Storm have the numbers

[Super Cronk]

Sun-Herald



The figures don't lie and the NRL competition leaders are carving a niche in Melbourne's sporting psyche.


IT'S THE eternal question in the NRL: If the Storm win the premiership, does anyone in Melbourne hear it? As it turns out, yes.


There's been some telling research floating around the hallways of the Storms front office about the frontier club's relevancy in its battle for the hearts, minds and hip pockets of Melburnians:


Killer stat #1: More than 48 per cent or 1.1 million Melburnians have an interest in the Storm.


Killer stat #2: The Storm rank fourth out of AFL and NRL clubs in terms of media exposure for their corporate partners. Only Essendon, Fremantle and the Broncos rate higher.


Killer stat #3: The Storm are third in the NRL for print media coverage behind Newcastle and Brisbane.


These numbers come from research company S-COMM's mid-season benchmark study into the football codes.


And while the figures might sound like something that belongs on a PowerPoint presentation, they are firm indicators that the Storm are carving a niche market the game's powerbrokers have always envisaged.


It conflicts with repeated speculation that the club's owner, News Ltd, could turn out the lights at any moment.


Most recently, it was rumoured the media giant had given the Storm a deadline of 2012 - two years in its refurbished stadium at Olympic Park - to return a profit or it would withdraw its support.


"Until I hear it out of the mouths of the people who know, I wouldn't waste my time responding to it," Storm chief executive Brian Waldron said. "It doesn't worry me one bit.


"The game should be grateful for the support that's been given to the Storm down here. Our growth in this market gives enormous commercial value to the NRL as a brand."


These favourable numbers come on the back of others.


The Sydney Morning Herald revealed last week that the Storm were the second-most watched side nationally on free-to-air and pay TV behind South Sydney.


Annual Morgan research into the fan base of NRL clubs revealed that from December 2005 to March, the Storm had recorded a 32 per cent lift in their number of supporters: from 544,000 to 732,000.


"The facts are we've grown the team to the point where we are the second-most popular in the competition in a market that's flush with sports-mad people," Waldron said. "The old days of rugby league being a game of bum sniffers is gone."


There is also the hard fact of crowd numbers. Leading into the grand final rematch against the Broncos yesterday, the Storm have an average home attendance of 11,522 - a staggering 51 per cent increase since 2004. Storm players aren't feted like rock stars - or AFL players - when they walk down the street just yet. But the tide is turning.


When Storm coach Craig Bellamy attended the recent match between Geelong and Collingwood at the MCG, a couple of people wished him and his players good luck for the rest of the season.


"But that was two in a crowd of 80,000," the coach laughed. "Things are slowly changing. In my first three years here, none of us were recognised. Maybe just Billy Slater because of his profile and Matt King because of his hair. Everyone flew under the radar. But our players are being recognised more and more."


The relative anonymity is becoming a beacon for prospective players, especially youngsters keen to avoid the media scrutiny in Sydney and Brisbane. While Sonny Bill Williams has paparazzi lenses flung in his face as he leaves a Kings Cross nightclub well before midnight as sober as a judge, the Storm's Israel Folau can walk the streets unnoticed.


"I've sat many a day at Fox Studios and seen many Sydney Swans players who would turn heads in Melbourne walk through without being recognised - whether it's Leo Barry or Barry Hall," Waldron said.


Maybe this week, the lead-up to the clash with Parramatta, will provide the measuring stick. Eels CEO Denis Fitzgerald has been the Storm's most vocal critic.


"We haven't heard from him this year," Bellamy said. "Maybe we are doing something right."

[Steelers]

"We haven't heard from him this year," Bellamy said. "Maybe we are doing something right."

You are doing everything possible to shut up that goose Fitzgerald, but expect him to say something this week, as we all know how much this bloke babbles on at the most inappropriate times.