Best 17s of the 16-team era: Melbourne Storm

Like them or loathe them, the Melbourne Storm have been among the most successful clubs in the NRL during the 16-team era.

Even without their stripped titles, they have won three premierships, five minor premierships and lost another three grand finals since 2007.

They have also won the World Club Challenge twice, and only missed the finals in 2010 when they weren't allowed to play for points.

That means there is a mountain of talent, but who are the best?

A reminder that the only qualification to be considered for selection at a club is that the player must have played more career games for that club where they have played for multiple between the 2007 and 2022 period.

Fullback: Billy Slater

When it comes to fullbacks at the Melbourne Storm, there are only two that spring to mind in the entire club history.

The current-day version in Ryan Papenhuyzen is a wonderful player - of that there can be no doubt. In a generation which is littered with incredible fullbacks, he is in the top couple.

Injuries haven't helped his cause in recent seasons, but even then, it will take a full career at the level he is playing at to even come close to matching Slater.

The star fullback was the best number one in the competition at both ends of the park for many years. Part of Melbourne's never-ending dominance, he was also a member of Queensland's dominant Origin side.

He will go close to being the best player of the generation, period, winding up with 190 tries from 319 games. He is the Storm's leading scorer by a considerable distance.

Wingers: Josh Addo-Carr and Sulivasi Vunivalu

While Xavier Coates and Nick Meaney had strong first seasons in Melbourne, they don't yet come close - and nor are they eligible - to eclipsing the work of some of the wingers at the club over the last 16 years.

The first selected has to be Josh Addo-Carr. Despite playing just 118 games for the Storm, he is the club's third-highest try-scorer of all-time, crossing 96 times with an incredible strike rate.

The other spot is a three-way race between Suliasi Vunivalu, Marika Koroibete and Israel Folau.

Koroibete's 34 tries in 58 games, and Folau's 36 in 52, give them playing of reason to be selected, but ultimately, it's impossible to go past Vunivalu, who had 86 tries in 111 games during an excellent body of work in purple.

Others worthy of a mention include Matt Duffie, Anthony Quinn and Steve Turner.

Centres: Justin Olam and Will Chambers

Before we go into the centres - Greg Inglis is ineligible. He played more games for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Reimis Smith is also not yet eligible, with more games for the Bulldogs.

That doesn't mean there aren't talented options available. While Curtis Scott, Dane Nielsen and Matt King (left the Storm at the end of 2007) are all handy options, none of the group go close to Justin Olam and Will Chambers.

Chambers has scored the sixth-highest amount of tries in Storm history, crossing 82 times in a 215-game stint for the club. He debuted in the first year of the 16-year era, and while he broke it up with a stint in Rugby Union, he would ultimately play 13 times for Queensland and 7 for Australia.

Olam, who is a current Papua New Guinean representative, is always in the shout for Dally M team of the year. A barnstorming ball-runner, he is also devastating in defence and one of the game's best.

Halves: Cameron Munster and Cooper Cronk

There are three options when it comes to the halves, but two standouts. Jahrome Hughes is well on the way to becoming a Storm legend, and part of the current big four. Unfortunately for the New Zealander, in a one-on-one duel with Cooper Cronk, he doesn't come close.

There isn't much Cronk didn't do during his incredible career, with the bulk of it spent under Craig Bellamy at the Storm, and he takes the number seven jumper.

In the number six, Cameron Munster will be the man - he is the current best five-eighth in the game, a Queensland and Australian automatic selection, and a force to be reckoned with at both ends of the park.

Middle forwards: Jesse Bromwich, Christian Welch and Dallas Johnson

The Melbourne Storm - as you might expect for a team who have been at the top of the NRL for as long as they have been - have some incredible middle forwards to call upon.

From the current group of Tui Kamikamica, Christian Welch and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, to those who have retired in Dallas Johnson and Brett White, though to those at other clubs in Tohu Harris, Jesse Bromwich and Dale Finucane, all of those players have been in one way or another, involved in the club's incredible run of success.

Finucane and Dallas Johnson are the two who compete for the 13 jumper. Both hard-hitting, hard-working forwards, they are almost impossible to split, but Johnson's 12 Origins and single Test for Australia prove just how good he was, so we will take him.

The front row is an even tougher job to pick, but Jesse Bromwich and Christian Welch have put up incredible work for the Storm, so take the spots ahead of the remainder.

All of that doesn't even consider Jordan McLean, who was an Australian representative at the Storm, but has gone on to play more games for the Cowboys.

Hooker: Cameron Smith

Harry Grant, Brandon Smith and Ryan Hinchcliffe are all names who could provide suitable back-up, but no one in the NRL would knock Cameron Smith out of this jumper based on the last 16 years.

Everything that needs to be said has already been said about Smith - 430 games, 48 tries, 1295 goals, a career that went for almost 20 years, 42 Origins and 56 Tests.

He is one of the best to ever lace up a boot.

Second-row: Kenneath Bromwich and Ryan Hoffman

More depth creates another challenging selection in the second-row for the Storm. Club legend Ryan Hoffman, the departing Kenneath Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi, Kevin Proctor, Sika Manu and Adam Blair are all worthy of selection.

Kenneath Bromwich and Ryan Hoffman win the race though.

Hoffman, a club legend, played 245 games for the Storm over two stints to the end of 2014, but represented New South Wales 14 times, and Australia 6 times during that period.

A wonderful ball-runner, Hoffman was also rock solid in defence.

Bromwich has taken that same approach to life on the edge for the Storm, with the New Zealand representative being a permanent fixture there for Craig Bellamy in recent years.

Interchange: Harry Grant, Dale Finucane, Tohu Harris, Adam Blair

The number of quality forwards who missed out on this side means this is an almost impossible task as well.

The number 14 jumper comes down to Harry Grant and Brandon Smith. Smith brings better versatility, but Grant is impossible to ignore, and at a pinch, could play in the halves anyway.

The three forwards we will take are Dale Finucane, Tohu Harris and Adam Blair. All three were tremendous during their time at the club and would create a fearsome bench rotation, just edging out the likes of Sika Manu, Kevin Proctor, Felise Kaufusi, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Tui Kamikamica and Brett White.

Blair and Harris also provide the edge of being able to play on the edge or in the middle.