He is one of the most animated coaches the NRL has ever seen but Melbourne Storm mentor Craig Bellamy has confessed he .
Ever since Bellamy took over from Mark Murray in 2003 he has been an NRL meme for his infamous sprays, chair kicking, water bottle throwing and passionate antics in the coach’s box.
He took on the mantle after completing a coaching apprenticeship under Wayne Bennett at the Brisbane Broncos and has been a mainstay of the Storm and its success ever since.
His fury and love of expletives famously saw him given a specially constructed coach’s box at BCU Stadium in Coffs Harbour so fans couldn’t hear him blowing up when he was coaching the City Origin side.
‘How come Bellamy has his own coaches’ box with a great view of the field, while I have to sit down here?’ Country coach Tim Sheens asked then-NSWRL chief executive Geoff Carr at the time.
‘Because he swears and you don’t,’ Carr replied.
Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy launches into one of his trademark in-game rants
The Storm mentor revealed he had to tone his aggressive nature at training with the players
But speaking on the Clubhouse podcast with Storm players Cam Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Jahrome Hughes, Bellamy revealed that he actually had to tone things down before a player hit back.
‘I am a lot more calm,’ he said this week.
‘I don’t know if that is the right word around training you guys, but I don’t give individual sprays like I used to do.
‘A couple of times, it would have been fair enough if someone put one on my chin.
‘I have been a bit more mellow and a few people have said it to me. When Billie my granddaughter was born, people said I seemed more relaxed.
‘These days, you wouldn’t get away with some of the things I said when I first started.
‘But I have probably pulled my head in a little bit. At the same time, it’s a bit of who I am. At some stage, you have to be honest with players.
‘I deliver the message in a calmer way, but I will still tell them what I think.’
Another thing that Bellamy had to change through his tenure was recruiting players purely based on talent.
The Storm have created a legacy of turning bits and pieces or fringe first graders into superstars, but Bellamy said that required looking a bit deeper at prospective players than just their ability on the field.
‘Earlier in my career … if [players] had issues away from footy, that didn’t worry me,’
‘We can sort that out, as long as they can play footy.
‘But I think we look at it a little bit differently these days … we employ the person before the player.
‘We do a lot of homework on what sort of person [they are] – from school teachers, their coaches from junior years.
‘Now, we put a lot more time into [working out] if they are going to fit into our identity and what we stand for.
‘The footy club is only going to be as good as the quality of our people.’
Bellamy spoke on the Clubhouse podcast featuring current Melbourne Storm players
Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen (not pictured) host the podcast
Ironically, the change might have meant Cooper Cronk would have never debuted for the Storm if arrived any later than he did.
‘When Cooper first came down, he was a bit of a – I wouldn’t say party boy – but he liked a drink,’ Bellamy said.
‘He came down as a fullback and five-eighth and played a little bit at lock. For two seasons, he came down from Brisbane Norths and didn’t even make our squad.
‘But by the end of 2005, he’d come off the bench and probably played 10 or 12 games. He’d come on in the second row a little bit and in the centres. He was our Wishy (Tyran Wishart).’
‘Matt Orford had been our halfback but he left to join Manly and we couldn’t really find a halfback on the market that we were happy with,’ Bellamy said.
‘It wasn’t me but someone else came up with the idea [for Cronk to play halfback]. We said, ‘Why don’t we give Cooper a go there?’ So, I sat down and had a chat with him.’
Cooper Cronk had to work hard under Bellamy to become the champion halfback he evolved into
‘I told him he’d have to improve his kicking and his passing,’ Bellamy said.
‘I’ve never, even to this day, seen a bloke kick a ball and pass and catch as much in a pre-season as Cooper did.
‘When he started the season, it was like he’d been there forever.
‘So, that just goes to show how much time and effort you put in and how much hard work – you get to where you want to get to.
‘Cooper [and Billy Slater] were self-made guys. If they didn’t work as hard as they did, they wouldn’t have had the careers they did.’
