sunday Mail reports that the Queensland Government has confirmed that it has held talks with the Melbourne Storm about relocating to Brisbane and basing itself at Lang Park.[3]
Mebourne Storm 100th game banner unfurled before the round 18 match against Wests TigersInverse side of the Mebourne Storm 100th game banner
Round 18 – Melbourne celebrate their 100th game of premiership football with a record-breaking 64-0 win over Wests Tigers at Colonial Stadium. The 64 points is Melbourne's greatest winning margin, it was the first time holding the opposition to nil; while Matt Orford sets a new club record with 10 goals in the game. Richard Swain becomes the first player to have played in 100 games for the club, featuring in every game played since 1998.
12 July – Penrith Panthers sign Storm forward Ben Roarty on a two-year contract from the 2002 NRL season.
Round 20 – Conceding a new club record of 54 points, Melbourne are thrashed by premiership fancy Parramatta Eels 10-54, with Jason Taylor equaling the Australian rugby league points scoring record of Daryl Halligan.
Round 21 – The retractable seats at Colonial Stadium are brought in for the first time for a Storm game. It is rumoured that the costs to bring the seats in and replace damaged turf is in excess of $1m. Marcus Bai scores his 50th try for the club, the first player to reach that milestone.[4]
Round 24 – Melbourne maintain slim hopes of a place in the top eight with a narrow 28-24 victory over last-placed Penrith in a Monday night match at Colonial Stadium.
Round 25 – A controversial 24-all draw with New Zealand Warriors seals the top eight door shut for Melbourne, meaning the club will miss the NRL finals for the first time. Referee Tim Mander is admonished for directing Matt Geyer to take a conversion kick two metres closer to the sideline than from where the Storm's final try was scored.[3]
Round 26 – Richard Swain becomes the first player to make 1000 tackles in a season. Swain also completes the marathon achievement of being the only forward to have played every minute of every game throughout the season.[3]
20 November – Melbourne turn their back on Colonial Stadium, making the move back to Olympic Park for the 2002 season.
Melbourne's jerseys were again manufactured by Fila and carried the same design as the 1999-2000 home jersey. A new purple away jersey design with white and silver thunderbolts was worn in select games, with navy shorts and purple socks. For the first time, the jerseys displayed a front sponsor, with a white Adecco logo in a red box on the home jersey, with just the white logo on the purple away jersey.
In conjunction with the celebrations for Melbourne's 100th game in round 18 against Wests, Melbourne ran a "team of the century" promotion to honour the best 17 players over the first 100 games of the club's existence. The team was announced during half time of the round 21 game against Brisbane.[4]
Greatest number of games lost consecutively: 4 [e]
Round 5 - Round 8
Feeder Team
Melbourne Storm reserve players again travelled to Brisbane each week to play with Queensland Cup team Norths Devils. Making the finals for the fourth straight season, Norths Devils finished fourth, but were eliminated in the first week of the 2001 Queensland Cup finals.
^Players are listed with the cap number as they appear on the Melbourne Storm honour board. Additional squad members do not have a cap number.
^This column denotes the previous RL club the player was signed to and played first grade RL for. If they are yet to debut then this is stipulated. If they were merely signed to the club but did not play then it is not counted.
^Barrow, Tim (28 January 2001). "Orford a real impact player". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney, New South Wales: Nationwide News Pty Ltd. p. 57.
^Beikoff, Katrin (2 February 2001). "Eagle returns to nest - Charm before the Storm for Bret". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney, New South Wales: Nationwide News Pty Ltd. p. 123.
^Vernon, Ben (3 February 2001). "Orford takes the points, not Storm". Herald-Sun. Melbourne, Victoria: Nationwide News Pty Ltd. p. 81.
^Ritchie, Dean (3 February 2001). "Kimmorley sinks his former mates". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney, New South Wales: Nationwide News Pty Ltd.
