The Melbourne Storm and South Sydney coaches both had reason to be upset.
Craig Bellamy cut a frustrated figure during and after the Melbourne Storm’s win over South Sydney on Friday night. And his actions in the coach’s box immediately after full-time told a telling story.
The Storm won 24-16 to remain second on the NRL ladder with five wins and two losses, but the performance against Souths was far from convincing. After being walloped 42-22 by the Dolphins last week, Bellamy’s side again looked scrappy on Friday night.
Despite facing a Rabbitohs side decimated by injuries, the score was only 12-10 at half-time. The Storm made a whopping 14 errors and conceded six penalties, completing at just 79 per cent.
It marked back-to-back weeks in which the Storm failed to play to their potential, leaving Bellamy frustrated and nervous. He was seen standing up and walking away from his chair a number of times throughout the match, and his immediate reaction to the victory was an eye-opener.
While injured captain Harry Grant and the Storm’s assistant coaches celebrated and congratulated each other in the box, Bellamy refused to participate. He sat back with a rather sour look on his face and didn’t seem impressed at all.
Speaking on Channel 9, Phil Gould said of the vision: “While the coaches are up congratulating one another, Craig Bellamy is having nothing to do with that.”
Craig Bellamy happy with Storm’s defensive resolve
Nevertheless, Bellamy praised his side’s defensive effort in his post-match press conference. “We had a lot of field position and probably our attack wasn’t quite as fluent as we would have liked, but I thought we defended a bit better,” he said. “I thought Souths were really brave, the amount of defence they did and they were really competitive in tough situations and tough conditions too.”
The Storm are enduring a miserable run with injuries, and winger Sua Fa’alogo is set to miss the Magic Round clash with Canberra after he was concussed by a high tackle from Latrell Mitchell. The Souths fullback has been hit with a one-game ban, and Fa’alogo will be stood down for the next 11 days after failing his HIA.
“I’m not quite sure [why] we’ve had these run of injuries with our outside backs and I don’t think there will be many of them coming back anytime soon,” Bellamy said. “We’re struggling a little bit there and this certainly isn’t going to help with Sua not playing next week. It is what it is, so we’ve got to make sure we move on and it gives someone else a chance.”
Wayne Bennett loses a tooth in bizarre mishap
Meanwhile, Wayne Bennett’s misery at losing the match and Mitchell to suspension was compounded when he lost a tooth. Assistant coach Ben Hornby had to fill-in for the post-match press conference, and Channel 9 cameras showed Bennett with one less tooth in the dressing rooms afterwards.
Wayne’s tooth fell out, so he’s not talking real clearly so he’s let me have a go tonight,” Hornby said. “So ask him to smile.”
Souths will be without Mitchell when they take on Newcastle next Saturday in Brisbane. He once again joins fellow big-names Cody Walker (calf) and Cameron Murray (Achilles) on the sidelines, after missing the first month of the season with a hamstring injury.
