Ryan Papenhuyzen set to return for Melbourne Storm’s first final

After Craig Bellamy recorded his 400th NRL win and his 37th against the awful Brisbane Broncos, he delivered some positive finals news.

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy is confident superstar fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen will be “fine” for his team’s home qualifying final and forward Eliesa Katoa has avoided suspension after being put on report in the 50-12 shellacking of the Brisbane Broncos on Thursday night

Bellamy racked up his 400th win and a remarkable 37th in 47 clashes against the hapless Broncos in a perfect tune-up for a likely AAMI Park showdown with Cronulla next Friday night.

Katoa was sin-binned and put on report for a hit on Brisbane fullback Tristan Sailor that was caught by the bunker. But the independent doctor ruled that Sailor did not need to go off for a HIA, which played in Katoa’s favour with the match review committee.

Katoa was charged with a grade 1 careless high tackle, which carries an $1800 fin, with an early guilty plea, allowing him to line up for the Storm next weekend.

“From where I was sitting I didn’t think it was too bad and I was surprised that he went to the bin,” Bellamy said after the game.

Sin-binned Storm star Eliesa Katoa will be sweating on match review committee over a high shot that was deemed worse than Felise Kaufusi's 🚫

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Bellamy said first-choice fullback Papenhuyzen, who suffered bone bruising to his leg in last week’s loss to North Queensland, was on track to play in the first week of the finals, the good news coming after his replacement, Sua Fa’alogo, tweaked a hamstring against Brisbane.

“At a pinch Paps could have played this week but we didn’t want to take that risk,” Bellamy said.

“We didn’t want him to pull up sore and not train all next week leading into the finals, so we thought that was the best way to go.

“The medical staff seem to think Paps will be fine for next week.”

Fa’alogo, who has become a go-to man for Storm in Papenhuyzen’s absence, felt “a pop” in his hamstring and will need scans to assess the damage.

He again showed his worth to Bellamy, running for 208m and had two try assists in a dynamic 57-minute display.

“He is a great runner of the footy and like lightning,” Bellamy said.

“The more games we can get him the more he is going to learn about the game and the better player he will be.”

Storm is building at the right time, getting crucial minutes into star playmaker Cameron Munster, who missed 10 weeks with a groin injury.

Halfback Jahrome Hughes also put in another dominant display that could help his case to win the Dally M Medal for the competition’s best player.

Yet another record for our super coach 💜 pic.twitter.com/Fj30Dhvemn

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Melbourne finished the regular season by putting 48 points on the Dolphins in round 25 and then 50 against the Broncos and Bellamy hoped there was better to come in the push for a fourth premiership as coach.

“You would love to win a grand final,” he said.

“They are hard to win and hard to get to. You have to do a lot of things right. Hopefully, we can play our best footy in the next month.”

Bellamy downplayed his own 400 win milestone.

“It is a nice milestone but I sit up in the box,” he said.

“I have some sort of influence during the week I suppose but it is the players that have gone out and done all the hard work.”

Originally published as Ryan Papenhuyzen set to return for Melbourne Storm’s first final