1998 Melbourne Storm season
The 1998 Melbourne Storm season was the first in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's inaugural Premiership and their first season was a major surprise to many, with the new team reaching the top of the ladder in Round 15 and finishing the regular season in 3rd place, only one win behind minor premiers Brisbane. Adopting coach Anderson's new "flat-line" attack, the big Storm forwards laid a platform for their young halves Scott Hill and Brett Kimmorley to wreak havoc on opposing teams. Melbourne's front-rowers Glenn Lazarus, Robbie  Kearns and Rodney Howe were all selected to play for New South Wales in the 1998 State of Origin series. A late season injury to captain Lazarus combined with a lack of Finals experience saw the Storm knocked out in the play-offs. The club though had proven they were to be taken seriously, and they had easily produced the best debut season of any new team in the game's history. Season summary. Jerseys. Melbourne's inaugural jerseys were navy blue jerseys with a stylised white and purple chevron design, with gold trim and collars, worn with navy blue  shorts and socks. Until late in the season, there were no advertising logos, except that of manufacturer Nike. Unusually, Melbourne carried on the Super League innovation of having player names on the back of jerseys, ostensibly to assist new fans to identify players. The team wore the predominately blue jerseys in every game in 1998, except for the round 15 game against North Queensland Cowboys, when a predominately white jersey was worn with white shorts and socks. Fixtures. Regular season. Source: 1998 Squad. "List current as of 21 July 2021" Inaugural Team. The first Melbourne Storm team to take to  the field in Round 1 of the 1998 NRL season Representative honours. This table lists all players who have played a representative match in 1998. Statistics. This table contains playing statistics for all Melbourne Storm players to have played in the 1998 NRL season. Scorers. "Most points in a game: 18 points " "Most tries in a game: 3 " Winning games. "Highest score in a winning game: 62 points" "Lowest score in a winning game: 10 points" "Greatest winning margin: 54 points" "Greatest number of games won consecutively: 4" Losing games. "Highest score in a losing game: 21 points" "Lowest score  in a losing game: 4 points" "Greatest losing margin: 24 points" "Greatest number of games lost consecutively: 2" Feeder Team. Upon entry to the NRL, Melbourne Storm signed an affiliation agreement with Queensland Cup team Norths Devils to act as a feeder club and to provide Melbourne players who were not selected to play first grade a match each weekend. Players would fly to Brisbane each week after training in Melbourne to play Queensland Cup. The arrangement bore immediate results as the side coached by Mark Murray won the minor premiership. Featuring a number of players who had played for  Melbourne in 1998, Norths Devils would go on to win the 1998 Queensland Cup Grand Final 35-18 against Wests Panthers.