Melbourne are often roughly labelled as a top-heavy team too dependent on their sumptuous core of superstars – mainly by unimaginative noobs like myself.
But contrary to noob opinion, this team isn’t just a Big Three or a Big Four or a Big Two or whatever it has been re-indexed to these days after recent market fluctuations.
Nope, apparently Craig Bellamy does in fact field teams consisting of at least 17 players. Pretty much on a weekly basis too.
After doing a bit of research, I was amazed to discover there are contributors for the Storm who aren’t Cameron Smith or Cooper Cronk or Billy Slater, and who weren’t Greg Inglis or Israel Folau or Joel Romelo.
How could I have not spotted this?
It seems that out of necessity to fulfil rugby league regulations, Bellamy has been forced to develop the additional personnel required to constitute a full football team.
While his immortal core of magic-weaving, referee-charming geniuses may pack the collective talent of an entire squad or three states of New South Wales on their own, just trotting them out for kickoff on their lonesome is not enough to meet the requirements of the NRL gameday manual.
This conundrum compelled Bellamy to dip deep.
He had to construct a squad from the remaining dregs of the talent pool that aren’t mind-blowing, cap-filling talents of sickeningly high ability.
And, despite developing a sweating problem that makes him look like he’s smuggling ice cream sandwiches, he can fulfil this difficult task with aplomb.
With a bunch of priority players costing quite the pretty penny, Bellamy has mastered the art of the rugby league chopshop.
He’ll take whatever you’ve got that’s cheap – bush league stalwarts, academy drop-outs and drifters – and he’ll mould them into Green Berets on a minimum wage.
Looking back at his time with the Storm, you’d be forgiven for thinking he is the lovechild of Jesus Christ and Corey Worthington, such is the way he can regularly transform water into wine and orchestrate small numbers into a blazing house party.
Has anyone been more adept at the craft? Would Melbourne be a smouldering pile of irrelevance without him?
In the club’s wasteland years of 1998-2002 BC (Before Craig), the organisation had no freaking idea how to manage a squad of rugby league players. Thus, only one, single, pitiful premiership was captured in this time.
But since his acquisition, the winning percentages have skyrocketed and the premierships have flowed. Some of them legal too.
Last weekend is a prime example of his developmental work. His team is supposed to be in the midst of an injury crisis, yet they still handed out such a thrashing to the Broncos that Wayne Bennett hung a sock on the door handle at halftime.
Amongst other bit-part inclusions and positional overhaul, his starting line-up last Friday night at Suncorp included a centre pairing of Ryan Morgan and Cheyse Blair. Both are lethally anonymous.
Prior to their time at the Storm, Morgan was best known as the skim off the top of Parramatta’s wage bill, while the long-sleeved Blair had recently built a profile as the bloke out on the edges who dressed like the white Wiggle.
Who would’ve thought this pair were capable of anything other than a burgeoning collection of jerseys? But in trademark Bellamy procedure, now they are indisputably the most dangerous backline combination in the hemisphere.
So out of all those who’ve worn the Storm purple who aren’t named Cam or Cooper or Billy or a Wallaby, who is the best backroom name from the Bellamy era?
Who do you recall prudently getting the job done that isn’t engulfing a quarter of the salary cap? Who never received their just desserts or their speedboat?
Despite Bellamy’s era concocting a host of great representative names on the sub-penthouse level who will never have a statue named after them, I prefer those hyper-unappreciated fellas who play each week like they’re working for tips.
I’m referring to grease monkeys like Ryan Hinchcliffe.
Not only did the Taree product possess utility value like that of a Japanese vending machine, he laboured with a minimum of fuss. He was so easy to take for granted that you probably used his footy card to light the stove.
Secondly, I want to give a shout-out to Bryan Norrie.
On the cusp of the glitz and glamour of the Wagga Kangaroos, he threw it all away to play 120 thankless games for the club. He would be barely recognised in the street. Even in Wagga.
When it comes to Bellamy and the Storm stereotype, this is the kind of undervalued value that we really value.
Justthetip
Guest
Hi Scott. Bellamy really is a hell of a coach. Not having to go to market shows the mark of a coach that the players don't want to leave. The Storm didn't get unknown nobodies all the time though. They had the Brisbane Norths feeding them a generation of gun players who may not have been names down south but were certainly players to watch going into the Storm side. Slater, Cronk, Smith, Croker, Johnson, Inglis and Folau just to name a few. I don't mean to take anything away from him because he undoubtedly can get the absolute maximum out of his players but he was far from picking through scraps with the players coming through. While there's Bennett as the most successful, Bellamy has used Mebournes isolation to perfection and his sides are rarely caught up in any distractions off the field. Selecting on character as well as talent can make it far easier to get the whole team pulling in the same direction and provides strong player leadership. While Hasler is great his recruitment has been weak for awhile now. Robinson may be very loved and great but he's really failed his first test as a coach of a weaker squad. Paul Green is a dark horse and little talked about coach. People look at the Cowboys list with envy but conveniently ignore weaknesses in the outside backs and bench. Flanagan seems to be a leader but still hasn't been tested. Barba at fb with Holmes on the wing is working best for the side despite Holmes being a far better option ignoring team balance. For me right now Bellamy is the undisputed champ but there's a few contenders looking to step up. Will it be Green, Flanagan or Des who outfoxes him. Or can Wayne right the ship he's steered off course. McCullough back will quickly change their fortunes but his injury shows how far off the pace Wayne is at the moment.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Croker eh? The Croker-Sezer gap is probably the weakest part of any NRL defensive line, and Sezer isn't even that weak as far as halves go.
