It doesn’t always pay to dominate the regular season.
Melbourne produced arguably the best regular season in their history, but will walk away with only a minor premiership and no grand final appearance.
They dropped just four matches in the home-and-away season, the biggest of them by four points to Canberra in round 22.
Their defence was as good as any team this decade, as they conceded only 300 points along the way.
So good were they, they finished three wins clear of the next best.
But when it mattered in the preliminary finals, the Sydney Roosters were just too good.
The Storm threw plenty at them in attack. They had the better of the ball in the second half and all the momentum.
But the Rooters held firm. Time and time again to win it 14-6.
Right down to the point James Tedesco held Brandon Smith up with just minutes to go to virtually wrap up the win.
“It doesn’t make it harder,” coach Craig Bellamy said.
“It’s a new competition. There are a lot of things that can happen through the last month. We’ve had a bit of an up and down through this month.
“I just said to the players I couldn’t be more proud of what they did this year. If we had our time again we might have done a bit different in September.
“Especially with our starts in the two games we lost. But what we did through the year I am ultra proud of them.
“We had a younger squad this year, and to do what they did through the year was quite exceptional.”
They’re not the first to feel the pinch though.
Of the 13 teams to have topped the ladder with 40 points or more at the end of the season during the NRL-era, only four have won the grand final.
Melbourne have been in that position three times before.
In 2016 when they walked away without the title after being beaten by Cronulla in the decider. Likewise in both 2006 and 2011.
The Roosters in 2015 and 2004, Canterbury in 2012, Parramatta in 2001 and Cronulla in 1998 are the others.
Like Melbourne, many of those didn’t even make the grand final.
“At the end of the day there are two trophies up for grabs at the end of the year and I know one is a lot bigger than the other one,” Bellamy said.
“But we’ve got to console ourselves that we won the minor one.”