Melbourne Storm 2022 draw snapshot

Here is all you need to know about the Melbourne Storm's 2022 Telstra Premiership draw.

The Lowdown

Teams they play twice

Panthers, Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles, Roosters, Eels, Sharks, Raiders, Warriors, Broncos.

Teams they play once

Knights, Titans, Dragons, Wests Tigers, Cowboys, Bulldogs.

Day-by-day breakdown

Thursday – 6, Friday – 5, Saturday – 8, Sunday – 4, Monday – 1

Opening month

The storm start with an away game to the Tigers in western Sydney before three straight AAMI Park games serve as long-overdue reward for home town fans who haven't seen their side in the flesh in almost a year. The Rabbitohs, Eels and Bulldogs make the trip south to round out the opening month.

Toughest stretch

The back end of the Origin period will test out Craig Bellamy's men. Likely to be heavily called upon once again, they take on Manly at 4Pines Park in round 16, the Sharks at Pointsbet minus their Origin contingent in round 17, host the Raiders in round 18 with plenty of players either rested or backing up, return to Sydney to face Souths in round 19 then in round 20 travel to face the Warriors in either New Zealand or Queensland.

Make it count

The Storm are legendary for starting strong and they'll want to do it again in 2022. The six-game period from round four to nine sees them take on five sides that missed the finals with four of six games in Melbourne. The Knights at McDonald Jones in round eight is the toughest ask in that whole period, on paper, and the Storm could well start favourites in all six.

Storyline to watch

In 2021 many people thought the loss of Cameron Smith would spell the end of the Storm's golden era but once again they rose to finish minor premiers before bowing out in the preliminary final. In 2022 the same questions will arise again as Josh Addo-Carr, Dale Finucane and Nicho Hynes move on and supercoach Craig Bellamy again works his magic to go in search of yet another premiership.

• see the NRL 2022 draw here