The 2012 Melbourne Storm season is the 15th in the club's history. Coached by Craig Bellamy and captained by Cameron Smith, they competed in and won the NRL's 2012 Telstra Premiership. The first 9 weeks of the season were very successful, winning all games for what was at the time their best start to a season. From Round 10 to Round 21 they won only 3 games and lost 7 games, this included a 5-game losing streak between Rounds 16 and 21, their second worst ever. From Round 22 onward they recovered their winning form and finished the regular season with five straight wins, finishing in second place. The Storm then went on to defeat South Sydney and Manly in the finals series before going on to face minor premiers, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the 2012 NRL Grand Final, winning 14-4 to claim the Premiership.
In 2012 the Storm jerseys were made by Kooga. They retained their predominantly purple home jersey from the previous two seasons and also their predoninantly white away jersey from 2010.
For the NRL Heritage round, (Round 5), the Storm wore a replica of their original 1998 jersey.
For the Round 12 clash with the Brisbane Broncos They wore a special silver V with purple camouflage jersey. A similar jersey was worn in the same game in 2011.
For the Round 19 game against North Queensland Cowboys the Storm wore a one off promotional jersey to promote The Dark Knight Rises. The Jersey was predominantly black with the Batman logo on the front and back.
For the Round 22 game against Penrith Panthers the Storm wore their "Close the Gap" jersey.
Round 3 - Billy Slater with two tries becomes the highest try scoring full back in Australian Rugby League history taking his career total to 130 tries against Gold Coast Titans
Round 4 - Billy Slater scored a try double for the fourth consecutive week, the first time he has done this in his career.
Round 5 (Heritage Round) - The Storm celebrated their 15th Anniversary and Bryan Norrie played his 50th game.
Round 7 - The Storm equalled their best start to a season (2007) with their 7th straight win.
Round 8 - With their eighth straight win over the New Zealand Warriors, the Storm complete their best start to a season in their history.
Round 9 - The Storm win their ninth straight game
Round 10 - The Storm Lose their first match of the season in a 12-10 Loss away at Cronulla.
Round 12 - Will Chambers played his 50th NRL game while Todd Lowrie played his 50th game for the Storm,
Round 13 - Todd Lowrie played his 150th NRL game.
Round 14 - Craig Bellamy coached his 250th Game for the Melbourne Storm against the Wests Tigers.
Round 19 - Cooper Cronk played his 200th NRL game.
Round 20 - With their fourth consecutive loss, the Storm equalled their second worst losing streak in their history to date.
Round 21 - With their fifth consecutive loss, the Storm completed their second worst losing streak in their history. It was their worst losing steak under Craig Bellamy.
Round 22 - The Storm ended their 5-game losing streak with a 46-6 demolition of the Penrith Panthers. The game was notable for Sisa Waqa scoring the NRL seasons fastest try after only 35 seconds of play. It was also the Storms biggest score of the season to date.
Round 23 - Mahe Fonua makes his debut as the first fully born and bred Victorian to play NRL for the Storm. Jessie Bromwich also played his 50th game for the storm.
Round 24 - Cameron Smith scored his 1300th career point.
Round 25 - With two tries inside the final 3 minutes the Storm came from 18-10 down to win 20-18 against Cronulla Sharks. The win also mean't the Storm's overall wins percentage went to 63.64% this placed the Storm ahead of the Broncos in first place on the all-time table for the first time.
Finals Week 1 - The Storm began their finals campaign with a win over South Sydney Rabbitohs earning them a weeks break and a home preliminary final.
Finals Week 3 - The Storm completed a 40 - 12 thrashing of Manly to secure a spot in the 2012 NRL Grand Final against the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Grand Final - The Storm defeated the Canterbury Bulldogs 14 - 4 to claim the 2012 NRL premiership. Cameron Smith, while having a bad night with the boot (1 from 5 attempts), kicked his 600th career goal. The Grand Final was also notable because it was the first to feature a scoreless second half of football.
Statistics Source: Statistics current following the Grand Final.
Most Points in a Game: 14
Cameron Smith, 1 try, 5 Goals vs Manly 18 June 2012
Cameron Smith, 7 Goals vs Penrith 4 August 2012
Most tries in a Game: 3
Justin O'Neill vs Penrith (5 May 2012)
Will Chambers vs New Zealand (25 April 2012)
Although other players may play for the Melbourne Storm during the year, all NRL clubs are required to select a top 25 First Grade squad at the beginning of the season.
2012 Squad Signings
2012 Squad Transfers
The following players have played a representative match in 2012. (C) = Captain
Player of the year: Cameron Smith
Rookie of the year: Mahe Fonua
Clive Churchill Medal: Cooper Cronk
On 4 August 2012, the 2012 Dally M Awards were held. The Melbourne Storm had two winners on the night with Cameron Smith winning Hooker of the year and Cooper Cronk winning Halfback of the year.
On 17 October 2012 the RLIF held their annual award ceremony and presented a number of awards to Melbourne Storm personnel including naming Cameron Smith the International Rugby League Player of the year.
Melbourne Storm personnel that received awards were:
International Player of the Year – Cameron Smith
International Coach of the Year – Craig Bellamy
Halfback of the year - Cooper Cronk
Hooker of the year - Cameron Smith
Fijian player of the year - Sisa Waqa
