Melbourne Storm banned from training on Albury council-owned grounds
The Albury City Council has voted to block the Melbourne Storm from training, but a local football club has thrown the squad a lifeline.
NRL
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The NRL’s comeback has struck another speed bump, with the Albury City Council voting to block the Melbourne Storm from training at council-owned grounds.
After the Victoria Government denied exemption for the Storm to train in their home state, the Melbourne squad were forced to relocate over the border.
After migrating to Albury in New South Wales, Craig Bellamy’s team underwent education sessions on Monday and Tuesday ahead of their first training run at Greenfield Park on Wednesday.
However, Albury City councillors passed a motion on Tuesday evening that council facilities, including Greenfields Park, should not be made available to the NRL club, with concerns raised about the potential health risk.
The decision left 50 Storm players and staff stranded in Albury with nowhere to train in preparation for the NRL premiership, set to recommence on May 28th.
However, as first reported by 7 News journalist Andrew McCormack, the Albury Tigers football club have incredibly offered for the Storm to use their privately-owned facility for as long as they need.
Understand @AlburyTigersFNC have given permission for @storm to use their privately owned ground for as long as needed.
— Andrew McCormack (@_AMcCormack7) May 5, 2020
Power of local footy may have just saved the NRL season for now @7NewsMelbourne
A real clanger from Albury Council. Small town thinking, lost opportunity.
— Mark Stevens (@Stevo7AFL) May 5, 2020
Ordinary form from Albury Council. If I’m @storm I’d pack up and go home. If they don’t start training until next week they’ll still win round 3 by 40 or 50 points ...
— christian nicolussi (@mrchrisnico) May 5, 2020
Scratch Albury from the #purplepride premiership cup stops then...
— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) May 5, 2020
Quick look at the live stream of Albury Council’s meeting tonight. #storm pic.twitter.com/yvykj1gyRz
— Steve Smith (@stevesmithffx) May 5, 2020
Melbourne Storm CEO Dave Donaghy said he was “disappointed” by the Albury City Council’s decision.
“I was involved in a phone hook-up last night so I wasn’t particularly shocked but I think disappointed is probably the best way to sum it up,” Donaghy told Fox League Live.
“We were aware of some of the challenges the councillors were expressing and like any of our plans we made a contingency.
“The field at Greenfield has been set up by the local rugby league community. They want to invest in the redevelopment of that, they marked the fields, put the posts up, so it’s really disappointing for those guys that we’re not able to use that facility.”
However, Donaghy hopes the Victorian government will allow the team to train in Melbourne so the Storm’s players and staff can return home.
“The end game for us is to get back to AAMI Park our home and to get the players back to their homes,” Donaghy said.
“The border options we looked at were the preferred route for us, just given the close proximity to Melbourne.
“The borders aren’t closed between New South Wales and Victoria so that was always the preferred option for us but the long game is to get back to Melbourne.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on the federal cabinet outcomes this week and what that means for Victoria.”
Earlier, Bellamy told Fox League Live he was “concerned” about the safety and welfare of his players during these uncertain times.
“For me, it feels unrealistic to expect them to, after what they’ve had off, to have three weeks’ preparation and be ready, but that’s the situation we are in,” Bellamy said on Tuesday.
“I’m a little bit concerned I suppose, not about our team, but I suppose about players’ safety or welfare with the lack of contact.
“I think we are going to be able to start contact on Saturday you’d love to be able to start it on Wednesday.
“We’re not going to just let them go bashing into each other straight away, they are going to have to let their bodies adjust, but come Saturday I think there’s only about two-and-a-half weeks before the first game.”
Melbourne won their two games before the competition was suspended, but Bellamy is uncertain whether the squad can maintain that momentum after two months of inaction.
“It’s been very difficult times for guys to train and for some guys it will be very hard to stay motivated.” Bellamy said.
“But seeing them today, they all look OK, but come Wednesday or Thursday that will tell us the true story.”
“I’m not quite sure how long we are going to be (in Albury), it could be five days it could be four of five weeks, who knows?” Bellamy said.
“We’d like to think as it goes on as the restrictions start easing off a touch that we will be allowed to train in Melbourne hopefully in the near future.”
With AAP
Originally published as Melbourne Storm banned from training on Albury council-owned grounds