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Bellamy frustrated by yo-yo Storm side

3 minute read

Craig Bellamy says it's time for Melbourne to decide what kind of team they want to be in 2020 after being up and down in the four games since the NRL restart.

Storm head coach CRAIG BELLAMY
Storm head coach CRAIG BELLAMY Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has implored his team to stop playing like "yo-yos" and decide what type of team they want to be in 2020.

Bellamy was left frustrated by Friday night's 21-14 loss to Penrith, where he claimed his Storm were "out-played, out-enthused and out-aggressed".

Melbourne will still finish the round comfortably in the top eight, but have now suffered losses to Canberra and Penrith since the NRL's resumption.

Captain Cameron Smith labelled Melbourne's second-half finish as uncharacteristic, while Bellamy's descriptions are not typically words you would relate with the Storm.

"We need to decide what sort of team we want to be," Bellamy said.

"We have been up and down like a yo-you so far.

"At the moment we're not too sure what's coming this week or this half. It's been a little confusing for me.

"It's not what we usually are.

"It's alright saying what we want to be. It's what we do that answers it."

Melbourne still completed at 81 per cent in the loss, but it was in the middle where they were beaten.

They gave up almost 200 running metres on the Panthers, despite having seven six-again set restarts to Penrith's nil.

Penrith's match-defining try also frustrated Bellamy, as Viliame Kikau ran through on a kick chase to take a Nathan Cleary bomb unchallenged and score late.

The bomb was deliberately put up for Kikau, but not one Storm player read the bomb from 20 metres out with all having eyes on his outside centre Stephen Crichton.

"That try just about summed it up," Bellamy said.

"We have been watching him kick for him all week and Crichton. And no-one was in five or six metres in him when he caught the ball.

"It's not like he ran 50 or 60 metres. The kick wasn't from that far out."

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