Watching the media conference to announce the penalties against AFL club Essendon last night, I got a stark reminder of how good Craig Bellamy is as a coach.
It came when someone in the media throng asked AFL boss Andrew Demetriou about the fact that with the Bombers suddenly playing for no points their game against Richmond on Saturday would be reduced to “dead rubber” status.
The question was delivered with great concern, not like it was the end of the world but close to it. It was, like, would anyone turn up? Should we be afraid?
I was reminded of when George Costanza swallowed a fly and, panicking, he cried: “What do I do?! What could happen?!” (Well, maybe not, but any excuse to repeat a line from a Seinfeld episode).
It was at that point, I thought: “Hang on, Melbourne played 20 games like that in 2010, and they won more than half of them.”
I checked the results and it was actually 18 dead rubbers, after the Storm were denied the opportunity to play for premiership points as one of the penalties for several years of hard-core cheating of the salary cap.
They won 10 and lost eight. Before the extent of the salary cap drama was exposed and the penalties handed down they had played six games, winning four and losing two.
Bellamy had coached the Storm to win two premierships that were stripped from the club, and he coached them to win a legitimate premiership last year, but I believe his coaching effort in 2010 was his greatest.
To be able to get his players to stay pretty well on track and competing strongly, putting the hard work in and taking all of the hits, when there was nothing that could come of it in terms of playing in the finals series and possibly winning the premiership, was awesome.
There were a few times during that period when it was clear the Storm had dropped their bundle and were finding it hard to keep going, but each time they lifted and got going again.
Through the middle of that 18-game stretch, in a period when the State of Origin series was going on and Melbourne often have trouble anyway, they lost five out of six, but they recovered to finish the season with five wins in their last seven games.
Had they been collecting points, they would have been in fifth place entering the finals.
As good as Melbourne’s superstar players are, that wouldn’t have happened without Bellamy finding it within himself to keep driving the whole thing when it would have been so easy to just say: “Stuff this.”
And it serves as a warning that, while there has been a lot of understandable excitement this season surrounding the performances of Sydney Roosters and South Sydney, the Storm are still a huge part of the premiership puzzle.
They are going to have to play away from home in the first week of the finals, as either the third or fourth-placed team, but they are still going to be in with a great chance of beating either the Roosters or the Rabbitohs.
The Storm are the only team in the top four that is unbeaten against the other top-four teams, having recorded two wins over Souths, one over the Roosters and a draw against Manly.
And when they get to the finals, Bellamy and his “big three’ – Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith – will enter the zone and prepare like a champion boxer getting ready for another title fight.
Bellamy has got the proven record and he’s got the big-time players, which is why, unless you follow the Storm, you’ve got to fear them.
john badseed
Guest
not to mention the best coach since john Monie
matt h
Guest
I believe the point of this article was to say that Bellamy is a very good coach and a good motivator at club level. This article is not about re-examining the Melbourne slaary cap cheating or whether Bellamy knew etc etc. So to address the article, yes he is a very good coach and motivator. But I would also not underestimate the influence of Cameron Smith. I think strong leadership within the playing group in this type of situation is even more important.
Vivalasvegan
Guest
Spot on Scott... This is the only relevant point and it is terrible that we structure our sport to punish teams that develop talent over those who poach developed talent...
Tom
Guest
Well Queensland have been as motivated since bellamy left, yet both ricky stuart and laurie daley got closer despite it. So you can throw that off the table,
john badseed
Guest
no, bellyache is a cheat as well. even discounting his role in the salary cap scandal, putting his players in blues jerseys to bump up their value when on low contracts, he coaches unsportsmanlike tactics and encourages his players to cheat. with the advantages the storm have always been given by the nrl and refs his record proves pretty shoddy. his players and assistants go on to sully the sport when they leave.
barfly
Guest
sry Greg if I seemed also to go off track in your article but I travelled down to Sydney for Parramatta Storm GF and took the kids at a cost of accommodation ,tickets, food etc at about two thousand dollars I have 6 kids and please appreciate this is a lot of money for our family working class from Kingston in QLD. To be seated next to 5 Storm fans that were sore winners was agony. These guys omg were rude beyond rude and they won the game I cant imagine if they lost .Anyway what im saying is the bitterness is still there champ and im sry again if this in anyway has drawn away from ur article what u were trying to define.
Tom
Guest
I wish that we could all just forget about the storm thing and move on. No trashing Bellamy, no praising either (he cheated and being resilient doesn't rid the fact that he did.) So let's all join hands and watch the sharks win the premiership!
Tom
Guest
We beat the chooks monday night :) You better watch out for us sharkies!
Tom
Guest
I've always thought this! The dragons were fortunate there were no bolts of lighting to challenge their impenetrable defence!
Tom
Guest
Yes, it is much like the canon-balling tackle, no one wants to do it but if they didn't they would be at a disadvantage (kinda.) Wayne Bennett'll back me up here.
Tom
Guest
Well a few of my other comments weren't let through so perhaps I'll be a little nicer. The melbourne storm cheated, they were punished for it. Through that time they copped alot but that's all part of punishment. However you praise them by saying no will know what your team went through by still turning up and playing. Although this is likely true and I respect the attitude they took during their situation, you can't forget that the abusing from the fans is because your team broke the rules, disadvantaging theirs. They and you hard a tough period because they cheated and it was what they deserved so please would you stop with the praise and the "woe is us" and can we all move on. They are doing great things now so stop bringing up the past! Tom
Andrew
Guest
You bag out James Hird yet your favourite sons signed x2 contracts and are therefore in the same boat as James Hird if not worse cheats as you say it. Melbourne storm players or bellamy have never even said sorry to the nrl fans. The truth will come out one day and it won't be pretty for the it 3.
Pest
Guest
Fight fight fight
Renegade
Guest
:) LOL
Renegade
Guest
You've nailed it max.
oikee
Guest
The Boss has sold out. Tickets cost more than origin games. They love beating each other up this mob Greg, and the messenger.
Mitcher
Guest
Which Gen are you from barfly? The one that didn't discover punctuation?
oikee
Guest
Inglis is none of those, he said it.
QT
Guest
+1
Australian Rules
Guest
The club and administration cheated. I'm praising Bellamy and the players for having a 14-10 season record in a year that effectively didn't mean anything.