How lucky is Storm...
Roy Masters Phil Gould Brad Walter Greg Prichard Glenn Jackson Andrew Stevenson Jacquelin Magnay Stathi Paxinos Will Swanton Adrian Proszenko Daniel Lane Phil Lutton Clubs
smh.com.auWebRugby League. .Staying strong - Bellamy weathers the storm of his life ROY MASTERS
July 3, 2010
.
Illustration: Rocco Fazzari
When police ordered a lockdown of the Storm's new home at Melbourne's AAMI Park last week after a troubled man wielding a shotgun was sighted in the precinct, the players joked that coach Craig Bellamy had finally lost it.
About 100 police, many dressed in the heavy black armour of the Tactical Response Group, surrounded the stadium after a high-speed chase where the gunman abandoned his car after ramming others and then sprinted away, eluding all, as Bellamy has done in club road runs.
''Where is Bellyache?'' the players quipped as they lifted weights, ''Has he finally cracked up?''
The Storm coach has endured a terrible two months, including the cancellation of premierships won in 2007 and 2009, the failure of his third successive State of Origin campaign, an NRL mandated wooden spoon in 2010, a freeze on the re-signing of players for next season, the possible loss of the four superstars he developed (to the benefit of the Queensland Origin team), his entrapment in the middle of the Andrew ''Joey'' Johns racial vilification saga and three losses from the Melbourne club's past four games.
Add to this, the seizure of his computer by Deloitte, the audit firm employed by News Ltd to conduct a forensic examination of the club's salary-cap excess; the taunting by Parramatta fans at the round-13 grand final rematch; a barrage of unanswered phone messages and looming court cases on two fronts in two states - the challenge by the Storm board in the Victorian Supreme Court to the NRL penalties over the salary-cap breaches and a NSW defamation action by three members of the NRL judiciary over comments Bellamy made when captain Cameron Smith was suspended in 2008.
He says of Monday's lockdown, ''I had just finished an exercise session away from the players while they were doing weights and was about to have a cup of coffee when I saw cop cars everywhere and was told a gunman was on the loose.''
The players' good natured joke at his expense is reminiscent of his darkest day this year: April 22 when the NRL sanctions against the Storm were announced at a 4pm news conference while the players were training. ''It was the lowest point by far,'' Bellamy says without hesitation. ''I was at work [in his office] and the players were out at training. I knew the two [chairman Rob Moodie and acting chief executive Matt Hanson] had gone up to Sydney to see the NRL and the salary cap was an issue.
''Peter Maher [a Storm director] came in to tell me the penalty. I was devastated. Absolutely gutted. He told me 10 minutes before the scheduled end of training. I usually go out for the finish but I didn't make it.
''Apparently the players were joking I was hiding up in the grandstand, watching training. Occasionally, I do sneak away and keep an eye on one or two but not this time. It was one of the few sessions I've missed. As they walked off, I told them to have their showers and go to the meeting room.
''They could tell from my face something was wrong. When I finally told them, I'll never forget the looks on the faces of the seven- and eight-year players. You strive all your career to win premierships.''
Maher says, ''My enduring memory is leaving the coach on his haunches in his office, while I talked on my mobile phone as I circled the stadium, trying to get some sense out of Sydney.'' Bellamy was desperate that evening, trying to find close confidantes. Who coaches the coach is one of sport's unsolved mysteries.
Who does he turn to in his darkest hour? His assistants who expect leadership? His board who have their own agenda? His players who want answers? His wife who he has shielded? Emotion raced though the club like an out-of-control electric current. There were meetings and addresses and undertakings, but who do you trust at a time like this?
Deloitte took away his computer after an interrogation where he explained his only knowledge of player salaries was a peek over the shoulder at the clipboard carried by the chief executive. After all, if a coach knows player X is receiving more than Y but deserves less, it becomes a distraction.
When Bellamy got home that Deloitte day, he realised he had a second computer (to avoid carrying one to training) so he called the auditor and invited them to examine it. It's indicative of Bellamy's intrinsic honesty. They kept his work computer for a couple of days and his home one for a week. If they were searching for emails, it was futile. He doesn't have an email account. His honesty and work ethic are the bedrock of his values and his appeal to players both at club and Origin level. To understand him, you've got to dig down to that bedrock, sifting through the layers, like archaeologists do. There you will find a Portland, NSW family, with a father, Norm, killed in a mining accident, when he was 51, younger than Craig is now. His mother, Betty, worked in a clothes factory at Lithgow and the family was raised on the ethic that hard labour is a reward in itself.
