Melbourne Storm staff and players have delivered a sobering assessment of their efforts to make Victoria a rugby league state as the club prepares for one of the most significant years ever for the sport in the southern capital.

A generation after 87,000 fans packed the MCG for State of Origin in 1994 to set a rugby league crowd record and 26 years after the establishment of the NRL’s Melbourne franchise, the Storm have produced just five homegrown men’s players.

The competitive Melbourne sporting marketplace is close to claiming another victim with Super Rugby club the Melbourne Rebels in administration, and the AFL continues to hold a stranglehold over the city’s winter sporting habits.

Ahead of the NRL season which sees the return of State of Origin to Melbourne for the first time since 2018, Storm forward Christian Welch said the club’s record of producing junior talent was “probably not good enough to be honest”.

“The reality is, we’re 25, 26 years old,” he said. “We’ve had five Victorian men’s players.”

The Storm’s head of pathways, Tim Glasby, echoed his sentiment. “We’re really disappointed that we haven’t had more,” he said. “Five in 25 years isn’t enough.”

While the production pipeline may need fixing, the Storm appear in good health. Average attendance topped 20,000 for the first time last year, in a season that also broke Victoria’s record for community rugby league registrations.

Melbourne Storm will field an under-17 team in the Harold Matthews Cup for the first time this season, reflecting its renewed commitment to – and financial investment in – junior development. The junior side has been one of the long-term ambitions of the club’s veteran general manager of football, Frank Ponissi.

“Our guys in Victoria, they were getting that exposure at age 15 for a quick schoolboy stint and then that was it until they were about 18,” Glasby said. “So we really needed to do something to offer them a better elite pathway.”

Although the club has only fielded five Victorians in the NRL, the trend is up. Three of the players – Young Tonumaipea, Dean Ieremia and Sua Fa’alogo – are currently in the top 30 squad.

The club announced last week Fa’alogo, who scored two tries in his NRL debut last year and starred for Samoa against the Kangaroos, had signed a five-year contract.

Glasby, who played more than 100 games for the Storm, said Fa’alogo has some “pretty special athletic traits”, but his development could have been even quicker had the under-17 team been in place earlier.

“It just would have helped him with his knowledge around footy and ability to read games,” said Glasby. “It just would have pushed him along a little bit.”

Rugby league in Melbourne recorded a record number of men’s, women’s and junior registrations last season – more than 4,500 – and is strongest in the outer western, northern and south-eastern growth corridors. The Storm have established three suburban training hubs to help players cut down on travel time.

“It’s growing really quickly at those areas,” Glasby said. “In the inner city areas, that’s where the AFL is really a lot stronger.”

Harry Grant, who was named Storm captain this year, said the club respected the fact the AFL was the dominant code in the city, and did not see the other sport as a rival.

“I think from day one, Melbourne Storm have been very cautious of how they approach their business considering we’re in AFL country and you want to make the right impressions and do it right,” Grant said. “It’s important that we respect that, and continue to grow that.”

Welch said “we don’t try and take on Collingwood and Carlton, we try and really fit into the sporting culture.”

The club has often worked in collaboration with those in the rival code, and recruited former Geelong captain Joel Selwood to work as a leadership coach last year. Chief executive Justin Rodski joined the Storm in 2021 after 10 years with AFL club Essendon.

But the recent struggles of the Melbourne Rebels have highlighted the city is not the easiest place for outsiders.

Welch, who lives with Melbourne Rebels forward Brad Wilkin, said the Super Rugby club’s plight was taking a toll on its players, and rejected the idea the Storm would be recruiting some of the union cohort.

“That’s picking at the carcass a little bit there,” he said. “Hopefully the Rebels stay, and continue having a presence in Melbourne.”

The Storm’s season begins on Friday with a home match against premiers Penrith. Due to the AFL’s decision to play its opening round in New South Wales and Queensland, it will be the only match of the two major codes in Melbourne this weekend.