It’s been a difficult six weeks for the Melbourne Storm.
Backline stars Ryan Papenhyzen and Jonah Pezet are officially gone, head coach Craig Bellamy is coming off contract (again) and as the 2026 pre-season gets underway the health of stricken forward Eli Katoa remains foremost in the thoughts of everyone at the club.
Against a backdrop of uncertainty that touches many fronts at the club, Melbourne Storm CEO Justin Rodski has acknowledged there are plenty of challenges to be overcome—including the mental scars of successive grand final defeats.
“I think we’re still dealing with it to be honest,” Rodski admitted of the 2025 season decider loss to the Brisbane Broncos back on October 5.
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“Losing a grand final is tough, losing two in a row is even tougher—we’re still really proud our season, but in the end on that Sunday night we just weren’t quite good enough,” he said.
Rodski explained Storm players and coaches were encouraged to take time away to deal with the disappointment in their own ways, before beginning the process of ‘climbing the mountain again’ in 2026.
“We’ve been doing it for number of years now and we continue to come back (as an NRL premiership threat),” he said.
“Each season we’re there or thereabouts—to be giving ourselves the opportunity to win a premiership and making it to the grand final is something we want to continue to do and hopefully next year we can go one better.”
‘We’re in the market’ declares Rodski
The Storm boss also discussed the ongoing challenges of list management which has played a crucial role in delivering the Storm’s sustained run of success over more than a decade under head coach Craig Bellamy.
“We do have few list spots that we’re currently looking at,” he said.
“We’ve had a number of list management meetings post season, some of those changes have been forced and some have been a good opportunity for us to reset the list.
“We’re really comfortable and confident in our core squad, but there are clearly some gaps that we need to address and we’re in the market talking to a number of players for 2026, but also 2027 and 2028.”
How high on the Storm’s list is off-contract Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui?
“I think he’s high on everyone’s list!” Rodski laughed.