The new Blues coach was in the Melbourne Storm box during their loss to the Dragons.
The Laurie Daley-Craig Bellamy partnership got off to a losing start on Saturday after Daley was spotted watching on from Bellamy’s coaching box during the Melbourne Storm and Dragons clash. The Storm suffered a shock 14-8 loss in dour conditions at Kogarah, with the Dragons claiming their first win of the NRL season in gutsy scenes.
An interested observer during the game was NSW Blues coach Daley, who was seen standing behind Bellamy in his box. Daley is the new Blues coach in State of Origin for 2025, and Bellamy will work alongside him in an advisory role.
It’s not known whether Daley was in attendance on Saturday to shadow Bellamy and see how he operates, or whether he was watching potential NSW players for selection. Either way it didn’t work, with the Storm suffering their first loss of the season.
Spotted: NSW Blues coach, Laurie Daley in @storm’s coaches box, joining Craig Bellamy who is Daley’s chief adviser this 2025 Origin series #NRLDragonsStorm pic.twitter.com/dm9R8NldXV
— Stormcast Podcast (@StormcastPod) March 29, 2025
Daley’s presence wouldn’t have had anything to do with the result, but fans couldn’t help but feel it was a bad omen for NSW. Daley’s appointment as Blues coach has been a controversial one, with many questioning whether he’s been out of the coaching game for too long.
His decision to bring in Bellamy to help with remedy that, but neither man has had much success at State of Origin level in the past. Daley famously helped NSW break Queensland’s streak of eight series wins in a row in 2014, but only ended up with six wins from 15 games in charge. Bellamy fared even worse, winning just two games out of nine from 2008 to 2010.
Laurie Daley explains Craig Bellamy partnership
Daley said last December about teaming up with Bellamy: “I’ve a great relationship with Craig over a number of years. (It) started out as a player (at Canberra) and obviously we keep in touch.
I was looking for some guidance. I was looking for someone, if I ever got an opportunity again, to help me and I thought he would be the best possible person to do that. Craig will help the coaches and be part of the coaching group, and I’m pretty excited to have him involved.
“And if I’m excited, I think the players will be extremely excited to get to work with someone like Craig. You don’t have to talk about what he’s achieved in the game. He’s passionate about NSW and he wants to be a part of it, which is exciting for us.
“Knowing Craig the way I do, the way he operates, the way he goes about building structures in a footy team, the way he interacts with coaches, the way he interacts with players…I think that’s a bonus for us. Both of us have that passion and desire to be successful.”