''The thing I remember,'' he once told me, ''Is the strikes, with one lasting 12 weeks. It was usually at Christmas and we'd have to eat rabbit.
''It was a time we couldn't go to the pool or eat ice-cream, just eat rabbit.'' Bellamy's honesty came through when his phone rang at Queanbeyan Leagues Club, where he was working the day his dad died. It was his neighbour calling and Craig knew something was seriously wrong, yet when the man said, ''You'd better sit down'', he had to say, ''But there's no seat here, mate.''
Honesty was needed when NSW centre Timana Tahu told Bellamy how he was upset by Andrew Johns's racist remarks at a beery session before the second Origin game. ''You could see the hurt in his eyes,'' said Bellamy, who tried to organise a reconciliation and forgiveness session with Johns and Tahu. It proved impossible. ''The frustrating thing is I would have liked a face-to-face meeting where they could tell each other how they felt. Then Greg [Inglis] got pulled into it [as the target of Johns's comment]. I have seen all three and how hurt they've been and I've been frustrated because I couldn't do anything to fix it.''
Nor has he avoided serious self-assessment in his role as NSW coach.
His greatest skill is technical, taking the wet putty of a player, smoothing away his rough edges and shaping his assets. His sculptures take time.
Every player who has come to Melbourne has either been a rejectee at another club (ex Cronulla centre Dane Nielsen is now one of the NRL's best defensive backs) or a youngster searching for an opportunity.
What is often forgotten is the decline of players when they leave the Storm system - Titan Joseph Tomane started the season well but has been dropped; Cowboy Antonio Kaufusi has been released to Newcastle; Bulldog Steve Turner's play had dulled before his injury; Bronco Scott Anderson is on the bench; grand-final centre Will Chambers struggled with Super 14 team the Queensland Reds and it took a sympathy phone call from Bellamy to Brisbane's Israel Folau, after his omission from the Test team, to reignite the play of the former Storm centre.
Bellamy rarely drinks, maintains a spartan diet and has a work ethic to shame a Sherpa.
He allowed himself a night off after the Storm humbled the Cowboys. It was only three days after the second Origin loss and five days after being embarrassed by the Roosters.
All his Origin players backed up and his two young wingers scored five tries.
''I thought we were outstanding,'' he said, rare praise from the code's hardest marker. The players have done a really good job under the circumstances.''
He rewarded himself with a few beers and watched Australia play Ghana in the World Cup. But he remains a league man who has learnt that loving the game doesn't mean it will love you back.
''It hasn't been a pleasant time but people are relying on me to stay strong and do the best job I can,'' he said, determined not to weep for his woes, nor shun his duty.
When it rains …
April 22: Bellamy's world comes crashing down as Storm are stripped of 2007 and 2009 titles and all points this season for breaching salary cap
May 26: Scoreline flatters Bellamy's NSW team as they succumb 28-24 to Queensland in Origin I
June 11: Bellamy is told by Timana Tahu he is leaving Origin II camp following racist comments made by NSW assistant Andrew Johns
June 16: A horrible Blues preparation completed by a 34-6 rout by Maroons. Bellamy and selectors receive equal share of the blame
June 26: Bellamy admits Storm players have lost their ''killer instinct'' after 16-14 loss to South Sydney in Perth
June 28: Bellamy has little say in NSW team chosen for Origin III. Selectors overrule him on several points, including the captaincy
smh.com.auWebRugby League. .Staying strong - Bellamy weathers the storm of his life ROY MASTERS
July 3, 2010
.
Illustration: Rocco Fazzari
When police ordered a lockdown of the Storm's new home at Melbourne's AAMI Park last week after a troubled man wielding a shotgun was sighted in the precinct, the players joked that coach Craig Bellamy had finally lost it.
About 100 police, many dressed in the heavy black armour of the Tactical Response Group, surrounded the stadium after a high-speed chase where the gunman abandoned his car after ramming others and then sprinted away, eluding all, as Bellamy has done in club road runs.
''Where is Bellyache?'' the players quipped as they lifted weights, ''Has he finally cracked up?''
