'The rot is real' - Melbourne Storm's dramatic decline | Across the Divide! (28.04.26)

0.031 - 1.958 Andrew Voss

Is Melbourne's storming crisis?

1.988 - 24.233 Gerard Whateley

Yep. Yeah, rot's real. Rot's real. I did a comparison yesterday. So this time last year, our four-time Premier Penrith at the end of round eight dropped to last. And I wanted to look at their numbers. The Melbourne numbers read far worse than Penrith this time last year. So if people are saying, oh, well, it happened to Penrith last year. Melbourne will get out of this.

24.734 - 42.074 Gerard Whateley

No, Melbourne's in a bigger rut, even though by the ladder they're not last. They've got dragons. Poor old dragons down the bottom haven't won a game. The Melbourne rut is real. The drop in form around a star player like Cameron Munster, Queensland captain, I can't score him even six out of ten this year, Gerard.

42.936 - 65.176 Gerard Whateley

There is no aura about Melbourne. It's gone. You're used to, in tipping comps, oh, it's Melbourne in Melbourne. If you have any – oh, it's Melbourne in Melbourne. Tip Melbourne. Well, they just got dusted up by South Sydney, who had never won in Melbourne. There can be no more telling moment that a team that's never won in the city, 0-20, thrash them, thrash them.

65.917 - 81.288 Gerard Whateley

Bellamy comes out and says he's now never been more embarrassed. I don't have Melbourne winning this week, Gerard. I think they're going to run into a dolphin side Friday night that is full of points. No, the rot's real. The rot is real. It's all uncharted waters for us. We've never seen a failing Melbourne side in two decades.

81.368 - 83.511 Andrew Voss

So I don't think we know how to comprehend it.

83.531 - 97.867 Andrew Voss

We don't know what to deal with it. We don't know what it means. We don't know what will happen. Yeah. Can I just ask, is there – so we do know that Sydney hates the storm. I think we've understood that for a long time. Not you personally. I've always exempted you from this, Voss.

97.987 - 98.888 Gerard Whateley

Yes, thank you. Yes.

98.868 - 102.933 Andrew Voss

is there a perverse sense of joy being taken in Sydney at Melbourne Strong?

112.465 - 134.092 Gerard Whateley

Vossie, us Dragons fans are feeling really sorry for the storm, mate. You know, like I was talking about the Melbourne situation. Look, I don't know whether it's tall poppy syndrome. I think there's probably a bit more good nature in it than that, than anything cruel, but... I think people are saying, yeah, it's their turn and sort of an old-fashioned suck eggs sort of thing.

134.152 - 154.678 Gerard Whateley

But I want – look, I want all the – Melbourne have been so good to watch. They're now a very tough watch and they've become unreliable. I think that's the thing that would be eating Craig Bellamy away, unreliability. That is something we have not associated with a storm. It's one thing to be inconsistent, but they're unreliable. They're not just inconsistent week to week.

154.958 - 163.491 Gerard Whateley

They're inconsistent within 40 minutes, Gerard. Like, you know, they can go through a five-minute good period, 15-minute bad. Game gets away from them. Now, I think the rot's real.

164.453 - 175.725 Gerard Whateley

Can they get out of it? I don't think they could make top four. I just think... They might be done and dusted in a month, Gerard. That's how bad it is at the moment.

175.765 - 187.296 Andrew Voss

And then how do they navigate that when they simply don't know this Craig Bellamy doesn't coach teams to this sort of position? There's such a gulf of the unknown about this.

187.276 - 208.119 Gerard Whateley

And we have State of Origin just around the corner. You'll have to navigate that period either without Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, albeit their form iffy, or they're having to back up from Origin. And previous years, Craig Bellamy has rested players after Origin. They won't have that luxury this year. Melbourne are potentially in a month in must-win situation.