My favourite team, the Melbourne Storm, may have lost the 2024 NRL Grand Final but I still enjoyed my first experience attending one of the biggest sporting events of the year.
The trek to Accor Stadium in Sydney on Sunday 6 October started very early for me, waking up at 6:30am to catch the 8am coach from Canberra.
As I walked around Sydney, it was nice to see more people wearing Storm guernseys and tops than Penrith Panthers.
I got to the stadium early enough to watch the Sydney Roosters vs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRLW Grand Final.
This was my first time watching women playing rugby and it left me impressed. I was rooting for the Roosters, who won 32-28, which I can’t say was the same for my favourite team later in the day…
It was nice to see that the first try of the match was by the 2024 NRLW Dally M Medal winner and Roosters star Olivia Kernick. I had high hopes the NRL Dally M Medal winner, Jahrome Hughes, in his 150th game, would do the same, but that wasn’t the case.
The women’s match managed to bring in a crowd of 40,263 people, which I think is impressive given that anyone who wanted to experience the entire day’s worth would have been at the stadium for about 10 hours.
There was so much that I didn’t know would be part of it the day: the cheerleaders (which I thought was a thing of the past); a tribute to retiring players, a cultural performance to promote the 2024 Pacific Championships and community awards (with a few for the NRL players).
Plenty of sporting stars were also involved in the day, with champion tennis and basketball player, and Melbourne Storm No 1 ticketholder, Dylan Alcott spotted on the field, Paris Paralympic and Olympic swimmers and medallists Alexa Leary and Mollie O’Callaghan presented the game ball for the men’s match, while sisters and Olympic canoeists and medalists Jess and Noemie Fox celebrated the win with their beloved Panthers.
The pre-game entertainment was provided by Australian rapper and singer-songwriter, Kamilaroi man The Kid Laroi, who for some reason was on stage half an hour after the expected time. I think he did a great job performing his hits and INXS’ Never Tear Us Apart, despite many other slamming his performance.
He was accompanied by a band, lots of smoke (which sometimes made it hard to see him because he was wearing white), pyrotechnics and flames.
The Australian National Anthem duty was given to Dami Im, which I was excited about because I’d never seen her perform.
Finally, it was time for the men to kick off; there was a lot of talk about Melbourne Storm winning. This was something I had also expected because they won 19 of their 24 matches this season. Despite many of the top players being injured and less experienced teammates stepping in, the Storm had an extremely strong year, coming out on top as the minor premiers.
You could see very early on in the match that both teams were strong in their defence, making it hard for anyone to score a try.
The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, with a strong presence of fans from both teams, bringing the total attendance to 80,156. I even decided to stay well after the match finished, as the Panthers celebrated their historic moment – their fourth-consecutive win – with their supporters.
Despite the 14-6 loss, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being in the crowd, from serendipitously sitting next to fellow Canberrans, to the pre-game entertainment, the variety of performances, and the ease of travelling to and from the stadium.
Although this may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, I’m hoping next year will be Melbourne’s time to shine once again and that I can hopefully make it to another grand final.
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