He narrowly missed returning for Saturday night’s win over Canberra, but Melbourne are hopeful Cameron Munster can still come back early from a knee injury.
The Storm have now beaten both of last year’s grand finalists without their premier playmaker and now sit comfortably in the NRL’s top four.
Munster was initially expected to miss four weeks with his grade-two medial and not return until Round 11, but he has recovering far quicker than expected.
“We are hoping to get Cam back sooner than they thought,” Craig Bellamy said.
“Our physio thought we might be able to get him back this week (against Canberra), but it wasn’t to be.”
If Munster’s return is held up, Bellamy could still move Cameron Smith back to the halves.
He played 80 minutes at hooker in Saturday night’s 20-14 win over Canberra, with Brandon Smith playing in the middle and Ryley Jacks staying in the halves with Jahrome Hughes.
But Bellamy said it was still a week-to-week consideration on how he would play his spine given the success his captain had in the halves against the Sydney Roosters.
“If Munster doesn’t play next week, we might go back to that,” Bellamy said.
“It comes down to what suits us, but also what suits us against the opposition we are playing.
“I thought Ryley Jacks did a terrific job (against Canberra). He was really solid for us. He looked likely a couple of times down the left-hand side in the first half.
“He’s tweaked his medial as well. He’s a tough kid, he did a really good job for us.”
Jesse Bromwich also picked up a knee injury in the win over the Raiders and is expected to spend some time on the sideline.
As far as Bellamy is concerned, Melbourne still aren’t firing but he is happy with the team’s fight.
Without their best attacking player they have found ways to win tight games against the Roosters and Raiders.
It comes after Bellamy was forced to question their effort in their loss to Penrith last month, with the team having won three straight since.
“I think there’s a lot of heart in this team and a fair bit of fight,” Bellamy said.
“I don’t think we’re playing that good of footy with the ball but certainly our defence is fairly gritty and they’re willing to work hard for each other.
“That’s a real plus at the moment.
“We were a bit concerned with our attack but we just never got a flow-on (against Canberra) at all because of the amount of mistakes we made.”
Dirk Diggler
Roar Rookie
Or that forward pass from Croker at the death.....a little luck for the Raiders. how about some of the 6 again calls I'm not sure what they ended up at but some very questionable
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Well if the city of Melbourne did a better job of containing COVID-19 the Storm wouldn't be in this situation. Must be tough on the Sunshine Coast in the middle of Winter. Soft as.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
And he’s still whinging. And assuming that if the Storm had got possession on the 40 metre line with one minute to go they would have just marched down and scored – delusional. Why didn’t they just award Vinivalu a penalty try at the half way mark?
Rob
Guest
Mate it’s the tall poppy syndrome. I admire the Storm because they play at a professional level more than any other team. It’s funny I watched the Rooster outside backs stand off side repeatedly. They did it smartly on the furthest side from the officials. I watched Wade Graham and Johnson beat the Cowboys with a few tricks being off side and talking the Officials into calls that were wrong. I saw Teddy duck out from behind decoys and blow holes in the defence repeatedly but they did it smartly and within the rules probably 75% of the time. I watch smart defenders position and make deliberate contact with decoys. I wish my young team would understand the art of gamesmanship and follow suit. We get beat consistently through lack of smarts. It’s a jealous thing a lot of the time.
Brendon
Roar Rookie
Mate what I'm saying is that even if they can bring their families, a lot wouldn't/didn't. Last I saw only 21 family members travelled. You cant rip your kids out of school (which wasn't home schooling at the time) for footy, I can imagine families with school aged kids would have moved to QLD.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
It’s gobbley gook,what ? Little kids can’t be schooled inside the facility, is that what you’re saying ? Please.. Which kids exactly are separated from their family ? Quote the source, because the statement from the Storm states otherwise.
Brendon
Roar Rookie
I'm just glad we have a bit of an easy stretch to practice the basics now. Since the restart we've had Roosters, Raiders twice, Panthers, Knights, South's and warriors. It's been nuts!
Brendon
Roar Rookie
100%, they could bring their families so how dare they complain about having to be uprooted to a completely different state. I mean I'm sure the likes of Cam Smith chose to take his two daughters out of school for footy? Surely they all took their kids out of school...nah wait...don't think so. Unless the kids are young enough, a lot are separated from their families, doing the exact same for the game as the warriors are. But because they are the Storm, they deserve it right?
Joe
Roar Rookie
Its still a decent pack but I think the loss of Solialia might be understated. He is one of those talisman forwards like Papalii that leads by his actions. Its like having both Finucane and Bromich on to provide that experience in the middle and show the younger forwards the way. Losing Hodges just made things even worse because a good hooker can make ok forwards look a whole lot better (e.g Koroisau, Grant, Smith).
souvalis
Roar Rookie
It can’t be easy living away from loved ones ? The families are with them, right ? At the Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast,right ? Have you seen that place ? The poor little things must feel tortured staying up there..
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
So they got a call against them and conceded one try in that period. So what? That's not why they lost the game (losing Hodgson was worse). Making excuses helps no one. If Melbourne wanted to complain, they might say being locked out of Victoria for four months is unfair. But complaining is a waste of time.
Dutski
Roar Guru
Maybe. But that sin bin was a farce last night.
Paul
Roar Guru
I think it would be really disappointing if your comment about Smiths achievement got people offside, Chris. I'm not a Smith fan, but I can easily admire this goal he's reached. It takes so many factors to go right to even play that many games, let alone record that many wins. Credit where it's due, he's been an outstanding player for so long and still is. I'll bet there are a few Storm fans who wish he would add another 30 or 40 wins to that tally!
Paul
Roar Guru
No argument the pack is good one Nat, but without Hodgson's guidance and drive, I think they might struggle, not to make metres but to be a really strong attacking weapon. I guess we'll see how the next few weeks plays out.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
When all is said and done you cant bomb gifted tries nor fail to textbook diffuse the simple ones and expect to get away with it against a patient predator.
Nat
Roar Rookie
I reckon when you have a pack with Papalii, Tapine and Whitehead, you can hold your own in most games. History hasn't been kind to them without Hodgson though.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Must have been the same refs who rules Vunivalu went into touch against Canberra in the semi final last year.
Ralph Malph
Roar Rookie
The Raiders will Struggle against back to back premiers the Sydney Roosters but heads up Raider Fans. You blokes have a certain 2 points against the soft forward Rabbit pack.
Paul
Roar Guru
There are two things that have to be a concern for Canberra fans. Injuries are the most obvious one and if the lose Hodgson, with Bateman and others still out, I think their chances of winning the Premiership are going to diminish pretty rapidly. The other issue is their form. A 5 and 4 record means they're still in the 8 but they've got the Roosters and Rabbits in the next 2 weeks and will need to re-group quickly, otherwise they might find themselves 5 & 6 and losing touch with the top 4 sides.
Chris
Roar Pro
The Storm didn't help themselves with more than half a dozen errors on the first or second tackles of their set but Canberra didn't help themselves with not executing plays to a T, Hodgson going off injured and the whole Simonsson fiasco. Congrats to Cam on 300 wins. While that will rub people the wrong way, it's an unbelievable achievement (another $40,000 trophy NRL??)