Craig Bellamy pleased with Melbourne Storm’s fighting round 1 win over St George-Illawarra

CRAIG Bellamy says he is impressed at the “fight and will” of his new-look Melbourne Storm side after its come-from-behind win over St George-Illawarra.

CRAIG Bellamy says he is impressed at the “fight and will” of his new-look Melbourne Storm side after its come-from-behind win over St George-Illawarra.

Storm leaked two early tries, which Bellamy described as “soft” tries, before turning the tide to score an 18-16 win in its season-opener.

Skipper Cameron Smith said a Round 1 win always feels “like gold,” while Bellamy also chose to look at the positives after the gritty win.

“I thought we did a really good job to get back into it in the first half when they were all over us at 10-0,” Bellamy said.

“So that was a real good effort and I’m really happy with that and the way we hung on towards the end.

“There’s a lot we need to improve on but I thought we showed plenty of fight and we hung in there pretty good.

“There were a lot of good signs there for me to think this team has some will and fight in it, and if does we’ll be a competitive team.”

Billy Slater and Cameron Smith embrace after the final hooter. Picture: Colleen Petch

The form of Billy Slater was a big reason for Storm’s fightback with the fullback conjuring up two try assists in the first half.

Bellamy said he was pleased with the Test full-back’s long-awaited return.

“I didn’t want him to go in with the mentality that he had to make up for last year, I just wanted him to go out and play his natural game without trying to push things too much,” he said.

“I thought he did a pretty good job.

“I think he’s only going to get better and better as he gets his timing back and back into the groove again.”

Dragons coach Paul McGregor blamed a lopsided 9-4 penalty count and poor ball control for his side’s defeat.

“A lot of teams are going to follow us down here (to Melbourne) and come away empty-handed and we understand that,” he said.

“But we can play better than that so to come down here and get beat in a tight contest, I know my team is a good team and they’re a committed bunch of men, so we’ll improve.”

Originally published as Craig Bellamy pleased with Melbourne Storm’s fighting round 1 win over St George-Illawarra