Craig Bellamy driving Kevin Walters to State of Origin glory

CRAIG Bellamy has emerged as the trump card in Kevin Walters’ blueprint to uphold the most ruthless Queensland dynasty in Origin history.

FORMER NSW coach Craig Bellamy has emerged as the trump card in Kevin Walters’ blueprint to uphold the most ruthless Queensland dynasty in Origin history.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Bellamy is the chief mentor for Walters, who says the Storm coach’s premiership-winning principles are driving his quest to deliver the Maroons’ 10th series win in 11 years.

As he prepares for his Origin coaching debut this Wednesday night, Walters also revealed his pain at being sacked by the Broncos in 2005 and why he wants to prove Wayne Bennett wrong.

“Craig taught me about knowing the enemy,” Walters said.

“He taught me to plan for what your rival is going to do.

“I still talk to Craig. I’m doing my homework on NSW.”

While Walters launched his coaching career under Bennett, it is Bellamy who has been his greatest influence.

The Storm coach almost beat Mal Meninga to the Maroons post in 2006 before eventually taking charge of the Blues, where he had three unsuccessful campaigns between 2008-10.

In his final year with the Blues, Bellamy bolstered his coaching resources at club level by appointing Walters, who served a three-year apprenticeship at the Storm.

Kevin Walters and Steve Walters during State of Origin training. Picture: Peter Wallis

Despite Bellamy’s setbacks with NSW, Walters regularly seeks his counsel and says he has transferred some of his Melbourne methods to the Maroons.

“I’m not afraid to say I still admire Craig as a coach,” Walters said.

“We don’t ring each other every day, but we have a really good relationship which started when we played at Canberra and has continued into coaching.

“The Storm were the greatest three years of my professional life and Craig Bellamy opened my eyes to another side of coaching that I wasn’t aware of.

Craig Bellamy and assistant Kevin Walters during their time together at the Melbourne Storm.

“Craig is meticulous ... what a player’s strengths are, what foot they step off, what arm they fend with.

“That was never a Wayne Bennett style of coaching, Wayne was more about his own team and what he can get out of his players.

“Certainly I am looking at NSW’s strengths and weaknesses. Some of the great war generals always tried to predict what the opposition would do.”

The lowest ebb of Walters’ coaching rollercoaster is driving him in Camp Maroon. In 2005, Walters was gutted after being sacked by Bennett as part of a coaching clean-out of the Broncos that also claimed Glenn Lazarus and Gary Belcher.

There was a sentiment Walters would never coach again, but the former Maroons pivot used the pain to prove he could succeed in the caper.

“It (his sacking) really rattled me up,” Walters said.

“I knew I had some ability as a coach and one man’s opinion wasn’t going to disrupt where I wanted to go.

“What rattled me the most was the fact that the Broncos thought I wasn’t good enough to be a coach there. That really hurt.

“But looking back, it was a blessing in disguise. It’s made me a better coach.”

Relaxed and jovial by nature, Walters dismissed suggestions he lacks the hard edge to be a successful Origin coach.

“I don’t feel I have to change my personality,” he said.

“I know when to flick the switch. I know when to turn it on and turn it off. I’m using it to my advantage more than anything else.

“I’m pretty nervous at the moment but comfortable enough.”