The Storm coach has endured a terrible two months, including the cancellation of premierships won in 2007 and 2009, the failure of his third successive State of Origin campaign, an NRL mandated wooden spoon in 2010, a freeze on the re-signing of players for next season, the possible loss of the four superstars he developed (to the benefit of the Queensland Origin team), his entrapment in the middle of the Andrew ''Joey'' Johns racial vilification saga and three losses from the Melbourne club's past four games.
Add to this, the seizure of his computer by Deloitte, the audit firm employed by News Ltd to conduct a forensic examination of the club's salary-cap excess; the taunting by Parramatta fans at the round-13 grand final rematch; a barrage of unanswered phone messages and looming court cases on two fronts in two states - the challenge by the Storm board in the Victorian Supreme Court to the NRL penalties over the salary-cap breaches and a NSW defamation action by three members of the NRL judiciary over comments Bellamy made when captain Cameron Smith was suspended in 2008.
He says of Monday's lockdown, ''I had just finished an exercise session away from the players while they were doing weights and was about to have a cup of coffee when I saw cop cars everywhere and was told a gunman was on the loose.''
The players' good natured joke at his expense is reminiscent of his darkest day this year: April 22 when the NRL sanctions against the Storm were announced at a 4pm news conference while the players were training. ''It was the lowest point by far,'' Bellamy says without hesitation. ''I was at work [in his office] and the players were out at training. I knew the two [chairman Rob Moodie and acting chief executive Matt Hanson] had gone up to Sydney to see the NRL and the salary cap was an issue.
''Peter Maher [a Storm director] came in to tell me the penalty. I was devastated. Absolutely gutted. He told me 10 minutes before the scheduled end of training. I usually go out for the finish but I didn't make it.
''Apparently the players were joking I was hiding up in the grandstand, watching training. Occasionally, I do sneak away and keep an eye on one or two but not this time. It was one of the few sessions I've missed. As they walked off, I told them to have their showers and go to the meeting room.
''They could tell from my face something was wrong. When I finally told them, I'll never forget the looks on the faces of the seven- and eight-year players. You strive all your career to win premierships.''
Maher says, ''My enduring memory is leaving the coach on his haunches in his office, while I talked on my mobile phone as I circled the stadium, trying to get some sense out of Sydney.'' Bellamy was desperate that evening, trying to find close confidantes. Who coaches the coach is one of sport's unsolved mysteries.
Who does he turn to in his darkest hour? His assistants who expect leadership? His board who have their own agenda? His players who want answers? His wife who he has shielded? Emotion raced though the club like an out-of-control electric current. There were meetings and addresses and undertakings, but who do you trust at a time like this?
Deloitte took away his computer after an interrogation where he explained his only knowledge of player salaries was a peek over the shoulder at the clipboard carried by the chief executive. After all, if a coach knows player X is receiving more than Y but deserves less, it becomes a distraction.
When Bellamy got home that Deloitte day, he realised he had a second computer (to avoid carrying one to training) so he called the auditor and invited them to examine it. It's indicative of Bellamy's intrinsic honesty. They kept his work computer for a couple of days and his home one for a week. If they were searching for emails, it was futile. He doesn't have an email account. His honesty and work ethic are the bedrock of his values and his appeal to players both at club and Origin level. To understand him, you've got to dig down to that bedrock, sifting through the layers, like archaeologists do. There you will find a Portland, NSW family, with a father, Norm, killed in a mining accident, when he was 51, younger than Craig is now. His mother, Betty, worked in a clothes factory at Lithgow and the family was raised on the ethic that hard labour is a reward in itself.
''The thing I remember,'' he once told me, ''Is the strikes, with one lasting 12 weeks. It was usually at Christmas and we'd have to eat rabbit.
''It was a time we couldn't go to the pool or eat ice-cream, just eat rabbit.'' Bellamy's honesty came through when his phone rang at Queanbeyan Leagues Club, where he was working the day his dad died. It was his neighbour calling and Craig knew something was seriously wrong, yet when the man said, ''You'd better sit down'', he had to say, ''But there's no seat here, mate.''
Honesty was needed when NSW centre Timana Tahu told Bellamy how he was upset by Andrew Johns's racist remarks at a beery session before the second Origin game. ''You could see the hurt in his eyes,'' said Bellamy, who tried to organise a reconciliation and forgiveness session with Johns and Tahu. It proved impossible. ''The frustrating thing is I would have liked a face-to-face meeting where they could tell each other how they felt. Then Greg [Inglis] got pulled into it [as the target of Johns's comment]. I have seen all three and how hurt they've been and I've been frustrated because I couldn't do anything to fix it.''
