The Melbourne Storm continue to publicly display the two premiership trophies that were stripped due to salary cap breaches, raising eyebrows in rugby league circles.<\/p>\n
A photo emerged over the weekend of the Storm\u2019s displaying the 2007 and 2009 premiership photo inside AAMI Park for Thursday night\u2019s clash against the Brisbane Broncos.<\/p>\n
FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n The image was shared on social media by Ross Symons, CEO of Big Ant Studios, the company that produced the new Rugby League 26 video game.<\/p>\n Symonds innocently shared some photos from inside the Storm\u2019s home ground ahead of the game, but the 2007 and 2009 trophies immediately caught the eye of his followers. <\/p>\n \u201cSomeone sent me a photo from AAMI Park the other night,\u201d veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield told Triple M\u2019s Sunday Sin Bin<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have all these premiership winning trophies near where the players come onto the field \u2014 99, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017 and 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cSix grand final wins but only four premierships. 2007 and 2009 were taken off them.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think those two trophies they were stripped of for salary cap cheating should be displayed.\u201d<\/p>\n Co-host Ben Dobbin said: \u201cThey\u2019re a reminder of what those previous players have done.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Bulldogs hardman James Graham said the constraints of the salary cap are an important part of the competition. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they were able to, Penrith could have kept (Jarome) Luai, (Stephen) Crichton, (Viliame) Kikau, (Matt) Burton \u2014 they could have sailed on for the next decade and it wouldn\u2019t have been close.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say the Storm displaying the 2007 and 2009 premiership trophies didn\u2019t go down too well with some footy fans.<\/p>\n One person commented: \u201cLove how they display their hall of asterisks like that, what a club – do they have the two sets of books framed too?<\/p>\n A second said: \u201cWhy are two cheated trophies there.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cNothing pisses me off more than Melbourne\u2019s 07\/09 stance,\u201d a third said.<\/p>\n A fourth said: \u201cNo way there still counting 09 and 09, cheats.\u201d<\/p>\n Another said: \u201cThere appears to be two fictional trophies in that image.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time Melbourne have come under fire for having their \u2018salary cap\u2019 tainted trophies on display. <\/p>\n