Storm coach Craig Bellamy wants his side to play more adlib football
STORM coach Craig Bellamy wants more “adlib” football on Monday as Melbourne attempts to snap its five-game losing streak against the Bulldogs.
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MELBOURNE Storm coach Craig Bellamy has flagged more “adlib” football from his side on Monday night as it attempts to snap its five-game losing streak against arch rivals Canterbury at AAMI Park.
Storm is second on the NRL ladder with a 4-1 win-loss record despite playing well below its clinical best over the first five rounds.
While its defence has been a highlight, Storm has looked far less sure of itself with the ball in hand.
Melbourne rallied in the final 20 minutes to beat Newcastle last round on the back of an adjusted up-tempo style with plenty of off-loads and quick play-the-balls.
That energy inspired the comeback and Bellamy said there could be more of the same razzle dazzle on Monday night.
“We’ve tried to change a few things this season to try and improve our attack,” he said.
“It probably hasn’t worked all that well to be honest, so there’ll be a couple of different things we’ll be trying this week.
“We’ve had a long turnaround so we’ve had a bit of time to have a bit of a chat about how we all think will be the best way to play with the footy.
“So we’ve got a little bit of a mixture of structure and a mixture of adlib footy, I suppose.
“We want to know what we’re doing in certain parts of the field and I think that’s really important, so hopefully the couple of changes we make this week will work OK.”
Storm has struggled against the Bulldogs in recent times and has not tasted victory against them since 2013.
The Victorian side has struggled at times to contain the Bulldogs’ forward pack, which is the biggest in the NRL.
Although Storm’s pack is getting bigger by the year and Bellamy backed his players to be up for the fight.
“I’m not sure how we match up body strength wise, but they’re big bodies,” he said.
“Everyone knows they have a big side, but we have some big bodies in our side as well so hopefully we’ll match up.
“Our forwards have been going reasonably well so it is a big test for them and our backs as well.
“They’ve certainly had the wood on us the past couple of years, so we’ll need to aim up if we are to compete on Monday night.”
Originally published as Storm coach Craig Bellamy wants his side to play more adlib football
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