DUFFMAN
Bencher
Accumulated NRL ladder: Melbourne Storm best of all 16 NRL teams by 101 points
We crunch the numbers to find out where your team rates among all 16 NRL clubs and there’s no surprise which club sits at the top.Nick Walshaw
December 25, 2020 - 4:00PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is overseeing what looms as rugby league’s most dominant run since those mighty St George Dragons of the 1960s – with statistics revealing his reigning premiers are now 101 competition points clear of every NRL rival.
In a bid to determine ultimate NRL bragging rights, The Daily Telegraph has crunched the numbers on every regular competition game played since 2007, when all 16 teams first started competing.
And the result?
Melbourne Storm, first … daylight second.
According to Fox Sports Lab statistics, Melbourne lead the accumulated NRL competition table on 476 points – a staggering 101 competition points clear of nearest rivals, the Manly Sea Eagles.
To put said lead into perspective, consider that the next four teams are separated by just 20 points — Manly (375), the Roosters (370), Brisbane (361) and South Sydney (355).
Incredibly, the Storm also have a positive points differential of 3097.
The figure eclipses every NRL rival, the closest of which are the Sea Eagles (953), Roosters (853) and Rabbitohs (588).
While St George will forever hold rugby league’s most dominant run, winning 11 straight premierships, there is no doubting the Storm’s outstanding run more recently.
Elsewhere, the Brisbane Broncos also enjoyed a famed reign throughout the 1990s, claiming five premierships between 1992 and 2000, while Parramatta and Canterbury both bagged four premierships each in the 1980s.
Now, however, it’s all Melbourne.
On the way to claiming this year’s premiership, the Storm also racked up enough wins to ensure they now boast 50 more victories than any rival.
The Victorians have won five premierships under Bellamy, although two were stripped for salary cap breaches in 2007 and 2009.
While Melbourne are currently the undisputed NRL king, the Sea Eagles can also boast of being Sydney’s most successful club – holding onto a narrow lead over the Roosters by the equivalent of just two wins and a draw.
Parramatta and Wests Tigers, meanwhile, are the worst placed of all the Sydney clubs – sitting 13th and 14th respectively.
While both teams have earned the same number of wins, the Eels escaped being last among all Harbour City clubs thanks only to a pair of draws.
Unsurprisingly, the Tigers have made just two finals series in that time, and none since 2011. While the Eels have finished in the top eight on five occasions in 14 seasons.
Undeniably, the Roosters have risen up through the rankings in recent years with more than a little help from head coach Trent Robinson, under whom the Tricolours have now won three titles.
That recent success not only puts them third among all clubs but, importantly for Chooks fans, also edges out arch rivals South Sydney by 15 points.
Penrith, St George Illawarra and Cronulla, meanwhile, round out the top eight.
Yet undeniably, the story remains Melbourne.
Coached throughout all 14 years of this ‘mock’ competition by Bellamy, Storm also prove that old adage about defence winning competitions.
When it comes to points conceded, Storm have easily the lowest number: 4697.
The figure is a whopping 1500 points better than the rest of the field, which then goes St George Illawarra (6247), Manly (6344) and Roosters (6433).
Of course, the other great mainstay among these figures is Melbourne legend Cameron Smith, whose Storm debut came in 2002 – a season before Bellamy came on as head coach.
It is important to note that when compiling the ladder, analysts used only regular competition rounds. They also decided to exclude, after some debate, any penalties incurred for salary cap breaches, as happened with both Storm and Parramatta.
The decision, while sure to create debate itself among NRL fans, shows the dominance Melbourne has enjoyed since all current teams first began competing against one another.
Elsewhere, the competition for mid-table positions was close, with only 11 points separating the Dragons in seventh from North Queensland in 11th.
The ladder also shows what a tough decade it has been for Newcastle supporters, whose last premiership came six years before these numbers began being compiled.
The Knights sit last on the table, four competition points behind Gold Coast. Both clubs also have horrific differentials.
Newcastle also carry three consecutive wooden spoons with them from the horror years of 2015-2017 that delivered a measly total of 14 wins.
As the worst of all the Sydney teams, Wests Tigers sit 89 wins behind the Melbourne Storm.
Even after a few lean years it's good to see us sitting in second.