Doc79
Roar Rookie
Yeah, leilua and croker aren't just your average pairing!
Jake
Guest
Armchair OMG are you serious? Give yourself an uppercut, and go back to bed.
Jimmmy
Guest
Good work , Smith is the key. How did Bellamy go for NSW without Smith?.. I would like to see Bellamy coach the Storm without Smith as a player . I think you will find Cameron is the Jewel in the crown . Smith will rival Benett as a coach eventually, He is that good.
Danno1
Guest
Agree wholeheartedly, There has never been a better coach at getting players to play their role to the best of their ability, and then get a little bit more than they thought they had. It is a consistent theme, and like the movie Moneyball, they really pick their value marks. The only player I recall that broke Bellamy was Ben Roberts, us Bulldog fans looked on to see if Bellamy could lift the 2 great minutes per game and reduce the terrible 20 minutes per game, alas not even Bellamy could solve the puzzle that was Benny, he was mystery beyond.
peeeko
Guest
great coach, i wonder how much of a help Smith is. He seems to make everyone around him better at origin and club level, maybe he will take over from Bellamy? Bellamy didnt have much luck coaching NSW against him
langerthebronco
Guest
Hopefully he goes well after Smith, Cronk and Slater are gone. Bennett coached against Lockyer for a GF and a TRI nation wins. Madge coached against Smith and Cronk for a premiership GREEN coached against rooster for a premiership. Bellamy coached against Smith, Slater and Cronk and lost a SOO series.
daniel p
Guest
An absolute champion! Hopefully he gets his 4th (yes 2nd legal) premiership before he retires.
bexdog
Guest
Yeah, Bennett sure has 'developed' a ton of players since he first left Brisbane.
LMM
Guest
Agreed. Bellamy's style revolves around one thing and one thing only, slowing down the ruck at ANY cost. It has changed the game for the worse and created so many grey areas in the play the ball that the fans don't even know the rules anymore.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
The Storm actually had to get under the cap by the conclusion of 2010 or be suspended from 2011, and unlike Parra they didn't have the chance to get under the cap mid season and earn points again that year, so they didn't have an entire off season and were realistically releasing players as quickly as they could (remembering mid season transfers weren't really a thing then). They had to offload Inglis, Finch, a few outside backs and roughly half their forward pack (including Hoffman who they got back later) - the 2012 team had very little resemblance to the 2010 side outside of the big 3.
Remo Shankar
Roar Pro
When looking purely at the criteria of taking journeymen type players and moulding them into very very good footballers, Bellamy is the best coach we've ever seen. What rankles with me is all the other rubbish he introduced - the wrestling and the grapple tackles all in the name of slowing down the ruck. Not in the spirit of the game for mine and on this front alone he has a lot to answer for.
armchair expert
Guest
Just stating the bleeding obvious really. Granted he is a/has good scouts and definitely gets the best out of his players. I guess my point is that if you put the big 3 in any half decent side then that side will compete
ChubbzyK96
Guest
What were any of these before they went to Melbourne?
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Hi armchair Not sure what point you are trying to make, but all those players except Finucane was an unknown prior to meeting Bellamy and Finucane was only used as a bench player at the Bulldogs. Jessie b did not even play and just turned up to watch his brother trial and was asked if he wanted a go.
Dave
Guest
I consider them the same.
Raugeee
Guest
I was thinking myself how fortunate QLD have been to have Bellamy coaching Storm. As you have pointed out, so too are NZ. I would add Adam Blair to that list as he was at Storm from 2006 -11. The two great NRL coaches at the moment are Bennett and Bellamy. It is no coincidence that Bellamy patiently learnt his trade as assistant to Bennett from 1998 - 2002. It is no secret that Bennett places great store in the off field development of players as well.
armchair expert
Guest
Lets see, apart from the big 3 plus these no names Jessie Bromwich - current NZ captain Kenny Bromwich - current NZ rep Kevin Proctor - Current NZ rep. Tohu Harris - current NZ rep Will Chambers- 2015 Aus rep then there is Country rep players Dale Finucane and Jordan McLean Not a bad list of Toiling tradesmen
sham
Guest
Bellamy is a great example of the difference a great manager/leader can have. Often you will hear people whose team is not going so well bemoan the quality of their staff. This is a cop out as one of the most important things a leader is responsible for is recruitment but even more importantly a good leader can get a lot more out of their team than a poor one. Bellamy has great technical skills and has amazing attention to detail and he is also an excellent man manager.