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Bellamy adds his voice to NRL representative debate

Craig Bellamy is the king of predictable, reliable rugby league - and unearthing new or recycled talent. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
30th April, 2017
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The NRL have been urged to distribute next week’s representative duties as evenly as possible across the competition as coaches fight to keep their stars at home.

One day after North Queensland’s Paul Green joined the growing list of coaches to pull players from the City Country game, Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy called for representative equality.

The Storm could have up to 17 players involved in various games next weekend after Canterbury, Canberra and the Cowboys opted to make players unavailable for City Country.

“I wouldn’t pull my guys out because I wasn’t much of a player. I never got to play rep footy and I would’ve loved to, so I wouldn’t do that to another player,” Bellamy said.

“I got no problem with the Bulldogs and Raiders and what they’ve done. That’s their decision.

“The only problem I’ve got with it is when they pull players out, the clubs that are letting players play have to pick up the burden.”

He suggested the City Country selectors – who are set to name their teams early on Monday – would even out the selections across those clubs who support the game.

“Having 17 players, that’s over half our squad. At the end of the day, I’m really happy for our guys to be playing rep footy. It adds a certain load to our players and to our club,” he said.

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“I’d just like to see it evened out a little bit more if they can. I know that’s not practical on all situations, but hopefully they might be able to do that.”

St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor backed his players to participate in the round, despite having a five-day turnaround from City Country into their round 10 match against Cronulla.

The Dragons could have as many as 13 players in action during the round.

“I’m a coach that actually likes that. I think it’s great for their maturity, and what they bring back from rep round is important to the team and it’s a reward for how they’re playing,” he said.

“There’ll be a five-day turnaround going into (Cronulla), so it’s not easy, the calendar, but it is what it is.”

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