Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy recounts the “unity” photograph following NRL’s severe salary cap sanctions
The Melbourne Storm was cripping after being stripped of two premierships. A decade on, coach Craig Bellamy recounts the moment his players took matters into their own hands. It was how he knew they would rebound.
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Craig Bellamy knew exactly what to say, but not how to turn the words into actions.
At about 1pm on April 24, 2010 Melbourne Storm players marched behind Bellamy out of the new AAMI Park tunnel and towards a large and foreboding media scrum.
The united front was player-driven, Bellamy had planned to speak by himself but the choice was taken out of his hands.
“They said you're not going to do it on your own … so we're going with you,” Bellamy said.
“They were basically looking after me … the club had been hit hard, we'd all been hit hard, but for them to show that sort of unity and care, it was quite touching.”
The preceding 48 hours was an absolute disaster after the club was stripped the 2007 and 2009 premierships, as part of the harshest ever NRL sanctions for salary cap breaches.
“Our heads were spinning,” Bellamy recalled.
“We needed to make a statement and that's how we did it … we weren't thinking people will remember this picture in 10 years.”
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Senior players, including Cooper Cronk and Brett White, provided words that ultimately went into the statement Bellamy read.
"We stand here today united … we ain't gonna surrender," Bellamy said a decade ago.
"Our greatest accomplishments and what we cherish most have been taken away.
"We will not walk away from this challenge … we will stand up for ourselves and fight our way back from here.
"That fight starts today. And tomorrow it starts on the field."
He and the players turned around after the poignant address, walked back down the race and straight into a team meeting to prepare for their Anzac Day match.
It hit Bellamy then, walking back over the freshly laid turf for only the second time, the importance of practising what he had just preached.
“For me actions speak stronger than words, when I said those things I was pretty determined I was going to back them up,” Bellamy said.
“We were determined we built something special (before 2010) and we weren't going to let it go without a fight.”
The fight has resulted in a further two premierships, four minor premierships, seven (of a possible) nine preliminary final appearances, and Storm has not missed the finals since.
Long-time Storm football director Frank Ponissi witnessed the landmark press conference from the players’ race.
“It was very emotional, it wasn't a show of defiance or anything like that,” Ponissi said.
“It was a show of unity, whatever's happened has happened, we're sticking together, that photo symbolised we're all sticking together … that’s what got us through 2010, that attitude.”
“The class of 2010 … how they got us through, we can never lose sight of that … we could’ve very easily rolled over that year.
“I think that went such a long way in really building the foundations for the next decade.”
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