Craig Bellamy pleased with Melbourne Storm’s fighting round 1 win over St George-Illawarra

CRAIG Bellamy says he is impressed at the “fight and will” of his new-look Melbourne Storm side after its come-from-behind win over St George-Illawarra.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 07: Craig Bellamy the coach of the Storm watches on from the coaches box during the round one NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the St George Illawarra Dragons at AAMI Park on March 7, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

CRAIG Bellamy says he is impressed at the “fight and will” of his new-look Melbourne Storm side after its come-from-behind win over St George-Illawarra.

Storm leaked two early tries, which Bellamy described as “soft” tries, before turning the tide to score an 18-16 win in its season-opener.

Skipper Cameron Smith said a Round 1 win always feels “like gold,” while Bellamy also chose to look at the positives after the gritty win.

“I thought we did a really good job to get back into it in the first half when they were all over us at 10-0,” Bellamy said.

“So that was a real good effort and I’m really happy with that and the way we hung on towards the end.

“There’s a lot we need to improve on but I thought we showed plenty of fight and we hung in there pretty good.

“There were a lot of good signs there for me to think this team has some will and fight in it, and if does we’ll be a competitive team.”

Billy Slater and Cameron Smith embrace after the final hooter. Picture: Colleen Petch

The form of Billy Slater was a big reason for Storm’s fightback with the fullback conjuring up two try assists in the first half.

Bellamy said he was pleased with the Test full-back’s long-awaited return.

“I didn’t want him to go in with the mentality that he had to make up for last year, I just wanted him to go out and play his natural game without trying to push things too much,” he said.

“I thought he did a pretty good job.

“I think he’s only going to get better and better as he gets his timing back and back into the groove again.”

Dragons coach Paul McGregor blamed a lopsided 9-4 penalty count and poor ball control for his side’s defeat.

“A lot of teams are going to follow us down here (to Melbourne) and come away empty-handed and we understand that,” he said.

“But we can play better than that so to come down here and get beat in a tight contest, I know my team is a good team and they’re a committed bunch of men, so we’ll improve.”

Originally published as Craig Bellamy pleased with Melbourne Storm’s fighting round 1 win over St George-Illawarra