The Storm can win without Bellamy

The Storm are a team of champion players ,promising youngsters and hardened journeymen.They would thrive under many coach,but Bellamy has that x factor.The ability unquantifiable,that not only creates a rapport similar to father to son,but transfers a feeling of confidence that each and every one of his players will perform the allotted tasks as indiviiduals and as a team. The players it appears ,all feel confident in their own ability,and it has been reinforced by Bellamy.Even when they look down and out,they come back and bite their opponents in the rear end,as Cronulla found to its detriment in the last couple of minutes of a match against them. Bennett used to have it and Jack Gibson certainly did.The ability to make champs at times out of discards..

The Storm made the finals in their first 3 years - including winning a premiership in their second - under chris Anderson (with a team comprised predominantly nobodys) ... I think it's fair to say the storms "culture" has been their since the beginning!

i have watched and notice that every games Melbourne Storms played against different teams,Storms players play with variety of games plans in attack and defense and they do it professional and that has developed into a culture indeed and causes supporters to attend or watch on telly every games it plays. Big thank you to every one involved at the Melbourne Storm including the coaches, players and officials, Bellamy has developed that culture...i would be sad to see him go..

I disagree with the OP. Bellamy is the Storm, the current Storm anyway, they would still be respectable without him. But he brings the best out of so-so players. Bellamy is able to extract the best from his players somehow. Its about discipline and following the gameplan.

Thank you Anakin. Ribot was fantastic in the work he did, so too Chris Anderson &know that the others you mentioned as we.. Big thank you to all of you for having the guts to start something exciting in Sports crazy Victoria. Many one eyed AFL supported love the Storm & have been as much in the mionds & hearts as their belowved AFL clubs. This was the point I wanted to make, whilst it would be great & wonderful to keep Bellmany the club will flourish, yes Bellmany did a lot to lift the club during the darkest period of the club history. But the fans are just as much about the culture of the club & the work done in the back ground by Robbie Kearns & all the other stuff at Storm. I remember the feeling of pride I had seeing so many who stuck by the team & I even went to at least 5 games after the penalty was dished in support of a club I have grown to love as much as Collingwood & that was because of the culture the club wanted to build from day one & it has evolved form there. The culture as you would have seen with your time in melbourne Anakin is there at the AFL clubs like Carlton, Hawthorn, Eseendon & Collingwood which is non negotable. Coaches will adapt with the times, no problem but it was that culture that you rightly pointed out that has made Storm a masive part of Melbourne & the respect it has earned regardless of win or loses that is never to be taken lightly & why Brett Finch chose to come back to Melbourne for near nothing when he would have commanded good money else where.

1. Craig Bellamy is clearly a tremendous coach. CORRECT 2. But Melbourne can win without him. CORRECT 3. .. as long as its players and administrators don’t obsess over retaining his culture. INCORRECT. Retaining the "culture" of the Storm - and it started back with John Ribot & Chris Anderson, not just Bellamy - is paramount! It's this very culture that allowed the Storm to roll on when Bellamy was absent with SOO duties, it's this very culture that has players talking the Storm up when they arrive - and even after they leave, and it's this very culture that turns ok players into very good (and sometimes great) players. The Melbourne Storm is not just Bellamy; they're not just The Big 3; Melbourne Storm is the institution and the culture that had been evident from day 1 [and I should know because I was involved with Ribot, Johns & Sue Smith in the office back in their initial years]. Yes, the Storm will survive post the Bellamy era, but contrary to what the author has stated, players and administrators MUST CONTINUE to obsess over retaining the incumbent culture.

Culture, if its nurtured , respected and valued can be the backbone of a club or any organisation. Just look at the strength of the culture at Manchester United, built up during the era of the great Matt Busby, or the culture of Liverpool established under the great Bill Shankly, or my own club, Collingwood, firmly set in place by the legendary Jock McHale. Melbourne Storm is a new club and is laying the foundation of its culture now. It could well rival the aforementioned, with a huge dollop of credit to Craig Bellamy if it does.

With all due respect to the writer, I think you underestimate the importance and power of a culture. When a club finds a winning culture, it has the ability to maintain that culture for some time. Decisions on personnel will effect the culture, but they generally will be successful for as long as they can maintain it.

