2003 Melbourne Storm season
The 2003 Melbourne Storm season was the 6th in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2003 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season 5th out of 15 teams, before reaching the semi-final where they were knocked out by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. It was Craig Bellamy's first season as head coach of the club. Under new coach Craig Bellamy, the 2003 season for the Storm was one of regaining premiership credibility. Melbourne reached the finals for the first time since 2000 with evergreen Robbie Kearns and a confident Matt Orford showing  the way. A disappointing exit two weeks before the Grand Final was tempered by the rise of young Queenslanders Billy Slater and Cameron Smith. Unheard of at the start of 2003, the steady hooker and dummy-half Smith gave splendid service to Orford and his forwards. He was rewarded with a place in the Maroons Origin side and was unlucky to miss the Kangaroos train-on squad. The silky and pacy moves of Slater in the centres and at fullback were attention getters for fans and keen judges of football talent alike. His debut season for the Storm realised a  record 19 tries and talk of a big future in the game. Season Summary. Jerseys. Melbourne signed up a new apparel partner for the 2003 season, with Canterbury of New Zealand the new manufacturer of club jerseys. The home jersey design was unchanged from the 2001-02 jersey, but for a white collar replacing the gold. The club's clash colours was changed to a mostly white design with a purple chevron and gold thunderbolts, worn with navy shorts. Fixtures. Regular season. Source: 2003 squad. "List current as of 6 September 2021" Player movements. Losses Gains Representative honours. This table  lists all players who have played a representative match in 2003. Statistics. This table contains playing statistics for all Melbourne Storm players to have played in the 2003 NRL season. Scorers. "Most points in a game: 16 points" "Most tries in a game: 3 " Winning games. "Highest score in a winning game: 50 points " "Lowest score in a winning game: 12 points" "Greatest winning margin: 40 points " "Greatest number of games won consecutively: 4" Losing games. "Highest score in a losing game: 28 points" "Lowest score in a losing game: 0 points " "Greatest losing margin: 46 points" "Greatest number of  games lost consecutively: 2 " Feeder Team. Melbourne Storm reserve players again travelled to Brisbane each week to play with Queensland Cup team Norths Devils. Coached by Gary Greinke, Norths missed the finals for the first time under the affiliation with Melbourne, with Cooper Cronk winning club's player of the year award.