The Melbourne Storm continue to publicly display the two premiership trophies that were stripped due to salary cap breaches, raising eyebrows in rugby league circles.

A photo emerged over the weekend of the Storm’s 2007 and 2009 premiership trophies on show inside AAMI Park for Thursday night’s clash against the Brisbane Broncos.

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The image was shared on social media by Ross Symons, CEO of Big Ant Studios, the company that produced the new Rugby League 26 video game.

Symonds innocently shared some photos from inside the Storm’s home ground ahead of the game, but the 2007 and 2009 trophies immediately caught the eye of his followers.

“Someone sent me a photo from AAMI Park the other night,” veteran rugby league reporter Phil Rothfield told Triple M’s Sunday Sin Bin.

“They have all these premiership winning trophies near where the players come onto the field — 99, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017 and 2020.

“Six grand final wins but only four premierships. 2007 and 2009 were taken off them.

“I don’t think those two trophies they were stripped of for salary cap cheating should be displayed.”

Co-host Ben Dobbin said: “They’re a reminder of what those previous players have done.”

News.com.au has contacted the Melbourne Storm for comment.

Former Bulldogs hardman James Graham said the constraints of the salary cap are an important part of the competition.

“If they were able to, Penrith could have kept (Jarome) Luai, (Stephen) Crichton, (Viliame) Kikau, (Matt) Burton — they could have sailed on for the next decade and it wouldn’t have been close.”

It’s safe to say the Storm displaying the 2007 and 2009 premiership trophies didn’t go down too well with some footy fans.

It’s not the first time Melbourne have come under fire for having their ‘salary cap tainted’ trophies on display.

In 2023, the Storm paraded the 2007 and 2009 trophies along with the four other premiership triumphs as part of the club’s 25-year anniversary celebrations.

Greg Inglis and Dallas Johnson brought the 2009 trophy out onto AAMI Park as part of a club presentation.

Inglis left the Storm for the Rabbitohs as the most high profile player to depart the club in the wake of the salary cap scandal, which saw Melbourne stripped of all premiership points in 2010.

Storm legend Cameron Smith said the celebration of the 2007 and 2009 seasons was simply to acknowledge former players who were apart of the team during those seasons.

“I think it was purely an in-house thing that they were doing for the fans and the players and particularly the old boys down there,” Smith said on SEN.

“I don’t ask them to understand the way we feel about it either. I completely understand people would say ‘That’s wrong, they shouldn’t do that’ and that’s fine but at the same time, many people wouldn’t understand the way we feel about it either.

“There were guys there that played in those grand finals and then were forced to leave the club in 2010. After that, they never had an opportunity to play in another grand final or an opportunity to win one.

“There was punishment handed down at the time and the club and the players and all the administration and fans had to live through that. At no stage was it an opportunistic time to show it off or parade it around,” Smith continued.

“The thing I want to get across is, I can understand why it’s annoyed a lot of people and that’s fine – as long as those people can acknowledge too that I don’t think those people understand the way that the Storm people in that period feel about it at all.”

Melbourne defeated Brisbane 22-2 on Thursday to cement their spot in the top four as hamstring injuries to playmakers Ezra Mam and Adam Reynolds left the Broncos reeling in the run to finals.