Broncos in $5m bid to replace Bennett with Bellamy

The Broncos have secretly approached Storm coach Craig Bellamy to take over from Wayne Bennett on a deal worth more than $5m.

Melbourne Storm premiership-winning coach Craig Bellamy.

Brisbane have secretly approached Melbourne’s premiership-winning coach Craig Bellamy about returning to the Broncos to take over from Wayne Bennett on a four-year deal worth more than $5 million.

Fox Sports last night revealed the Broncos had been in negotiations with Bellamy for at least the past month.

The move casts a shadow of uncertainty on the future of Bennett, a seven-time premiership-winning coach, who is contracted until the end of next season.

Fox Sports was told the Broncos had discussed Bellamy returning to Red Hill to take over as early as next season — which could mean Bennett being asked to walk away from the club.

But the exact timing of Bellamy’s possible appointment to the top job at the Broncos remains unclear. He could feasibly sit out the 2019 season and then take over when Bennett’s contract expires at the end of next season.

The news will have huge ramifications at both clubs, with the Storm in negotiations to try and convince Bellamy to remain in Melbourne beyond this year. The Broncos are in the midst of the longest premiership drought in the club’s history while the Storm have been considered the benchmark club during Bellamy’s tenure.

With $12m sitting in the bank, the Broncos are one of the most powerful clubs in the NRL and basically have an open cheque book when it comes to signing a head coach.

But Storm chief executive Dave Donaghy says his club will fight to retain Bellamy, who has been presented with an offer to stay at the club he’s led since 2003.

Bellamy’s contract with the reigning premiers is up at the end of this season. “Craig has a significant three-year deal on the table with us. That’s been there for a month,” Donaghy told NRL.com.

Bellamy started his career at the Broncos in 1998 after being approached by Bennett to take the role as the club’s head conditioner at a barbecue at Kevin Walters’ house in Brisbane.

Bellamy then served five years under Bennett, with the plan always being for Bellamy to one day take control at Red Hill. That dream ended when Bellamy moved to the Storm and built a juggernaut in the Victorian capital.

In their tenure as head coaches, Bellamy and Bennett have locked horns on numerous occasions over the Storm’s style of tactics.

They have fallen out time and again, most notably when Alex McKinnon was left i n a wheelchair in 2014. At the Storm, Bellamy has been conditioning his assistant Adam O’Brien to take over.

Bellamy’s record is the best of any coach in the NRL.

Since taking control at the Melbourne Storm in 2003, Bellamy has coached 406 NRL games for 275 wins, 129 losses and two draws for a 67.7 per cent win ratio.

The Melbourne Storm coach is 58-years-old and has led the Storm to premierships in 2012 and 2017.

Bennett, 68, who started coaching in 1987 with the Canberra Raiders before taking control at the Broncos in 1988, will coach his 800th NRL match against the Parramatta Eels tomorrow night at Suncorp Stadium.

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