The pain of last year’s grand final defeat has fuelled the Storm throughout 2025, with strike centre Jack Howarth still uncertain whether he got the ball down in what proved to be the biggest call of the 2024 decider.
Melbourne returned to the grand final thanks to a win over the Sharks last week, with Brisbane knocking out the Panthers to end any hopes of a rematch with the team who beat the Storm 14-6 a year ago.
The Panthers were able to grind their way to victory, but things could have been very different had the Bunker awarded a try to the Storm in the 49th minute that would have tied things up and given them a shot at goal to take the lead.
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Having defended Xavier Coates in the air with great success, the Storm winger finally got his hands on the ball and batted it back to Howarth, who was immediately met by four Panthers as he tried to score.
The referee sent it up as a no try, but everyone at the ground and watching at home thought he got it down after seeing a couple of replays.
Everyone except Bunker official Grant Atkins, who supported the live decision, with the NRL then showing new angles to select journalists at the ground after the match.
“In the moment I was pretty convinced (that I got it down),” Howarth told the NewsWire.
“But looking back, I don’t know. It’s hard because some angles look like it’s down, but some don’t.
“It was a big call and unfortunately we didn’t get it our way. That’s how things go. Hopefully, we don’t have to rely on something like that and we can execute our game on Sunday and have a few more points between us.”
The Storm has been plotting their revenge for the past 12 months, with Howarth revealing that pump-up videos have been used to fire them up this season.
“Last year really hurt,” he said.
“We revisit that every now and then and it’s hard seeing something that you worked towards for the whole year get taken away from you in 80 minutes.
“It’s tough to watch, but as a team, we were really able to grow from it, and I think that’s helped us get to this position again and hopefully we can take last year’s experiences and execute our moments this year.
“It’s not like we revisit it every week, but if we have a big game, we have a hype-up video that the club puts together. When we watch it, you can see how much it hurts the boys.
“It usually fires us up before a game.”
As for Howarth, he deserves a big finish to the year after dealing with a fractured eye socket in the pre-season before he dislocated his shoulder, had appendicitis and a groin issue that limited him to just 15 appearances this year.
The shoulder issue ruled him out of contention for a potential debut in the State of Origin opener, while the bout of appendicitis cruelled any hopes of him playing in the decider.
“I was really devastated when I ruled myself out of Origin with my shoulder, and then when I had an opportunity, I had my appendix removed,” he said.
“It kind of rattled me, but after that, I knew we had a job to do here at the club and that’s to win a premiership, so I focused my mindset on that.
“Now we’re in this position, it’s an unreal feeling and I’m looking forward to that.”
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