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As a perfectionist, Craig Bellamy has always expected his teams to be disciplined and error-free, but this season we’re seeing a Melbourne team that are often carried away by the scoreline, forcing errors like never before.
In past years, you’d almost guarantee that the Storm would lead the way in positive statistics like ‘set completion’ and ‘line breaks’. This year, they are only leading the negative stats – like ‘general errors’ and ‘handling errors’.
For the record, Melbourne have amassed a total of 74 errors and 29 handling errors to date – way ahead of second place in these statistics, which goes to the Roosters (66 errors and 25 handling errors).
A significant shift seems to have taken place, as dropped balls and rash passes have slipped into the Storm’s play. Not even the reliable Cameron Smith can stop his teammates from their new ways.
One logical explanation is that they’ve lost the Australian halfback Cooper Cronk and replaced him with the talented yet inexperienced Brodie Croft.
But other losses include Tohu Harris and Jordan McLean. Harris has been a tower of strength and control for the New Zealand Warriors this year, a team who used to feature prominently on the error list in times gone by. Currently, the Kiwi side are on the top of the table and yet to be beaten after five weeks.
For many years, we’ve expected Craig Bellamy-coached sides to be perfect, but so far this year they are more easily blown away.
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