Craig Bellamy admits the gravity of it may be lost on his Melbourne players, but not the coach, as they edge closer to equalling the feats of the mighty 1975 Roosters team.
The Storm did enough in a 26-16 defeat of Canberra on Thursday to notch an 18th-straight NRL victory.
A win against the Gold Coast next week would see them equal the 19-game streak managed by a Jack Gibson-coached Roosters team that featured Arthur Beetson, Ron Coote, John Brass and Russell Fairfax.
Bellamy has fond memories of the side that lost just three of 25 games on the way to the 1975 premiership and midweek Amco Cup.
“I can remember the Roosters’ ’75 side and what a great side they were,” he said.
“So for me it’d be fairly special, a nice milestone, but I don’t do a whole heap, I sit up in the box and watch.
“It’s a thing we haven’t taken a whole heap of notice of, I’m not sure how big of a thing it is for the players but in 20 years’ time it might be.”
Three tries inside 17 minutes were enough to see off the Raiders, who rallied to within four points early in the second half but combined ill discipline with sloppy errors to miss their chance of an upset on the Sunshine Coast.
“They put us off our game a bit, (in the second half we) started doing a few things we don’t usually do and don’t work for us,” Bellamy said.
“We just lost the plot there for that first 20 minutes … and it was hard to get momentum back so we were just hanging on.
“We’re not playing that well but we’re still winning games, still finding a way … I’m fairly happy with where we’re at.”
Joe
Roar Rookie
Cam Smith mentioned on a podcast this week that after the 2018-2019 seasons where they went for the minor premiership the review decided to forego for the main prize and to rest players in 2020. I think they will definitely rest players.
Walter Black
Guest
If we win the next two, I am certain that half the team will get rested against Cronulla. If we drop one then the lure of another minor prem might be too much to resist.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
It's been a remarkable season once again for the Storm and I'll be interested to see if they can keep it up. When I look at their roster I don't see the quality of previous Storm teams in some areas or the Chickens team from 75. It's a real pity the Raiders lost a couple of key Poms and lost form as well because they had the potential to really rattle the Storm in the finals series.
Joe
Roar Rookie
It would be a great record to equal or even beat and something the team could highlight in years to come but at the moment I'm more worried about the lack of form and injury toll. Another tough game next week against a team fighting for a top 8 spot in the Titans. I hope Bellamy has a plan to rest players...maybe that last round against the Sharks like they did last year in the last round against the Dragons. They need to be fit and firing for the Finals series.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
And they did it without the Big Three!
Tim Reynolds
Guest
I don't think it's a Dean Ieremia problem. He's a good player and getting better. It's a system thing where he and too few players are marking a space where the opposition suddenly transfers a few more players, and then it's just a numbers game. I am also concerned though with the switch off that the Storm is going through at the moment, where players like Josh Ado-Carr are getting bundled out into touch because there's not enough room even for him; or loose carries; or clumsy play the balls. The Storm is getting by because of flashes of inspiration from Olam, B Smith, Hughes and Munster, but a great team shouldn't have to rely on such individual genius. I just hope that Bellamy is aware the train is going off the track and has a plan to right things.
At work
Roar Rookie
"but I don’t do a whole heap, I sit up in the box and watch." What a way to undersell who could possibly be the greatest coach ever, or at least clearly the best since he's been coaching. No way any other coach in the modern game gets out of the players what Bellamy does. I say this all out of admiration, as I'm no fan of Melbourne (the team or the city :laughing: )
Dirk Diggler
Roar Rookie
As a Storm supporter I find myself getting frustrated with the way we are playing at the moment. It seems like we are treading water and a bye this week would do us the world of good. The intensity is just not there but we better find it quickly. We are rotating different players through with injury which isn't helping either- Dean Ieremia is a decent player but his defence is not up to NRL standard. Paps & Hynes rotating is not working either. Even if we don't lose a game the rest of the season I don't think it's going to help us its almost a curse at the moment.
Tim Reynolds
Guest
I don't want to take anything away from Craig Bellamy and the Storm - they have been magnificent for most of the time the coach and team have been together. In fact so good that they are close to dislodging the All Blacks from the pedestal I have had them on since I saw my first rugby Test back in 1959. But one area the Storm must attend to is their vulnerability to tries from the opposition left winger. In three games this year (Warriors twice, Raiders once) the left wing has scored a hat-trick basically by outflanking an undermanned defence. This isn't just a case of having newbies on the wing. It happened frequently when Vunivalu was there also. The Storm has been able to compensate for this deficiency by just scoring more tries, but if they come up against a fired up South Sydney (who make a habit of scoring in that corner) in the finals they could lose the unlosable premiership.