The Melbourne Storm qualified for their sixth grand final in ten years after appearing in the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012 deciders, although their only recognised premiership was in 2012 after their 2007 and 2009 titles were withheld due to systemic salary cap breaches.

[3] The performances from veteran players Ennis, Gallen and Luke Lewis playing arguably their best season of their careers, along with the right-side back row of Barba, Holmes and Jack Bird; as well as the form of Maloney contributing to the winning streak.

[11] Young Tonumaipea injuring his knee and Will Chambers breaking his foot, and sidelined for three months while in recovery, the Storm had used 11 different players in their back five positions in the first seven rounds, however they remained as one of the top four teams throughout their run of injuries.

[3] After beating the Roosters 46-0 during round 14, which included Cameron Smith converting a goal after slipping on the field, considered a highlight of the regular season.

[14] Bellamy's coaching was praised during this time period, as the Storm still sat in second place behind the Sharks at the end of round 19, with one of the worst rate of player injuries of any team that season.

In round 4, the Cronulla side defeating Melbourne 14–6 to hand the Storm their first loss of the season; despite Sharks winger Holmes dropping the ball three times near the try line.

During the game, coach Flanagan made the decision to pull Chad Townsend off during the second-half after a poor performance, which raised a lot of doubts in the Sharks form leading into the Preliminary Final.

[7][10] Cooper Cronk was awarded the Dally M Medal for Player of the Year (along with Cowboys lock Jason Taumalolo), in a ceremony, days before the Grand Final took place.

[11][20] Melbourne Storm halfback Cooper Cronk played in his sixth grand final after having featured in every premiership decider his club had reached since 2006.

The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks had six players with previous grand final experience in Luke Lewis (2003), Chris Heighington (2005), Matt Prior (2010), Ben Barba, Michael Ennis (both 2012), and James Maloney (2011 and 2013).

[21] At age 35 with 278 first grade games, Sharks' captain Paul Gallen was the oldest and most experienced player to debut in a NRL grand final.

The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a penalty goal kicked by James Maloney after Marika Koroibete was penalized for a swinging arm on Chad Townsend.

[25] Despite dominating ball possession and field position, the Cronulla side could not break Melbourne's defence again in the first half and the score remained the same until half-time.

[27] The Melbourne club had a prime opportunity to score when Chambers regathered his own grubber after a right-side break but he failed to recognise an unmarked Cooper Cronk.

Luke Lewis was presented with the Clive Churchill Medal becoming the first Cronulla player in history to win the award, for his defensive game, running 128 metres and taking 21 tackles.

"[29] The medal capped off an incredible comeback for Lewis after being diagnosed with cancer in 2012 which resulted in his thyroid being removed, moving to Cronulla once he was cleared to play in 2013 and changed positions from wing to the front row to prolong his career.

Gallen's winning speech is considered to be one of the most famous in NRL history, noted back to a famous quote made by former Cronulla coach, Jack Gibson, who compared the Sharks winning the premiership to leaving a porchlight on for Harold Holt's return, Gallen happily shouted to the crowd, "To all you people back at the Shire, turn your porchlights off cause we're coming home with the trophy!"

[31] The Brisbane Broncos, who finished as semi finalists, was the only other team to accept an invitation, thus reducing the series into a two-game format instead of the intended three games.