Eleven Storm players represented five different countries during the six-week World Cup tournament.
At the end of it all it was Australia who took the mantle of world champions after a grueling 6-nil win over the English in the Final.
Cameron Smith became just the third Australian captain to lead the green and gold to World Cup glory on home soil. He was ably supported by his Storm premiership teammates.
Billy Slater once again now undoubtedly stands as the best fullback in the world after five stellar games for the Kangaroos while Will Chambers was a key part of what proved to be an immovable Australian defence.
Debut green and gold jerseys came the way of Cameron Munster and Felise Kaufusi. Munster bagged a double in each of his two games during the group stage and Kaufusi was a workhorse off the bench, earning a spot in the reserves for each of the Kangaroos knockout games.
Cooper Cronk and Jordan McLean may be wearing different colours next year but their stellar achievements in purple in 2017 carried through to the World Cup as the pair playing with their trademark consistency throughout the tournament.
One of the players of the tournament proved to be Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who’s enourmous impact off the New Zealand bench is a mouth watering prospect for the Storm coaching staff looking ahead to next season. Kenny Bromwich performed strongly during his only World Cup appearance when he crossed the line against Scotland.
The try-scoring feats of Suliasi Vunivalu reached the international arena as he crossed the line on nine occasions to finish as the second-highest try scorer of the tournament. Tui Kamikamica was extremely consistent for Fiji as he played every game in the lock position.
Young Tonumaipea led well for Samoa, averaging over 100 metres per game while Justin Olam scored four tries during Papua New Guinea’s exciting World Cup campaign.
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Storm players in the World Cup:
Australia:
Cameron Smith – 6 games, 230 metres, 25 goals, 178 tackles, 1 try assist
Billy Slater – 5 games, 711 metres, 5 line breaks, 5 tries, three try assists
Will Chambers – 5 games, 61 runs, 542 metres, 98 tackles
Felise Kaufusi – 2 games, 16 runs, 145 metres, 42 tackles
Cameron Munster – 2 games, 190 metres, 3 line breaks, 3 try assists, 4 tries
New Zealand:
Nelson Asofa-Solomona – 4 games, 562 metres, 2 line breaks, 1 try assists, 1 try
Kenny Bromwich – 1 game, 97 metres, 16 tackles, 1 line break, 1 try
Fiji:
Suliasi Vunivalu – 5 games, 821 metres, 9 line breaks, 2 try assists, 9 tries
Tui Kamikamica – 5 games, 663 metres, 108 tackles, 1 line break
Samoa:
Young Tonumaipea – 4 games, 513 metres, 15 tackles, 1 line break, 1 try
Papua New Guinea:
Justin Olam – 4 games, 575 metres, 3 line breaks, 4 tries
