Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy unhappy with his side’s lack of discipline

Giving away penalties when in possession of the ball proved costly for the Storm in their last-start loss to the Canberra Raiders.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy says the Storm must improve their discipline if they are to bounce back from last weekend’s narrow loss to Canberra with a win over the Wests Tigers at AAMI Park on Sunday.

The Storm suffered a 20-18 golden-point loss to the Raiders in the last game of Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium, giving up an early 12-point lead.

While it was no disgrace losing to Canberra, Bellamy said the Storm were at times their own worst enemies.

“It was a little bit of our discipline,” the Melbourne mentor said.

”We gave away three penalties when we had the ball. To do that once in a year, it hurts you, but to do it three times in one game was just our lack of discipline, and we need to learn from that.

“That just shouldn’t happen. Hopefully we took a few learnings out of that, and we need to move on.”

Bellamy said the Storm would need to nullify the danger presented by Tigers halves pairing Jarome Luai and Lachlan Galvin.

Final touches ahead of a special weekend 🩵 pic.twitter.com/DXl5JoPZx2

— Melbourne Storm (@storm) May 10, 2025

“There are a couple things that we’ve pointed out to the players that we need to be doing well to try to control those guys,” he said.

“You’re never going to control them, but as long as we’re disciplined with our system, hopefully that’ll work out OK.”

The Tigers, who were in eighth spot on the ladder heading into round 10, are chasing a third successive win.

“They’re a really good attacking team, but you look at their defensive figures too, and they’re pretty (good) in points against,” Bellamy said.

“It’s no surprise in where they are on the table and how they’re playing, so we know it’s going to be a really tough game for us.”

Bellamy confirmed his squad for the match, with Tui Kamikamica, Ativalu Lisati and Keagan Russell-Smith dropping out of the 22-player squad that had been announced on Tuesday, with Kane Bradley and Nelson Asofa-Solomona named on the extended bench.

Fijian forward Kamikamica was left out of the match-day squad due to an ankle problem.