Craig Bellamy wants pre-finals bye in the NRL

Fans have been short-changed by NRL clubs resting masses of talent this weekend, and Storm coach Craig Bellamy has a solution.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy wants the NRL to copy the AFL and implement a pre-finals bye, declaring he wouldn’t have rested the 10 first-choice players he has for Thursday‘s final-round clash with the Broncos if there was a break before the playoffs.

That number could grow to 11 after winger Will Warbrick suffered a training mishap on Wednesday, putting him in doubt, with Grant Anderson on the verge of replacing him.

Melbourne will unleash two debutants, Sua Fa’alogo and Jack Howarth, to help cover the void left by the mass omissions.

With a top-four spot, and another double-chance in the finals, locked in, Bellamy opted to leave out superstars Cameron Munster and Harry Grant as well as captain Christian Welch and first-choice players Nick Meaney, Xavier Coates, Marion Seve, Trent Loiero, Tui Kamikamica, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Tom Eisenhuth.

Star halfback Jahrome Hughes is also sidelined with a knee injury but is expected to be available for the opening week of the finals.

Bellamy declared some of his players were nursing “niggles” that they may have played through if there was more at stake and if they knew they had a week off before the finals as teams do in the AFL.

“I think it would be a good idea,” Bellamy said.

Jack Howarth will make his debut for the Storm. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“Tomorrow, in our team, there would be more players playing. We’ve got some injured guys but there would be more players who have played first grade (that) would (play). The Broncos would be saying the same.

“Perhaps we should look at some other way of not letting that happen, and having that week off before the finals would be a way to have more players playing in the last round.”

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has said he’s got no issue with teams fielding B-grade sides, and while Bellamy said the fans were being denied the best possible line-ups, it was still “exciting” for the clubs to see new players.

“(Fans) are not seeing the game they expected to see or would like to see,” he said.

“For us, and for the Broncos too, we get an opportunity to see some young guys go around and they have been waiting for a long time. We are excited about that.”

Ryan Papenhuyzen made his NRL return last weekend. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Bellamy is also excited at the prospect of star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen potentially playing a full 80 minutes in his second NRL game after more than a year on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.

Having been encouraged by what he saw from Papenhuyzen last week, Bellamy said he was planning for the Clive Churchill medallist to be in his 17-man team for Melbourne’s opening final.

“There is no real plan for Paps. I thought it was real encouraging what he did last week. I’m thinking he’s going to part of our 17,” he said.

“That would be ideal for us (for him to play 80 minutes). We’ll have a long turnaround until the final.

“We’ll be looking to play as long a time as he is comfortable playing with.”

Originally published as Craig Bellamy wants pre-finals bye in the NRL