NRL Round 5 featured stirring breakthrough wins for previously winless Manly and North Queensland, renewing hopes of a finals push after most fans and critics had drawn a line through their names for 2021.
In the third edition ofย Zero Tackleโs Top 8, This Warriors Life's Will Evans counts down the best revivals horror starts during the NRL era.
Check out This Warriors Lifeโsย websiteย andย podcast, and follow them onย Facebookย andย Twitter.
CHECK OUT WILL's OTHER TOP 8s: The best rugby league wing giants, Miraculous comebacks of the NRL era
7.
Melbourne Storm (2000)
Melbourneโs premiership defence began with a 14-6 loss to the Warriors, which was compounded by the tragic drowning of team manager Michael Moore in Auckland. The heartbroken Storm lost their next three games but rebounded to form in the most stunning fashion imaginable โ a 70-10 demolition of โ99 Grand Final opponents the Dragons at the MCG.
Despite a season-ending injury suffered by Robbie Ross and a lengthy suspension doled out to Stephen Kearney, the Storm clawed their way to sixth with 14 wins and a draw. A 30-16 loss to the Knights in week one of the finals snuffed out the champsโ brave rally.
Game 60
Melbourne Storm v St George-Illawarra Dragons
M.C.G, 3 March 2000
Melbourne won 70-10
Tries: Ross, Lavea, Kimmorley 2, Moule, Bai, Swain, Hill, Williams, Roarty
Goals: M. Geyer 3/3, T. Lavea 8/9
Record: 38-1-21#Dragons #NRL #Melbourne #PurplePride #YourStorm pic.twitter.com/F5zElpg2SB
— EveryStormGame (@EveryStormGame) July 27, 2020
Parramatta 2009 doesn’t even get a mention?!?!
5 wins from 18 rounds and go on to make a GF… that’ll do me!
I take your point – but this list was based purely on teams that lost a bunch of games at the start, going 0-3, 0-4, 0-5 etc.
The ’09 Eels won two of their first three so I didn’t consider them for this. Absolutely the greatest late-season charge since Souths’ Miracle of ’55 – in fact I put them at No.2 in the ‘Late-season Rallies’ top 10 in my book ‘The NRL Book of Lists’.