Melbourne Storm

The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Melbourne, Victoria. They are the current National Rugby League premiers, having competed in every season of the Premiership since its inception in 1998. The first fully-professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria, the Storm have played in the last four NRL grand finals, making them one of the League's top teams. As of October 2009, they were ranked the most popular sporting team in Melbourne by a national Roy Morgan Poll. Melbourne won their first premiership in 1999, only their second season of competition. The club has qualified for all but two finals series since their inception into the NRL, winning the minor premiership three times in a row from 2006-2008, and contesting each grand final from 2006-2009, winning in 2007 and 2009. This makes them one of the NRL's most successful clubs in the premiership today, earning them the title of NRL Team of the Decade for the 2000s. Their coach Craig Bellamy is the incumbent New South Wales State of Origin coach and their captain Cameron Smith has captained the Australian national team.