There are only a few people in this country that have a aura about them, a godlike presense that commands respect, those people in league that i know about include Bennett, Bellamy, Meninga and probably Slater and Gallen one day. What Bellamy did at the Storm was create true believers out of a small bunch of diehard supporters. Bennett did the same thing at the Broncos.

To a large extrend I agree, but also the culture that Storm have adopted has even every sporting code in victoria looking at Storm from the coach to players who even appear on other shows & especially AFL's footy channel shows. So bbt a very good point, actually excellent point, so whilst it would be a shame to lose him, it would be even better to keep him, which is why i hope we do. It seems we may & he has a chance to create much more in Melbourne, so why this relentless crusade hat he has to leave Melbourne to prove himself, he did that when within 2 years of being left for dead he lifted Storm to glory with the help of the players.

Bellamy is more than a coach in AFL mad Melbourne. He is one of the main salesmen for Rugby League. The possible fall out from Bellamy leaving may well be the diminishing coverage that RL gets in this town. I doubt a new coach could, or could be expected to fill that role.

The culture of Melbourne Storm is not just about a winning one, but one of the harder you work, the more successful you are. Player after player who didn't get a look in at other NRLclubs have come to Storm & are now earning big bucks elsewhere. Storm has adopted many of the AFL's successful formulas for culture. i dare anyone to go to Broncos & have a losing mentality or one of not achieving to be the best & trying to taek short cuts or going outside of the professional attitude of what works for Broncos & see how long before you are shown the door. I agree every club needs to indentify new methods, but the foundation for the Storm's mojo was not created just because of the Big three & a super coach, but since the birth of Melbourne Storm in the AFL heartland. Storm is a bigger part of the Melbourne sporting landscape, then the so called NSW league experts gives it respect. The culture was created by Matt Geyer, Glen Laraus, Scott Hill, Breet Kimmorley & Robbie Kearns which propelled Melb Storm into winning a NRL premiership in only it's 2nd year in the NRL in 1999 with again many players not other clubs wanted at that time. So maybe the journo who wrote this dribble would be a bit better advised by doing some research before making comment we should change our culture for the sake of as new coach. Melbourne storm will survive post Slater, Smith, Cronk & dare we say it Bellmany. But why not try to keep this coach on board as he has shown he can consistently produce talent. I for one would thank Bellmany for sticking around when Storm where on it's knees & if he goes no one would deny him the chance to financially secure his family & his own future, even though all of NSW hoped it would spell the end of the Storm, jus tliek they under estimated that same culture that had the fans keep coming to support a club who played for nothing for a whole year after the horrific salary breaches by those whom brought shame upon a club that had earned respect in the AFL heartland. That bond has now grown & anyone who thinks Bellmany is not a super coach, should ask why AFL clubs seek console with him about their clubs culture & the secret to keep turning players over & getting the best out of each player. at Storm we don't expect to win the Premiership every year, but we expect the players to perform to a standard expected. This journo Guru says once our three go, it's good bye, yeah right. Ask hawthorn who have won 9 flags since 1971 based on the John kennedy commando work elthic that brought pride & winning culture to a club that was the easy beats of the AFL for nearly 50 years & for decade after decade prior to it's 1961 cup. were considered hopeless. Or Carlton who have many flas post the Barassi winning year of 1968 or the legacy the first players set for future Brisbane Bronco players to uphold today. Storm players come & go, but to say you need to change your culture because you have new players is like every person who works MacDonlads no longer ask would you like fries with that meal deal or people on construction sites not obiging by safety regulations because there are too many adhere to. Look at what is happening at Canterbury Builldogs prior to Hasler, West Tigers now, & why Penrith went after Ivan Cleary if culture is not important. Without the right culture at a club then players will under achieve & a club will go a long time before seeing success. Just ask St.kilda, Footscray - Western Bulldogs or Richomnd who haven't won a flag in 30 years what they would give for a cultutre that breeds success.

Agree, Bellamy needs to move away and become a nomad type figure, walk the country in likie a wispery ghost and just have people looking in awe at him and thinking, was that bellamy.? Wayne Bennett is what Belllamy will become, people wont care if they win or lose, they will just know they are in and around the presence of greatness. You will just know they will do great things, like Bennett has done with Tahu and Big Willie. You accept that they must move on, as Wayne did from the Broncos, but you know it was the right thing to do.