Melbourne legend Billy Slater has hit back at criticism of the Storm celebrating their stripped premierships of 2007 and 2009.
The Victorian club held a function on Friday night to mark its 25th birthday in the NRL, held in front of fans and former players.
On display at the event were six premiership trophies – marking grand final victories in 1999, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017, and 2020.
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The issue was two of those were replicas, purchased by the club to replace the bona fide silverware for 2007 and 2009, which was taken away after systemic salary cap rorting was uncovered in 2010.
While the club saw no issue with claiming those titles, plenty of outsiders were unimpressed.
“I thought it was really poor form, to be honest, really really poor form,” Sharks legend Paul Gallen said on Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday.
“To have trophies there… I thought was really disrespectful and an up-yours to the NRL.”
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Slater - who played in four of the six grand finals won by the Storm, including the two stripped premierships – had the chance to respond to the criticism on Nine’s The Billy Slater Podcast.
He says while he understands some of the criticism, he’s unsure why it needed to be made public.
“I respect people’s opinion, and everyone has their right to have their opinion,” Slater said.
“I understand people would disagree with celebrating that, and acknowledging that. But I think it’s important to understand the club’s point of view, too, and particularly the players’ point of view.
“The players who were involved in that era of the Melbourne Storm, that was a four-year period from 2006 to 2009, and some players were only involved in the game (NRL) through that period.
“So do we just wipe their careers? Or do we acknowledge that they contributed to the game, they went through pre-seasons, they went and put their bodies on the line.
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“I can understand people’s opinion, and their decision not to approve of that, but I think looking at it from our point of view it wasn’t televised, it was done to a crowd of Storm people, and it was done for the players.
“If you don’t like someone’s haircut when you’re walking down the street, do you go and voice your opinion to them? Or do you just keep walking and ignore it?
“If you don’t like it, just ignore it, move on with your life.”
Gallen conceded the grand final players were within their rights to celebrate the occasion, but said the club should have been smarter.
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