‘Weren’t prepared to go as far’: Bellamy’s blunt admission after GF loss

A dejected Craig Bellamy admitted his Melbourne Storm players “weren’t prepared to go as far” as the Panthers were after losing 14-6 in brutal grand final.

A dejected Craig Bellamy admitted his Melbourne Storm players “weren’t prepared to go as far” as the Panthers were after losing 14-6 in brutal grand final.

The Storm scored the first try of the match through skipper Harry Grant but were suffocated by a “relentless” Panthers outfit, who claimed their fourth-straight premiership.

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“They were too good for us,” Bellamy admitted in his post-game press conference.

“They really know what they’re good at and they just stick to it. They’re relentless at sticking to what they plan to do. We got off the beaten track tonight and paid the price for it

“They’re relentless at doing what they know works for them and we probably weren’t prepared to go as far as they were or as far as they did with our game plan.

“Hopefully we’ll be wiser for tonight, learn a few things.

“I don’t think we’re going to lose too many of our squad next year... there’s a bit of a theory that you’ve got to lose one to win one so hopefully that’s the case. At the end of the day we were outplayed tonight.”

Harry Grant and Craig Bellamy in the post-game press conference.

One area Bellamy hopes his group will grow in is decision making under pressure.

There was a missed opportunity in the final 10 minutes to potentially shift the momentum when the Storm were awarded a penalty close to the goalposts. Rather than taking the two and then getting the ball back off the kick-off, the Storm opted for the tap instead, which didn’t lead to anything.

When asked about the moment Bellamy admitted he would’ve advised his players to take the shot at goal.

“I was just thinking about the two points and then the tap came,” he said.

“At the end of the day I wasn’t strong on either decision. If we had a bit more time to think about it probably would’ve took the two and then we’re six behind.

“But at the end of the day they got back up there after as well and took a tap — they could’ve kicked another two points as well — so I don’t think that was the wrong decision or right decision. They can work out either way.

“Just going on with the experience... I was just looking through our 2020 side during the week and we had nine players in that squad that actually played against us this year in other teams.

“So it was an inexperienced team for playing in a grand final so hopefully we can build on that next year and go from there.”

Bellamy questioned his sides decision making. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Grant was the Storm’s best, finishing with four tackle busts and 47 tackles — one miss — to go with his try. But his heroic 80-minute effort wasn’t enough to carry his team over the line.

The 26-year-old has played on some of the biggest stages in rugby league representing Queensland and Australia — but Sunday was his first grand final appearance.

He believes there’s a lot of “learnings” to come out of the loss but is confident that the squad, which will largely remain the same next season, will be stronger for the experience.

“It’s hard to get here and it’s even harder to win so it just goes to show Penrith have been here and done it (so) you’ve got to give them a lot of credit and a lot of respect for what they’ve done,” Grant said.

“We’ve got a lot of guys (that were in) the biggest game of our careers so that’s a real learning. We’re keeping our squad together, we’re adding to our squad so we’ll be more experienced and better for the run next year.”

The Storm will be back next year. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Given the youth and new faces in the side since the Storm last played in a grand final in 2020, Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s absence was obvious.

The 28-year-old, who won the 2017 and 2020 grand final, copped a five-game suspension earlier in the week after failing to over turn a high tackle charge at the NRL judiciary.

“We did miss him ... I’d be lying if I said we didn’t,” Bellamy admitted.

“We were struggling to make metres early and that’s one of his real strengths so we certainly missed him.”

The result has arguably sealed the Panthers’ status as the greatest team in the modern era — and Bellamy was asked about his thoughts after his rivals achieved a 58-year first in winning four-straight premierships.

“I don’t think I need to say anything — you just summed it up. 58 years, that’s a fair record,” he said.

“To do what they’ve done — five grand finals in a row and four of them they’ve won — I don’t know whether we’re going to see that too often in our game.

“They’ve obviously done one hell of a job in the last five years. You’ve just got to have a lot of admiration for them.”

Originally published as ‘Weren’t prepared to go as far’: Bellamy’s blunt admission after GF loss