Nor has he avoided serious self-assessment in his role as NSW coach.
His greatest skill is technical, taking the wet putty of a player, smoothing away his rough edges and shaping his assets. His sculptures take time.
Every player who has come to Melbourne has either been a rejectee at another club (ex Cronulla centre Dane Nielsen is now one of the NRL's best defensive backs) or a youngster searching for an opportunity.
What is often forgotten is the decline of players when they leave the Storm system - Titan Joseph Tomane started the season well but has been dropped; Cowboy Antonio Kaufusi has been released to Newcastle; Bulldog Steve Turner's play had dulled before his injury; Bronco Scott Anderson is on the bench; grand-final centre Will Chambers struggled with Super 14 team the Queensland Reds and it took a sympathy phone call from Bellamy to Brisbane's Israel Folau, after his omission from the Test team, to reignite the play of the former Storm centre.
Bellamy rarely drinks, maintains a spartan diet and has a work ethic to shame a Sherpa.
He allowed himself a night off after the Storm humbled the Cowboys. It was only three days after the second Origin loss and five days after being embarrassed by the Roosters.
All his Origin players backed up and his two young wingers scored five tries.
''I thought we were outstanding,'' he said, rare praise from the code's hardest marker. The players have done a really good job under the circumstances.''
He rewarded himself with a few beers and watched Australia play Ghana in the World Cup. But he remains a league man who has learnt that loving the game doesn't mean it will love you back.
''It hasn't been a pleasant time but people are relying on me to stay strong and do the best job I can,'' he said, determined not to weep for his woes, nor shun his duty.
When it rains …
April 22: Bellamy's world comes crashing down as Storm are stripped of 2007 and 2009 titles and all points this season for breaching salary cap
May 26: Scoreline flatters Bellamy's NSW team as they succumb 28-24 to Queensland in Origin I
June 11: Bellamy is told by Timana Tahu he is leaving Origin II camp following racist comments made by NSW assistant Andrew Johns
June 16: A horrible Blues preparation completed by a 34-6 rout by Maroons. Bellamy and selectors receive equal share of the blame
June 26: Bellamy admits Storm players have lost their ''killer instinct'' after 16-14 loss to South Sydney in Perth
June 28: Bellamy has little say in NSW team chosen for Origin III. Selectors overrule him on several points, including the captaincy
Never realised how much of a rock he has been these last couple months.
"Better to have Won then Lost, than to have never won at all" Arrogant, but true hahahaha
[img]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_LHg6T-6fC3I/S9VsrfFCLPI/AAAAAAAACeQ/RYZD1XBQI7A/redemption.jpg[/img]
[img]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_LHg6T-6fC3I/S9VsrfFCLPI/AAAAAAAACeQ/RYZD1XBQI7A/redemption.jpg[/img]
-
CooperCronk
- Monsoon
- Posts: 1610
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:34 am
- Location: Storm Land
A super person and a super coach...we are so lucky to have him.
Let him know and send an email to the club.
Let him know and send an email to the club.
-
LESStar58
- Tropical Cyclone
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 6:50 pm
- Location: balls deep in your love...
- Contact:
Top shelf stuff by Masters yet again. Him and Gus are the only decent rugby league writers IMO.
[color=#400040]Melbourne Storm 2011:[/color] take your time, try not to forget, pay no mind to us... [color=#400080]WE'RE JUST A MINOR THREAT![/color]
While id like to say that stripping the coach of his selection rights were the right way to go avoiding personal bias
id actually much rather they look at statistics and pick that way,because even selectors have personal bias
its not like the blues will ever win anyway,3 of the big surrounded by true superstars....game over
id actually much rather they look at statistics and pick that way,because even selectors have personal bias
its not like the blues will ever win anyway,3 of the big surrounded by true superstars....game over
"Absolutely trained to the minute"
Phil "Gus" Gould
"I will personally pay for those to touchies to go and visit OPSM for a checkup,id thought we'd reverted to gridiron for a moment there"
Desmond "Sorry" Hasler
Phil "Gus" Gould
"I will personally pay for those to touchies to go and visit OPSM for a checkup,id thought we'd reverted to gridiron for a moment there"
Desmond "Sorry" Hasler