Should we be surprised by the Storm's form slump?

Under Craig Bellamy’s reign as coach, the Storm have been a perennial contender in the NRL for his 23 years in charge.

But will 2026 be only the second time that Melbourne has failed to make the finals in his tenure?

After losing last year's Grand Final, the club lost Ryan Papenhuyzen, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Jonah Pezet during the off-season, resulting in their playing depth being impacted.

Initially, it appeared that the Storm would continue their sustained success, having comfortably beaten the Eels and Dragons in the first two rounds.

But following their 26-22 loss to the Canberra Raiders in the nation’s capital on Friday night, the Storm have now lost five games in a row for the first time since 2012.

With that, plenty of speculation has risen about why the side is struggling particularly in second halves, considering they had led at the main break in three of their five losses.

Now sitting 14th on the ladder, Denan Kemp believes there are two reasons behind their poor showings.

“It is a mixture of two things,” Kemp said on SEN’s Saturday League Kick-Off.

“When you actually look at their roster, it's not the same roster as back in the day.

“Do they still have stars throughout their roster? They do.

“But they got a bunch of injuries (and) they lost a bunch (of players). “Even at full strength heading into this year, they'd still lost quite a few players heading into the season.

Two of those players that the Storm have missed this season are Xavier Coates and Eli Katoa.

Both players featured in last year’s Dally M Team of the Year, with Coates being out due to an Achilles injury, with an estimated return date of Round 10.

At the same time, Katoa has been ruled out for the entire season after needing brain surgery following his three head knocks while representing Tonga against New Zealand.

Given that the two either assisted or scored 47 of Melbourne’s 129 tries for 2025 (36.43% of their total tries), the former Broncos’ winger is not surprised by their struggles.

“I think (Eliesa) Katoa and (Xavier) Coates, I'm not sure about the exact stats,” he added.

“But if you actually watched every single game last year, and I'm not exaggerating, I reckon Katoa and Coates were responsible for probably about 30 to 40% of their points.

“I just think if you were to say to any team, we're gonna take away 30 to 40% of your points, they would struggle.”

Kemp also pointed to their struggles with their edge defence.

“Their starting side, it's solid,” he continued.

“But even at full strength, their edge defence has been a concern for quite a while.

“Now they're starting to get into some depth players, and I just think there's a couple of players that probably aren't up to the Melbourne Storm standard yet, that usually if there aren't so many injuries or players moving on, they have more time to develop them.”

The Storm will look to avoid equalling their club record losing streak of six games when they face South Sydney as part of their annual ANZAC Day clash at AAMI Park.

The Rabbitohs are yet to win a match at the venue in their 13 previous attempts.

Kick off takes place 8:10pm AEST.