Frank Ponissi and Craig Bellamy are absolute masters at squad building.
There might currently be arguments around Bellamy's actual coaching pedigree, given his grand final record is less than flattering, but there is no doubt around his man-management ability, and methods of refreshing a squad to keep them competitive.
Say what you like about Bellamy, but you can count the number of times the Storm have missed the finals in the last two decades on one finger - and that was because they couldn't possibly make them after the great salary cap scandal findings in 2010.
So there are no serious arguments about the way Melbourne set themselves up, even if their success in terms of premierships has been a little bit limited.
The bottom line is that premierships are exceptionally difficult to win, and to win one, you first have to be there at the pointy end of the season.
Melbourne gives itself the best chance of that year after year after year.
It's relentless, but that's exactly what is expected out of the playing group by Bellamy and Ponissi.
And it's what they expect themselves in that pursuit of excellence - relentless decision making and roster transformation.
What became clear throughout 2025 is that the Storm are in need of the first steps in that next round of refreshing.
When they were at their absolute best, they were far and away the best team in the competition, but there were simply too many lapses.
As someone who watches every coach press conference after games, it was clear there was a running trend for Bellamy throughout the 2025 campaign.
Inconsistency.
And that was what failed the pub test, too. Melbourne found themselves playing an excellent half, and a dud one, far too often.
Listening to Melbourne's former captain, and one of the greatest to ever lace up a boot, on Channel 9 in the grand final wash-up was intriguing.
He said that grand finals - or your final game of the season, whenever that is - often are the greatest reflection on the issue your campaign just had.
And for Melbourne, the grand final was exactly that.
A superb first half where you could have sworn they were going to demolish the Brisbane Broncos, followed by a second half where they were powerless to stop the tirade of momentum driven by Reece Walsh as Michael Maguire's side ran over the top of them.
That's not to say Melbourne was awful, but their first contact was, and their plans to turn it around weren't much better.
That, in a nutshell, says it's time for change in the Victorian capital. A reworking of their roster and salary cap to ensure they will be competitive for years to come, rather than sitting on their hands and watching the world move by.
That is something Craig Bellamy and Frank Ponissi have never once been accused of.
And it's not going to be something they can be accused of this time, either.
Already, less than a fortnight after the grand final, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who became a liability rather than an asset the longer 2025 went on with his constant penalties and suspensions, has been released after agreeing to a payout.
Ryan Papenhuyzen reportedly will be let go, and potentially immediately, with there being a view in Melbourne that there is no point in him hanging around for 2026 if he has already committed to the new R360 competition that threatens to do significant harm to the NRL's player stocks at a time when the competition is about to introduce new teams in back-to-back seasons.
Cameron Munster will be allowed to speak to the Perth Bears if he asks for it, and if that happens, there is a fair chance the Storm will agree to a loan deal for Jonah Pezet in a bid to ensure he stays with the club long-term and doesn't leave with his free agency clause now activated.
Meanwhile, the club have turned Eliesa Katoa into the NRL's best second-rower, and locked down Xavier Coates after his high-flying season, while the likes of Jack Howarth and Alec MacDonald continue to lead the younger brigade in the Victorian capital.
The moves will allow the men in purple to get back to business as usual, by doing their business as usual.
See, many of the experienced players are now on the wrong side of the age fence, and letting go of Papenhuyzen, Munster and Asofa-Solomona will ensure Melbourne have the spots for Pezet and Sua Fa'alogo, who are the next stars of the club, while either having money to attack free agency, or minutes to bring through their own youngsters in the middle third of the park.
With Melbourne now having a successful pathways system at every level of the NSWRL system, 'their own juniors' is going to be a comment you'll see more and more, and like everything else they have tried, you'd expect that, with time, Ponissi will make that pathway a successful one.
Maybe not to the extent of what has happened after Phil Gould's influence at Penrith, but a success nonetheless.
Really, there shouldn't be that much of a surprise that Melbourne is suddenly thinking about releases left, right and centre.
They have clearly thrown their eggs into the Jahrome Hughes basket with the Kiwi halfback re-signing, while all signs point to Harry Grant doing the same.
If those two re-sign and are joined by the next iteration of Storm stars, then it would be the same approach they used a little over half a decade ago when Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk (who joined the Roosters), and Cameron Smith all stopped playing with the Storm but at different time periods.
It allowed Melbourne to bring through the star spine you see now at different rates, and with experienced voices around them at all times, rather than throwing a whole bunch to the wolves.
Maybe Australia's greatest sports example is the mid-2000s cricket team. Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer all retired on the same day.
Cricket Australia didn't fall down a pit, but it certainly took time to recover and regain that level of experience.
Melbourne is desperate not to fall into the same trap, which is why you're suddenly seeing Papenhuyzen might be leaving immediately, and Munster 12 months later.
It keeps their roster balance, their salary cap in check, and ensures the next wave of Melbourne players are always there, keeping the club in contention for the pointy end of the season.
It's simply smart business.
I was fine with everything until you came to the Cricket Australia analogy.
I see cricket as being different in one crucial respect. Cricket is nominally a team game, but it is actually a collection of individuals. At any one time your team has a single batsman facing up to the opposition. He doesn’t have the equivalent of lead runners, dummy runners, men in motion distracting the opposition, off-side team-mates, and a referee looking at half a dozen things at the same time.
The fielding team acts as a team only in the sense that the captain repositions his fielders and decides who will bowl the next over. Once the ball is bowled the fieldsmen operate independently of each other.
So if three cricketers retire on the same day, the selectors bring in three more. If they are not as good as the retirees, the team may struggle, and it will not improve until each of the replacements has improved his _personal_ performance.
Just a thought. Feel free to ignore it !