StormFans.club

routy21 wrote:I don't know if its bullsh*t or not but I was told today by someone who is close to the Dragons that Bellamy to St George in 2014 is a done deal and will be announced on the 21st of Jan.

So please don't shoot the messenger... its just what I was told. Personally, I hope its a load of cr@p.

I hope it isn`t announced today then we know that this is twaddle and he will be staying with MY CHAMPION TEAM.
if it is then I think he will be gone.

stormy wrote:

routy21 wrote:I don't know if its bullsh*t or not but I was told today by someone who is close to the Dragons that Bellamy to St George in 2014 is a done deal and will be announced on the 21st of Jan.

So please don't shoot the messenger... its just what I was told. Personally, I hope its a load of cr@p.

I hope it isn`t announced today then we know that this is twaddle and he will be staying with MY CHAMPION TEAM.
if it is then I think he will be gone.

Well I'm yet to hear anything so I'm tipping twaddle

I am concerned at the length of time Bellamy is taking to resolve his contract. If he was so committed to the club then the last dollar he is hanging out for should not mean that much given the supposed size of his contract now ( $1M/season ). The longer this goes on then I think he is going at the end of this year. He must be struggling with family issues of possible relocation, what his house in Melbourne will be worth and how to sell it, where to live in Sydney and at what cost.

I think it has already taken too long; I hope I am wrong but I think he is gone for 2014. How much of a kick in the guts that would be for Cronk who probably re-signed because of the club, the players and the coach. Bellamy says he wont coach against the big three, so maybe Billy will follow him and Cameron doesn't sound that convincing when he speaks of the future either.

Hmmm troll ?

You wouldn't know a troll if it was staring you in the face.

I have been a paid up member since the very beginning. I have probably only missed 6-7 games in our 15 year history.

This just so happens to be the first thing I have been really concerned about so thought I would register and have my say. So far there just happens to be alot of wishing and hoping and misleading commentary about Bellamy on this site. I think if he was going to stay he would do it by now as the money can not be the biggest issue here.

You would have to agree that it is taking too long.

I wish he would make his decision known too P.I.S. Welcome to the site and hope you contribute more as the season goes on.

Seriously. It is ridiculous how long it is taking. One way or another just tell us Craig, JUST TELL US.

Its not the end of the world if he decides to move on. I'm confident he is just trying to up his price by using the Dragons as leverage. He's been loyal to us for this long I doubt things are going to change.

Cam,Bill will definitely retire as Storm players and I'm pretty confident Cooper will too.


Just remember this generation of the Melbourne Storm can't last forever.

he still has 10 months left on his contract, have some patience guys!! the first trial hasn't even been played and you guys think he is taking too long... please!!

my prediction is he will announce on australia day he is staying on with the storm, would make a great day even better!

Craig Bellamy set to stay with big spending Melbourne Storm

Andrew Webster
The Daily Telegraph
January 23, 2013 12:00AM



Craig Bellamy watches the Storm during a training session on Kerferd Road Beach. Picture: Walmsley Stuart Source: Herald Sun

WITH every passing day they don't hear from him, the Dragons are realising what most of us already assume - that Craig Bellamy won't be leaving the Melbourne Storm.

It looms as euphoric news for the Storm that is crucial to the fickle existence of the premiers on the rugby league frontier of Melbourne.

The bravest decision of all would have been for the 53-year-old coach to join St George Illawarra.

In other words, to do as his former Broncos mentor Wayne Bennett did before him, and what Des Hasler did at the Bulldogs last season.

But when you consider what Bellamy would be leaving, it was a no-brainer.

Throughout summer, the whispers had grown into a roar that Bellamy would be headed to St George Illawarra.

Chief executive Peter Doust had him in his sights well before the end of last season when the Storm clinched the premiership from Hasler's upstart Canterbury side.

Those close to the Dragons and even those who reckon they are close to Bellamy were adamant "the deal was done".

Yeah, good. This is rugby league. Even when it's done it's not done.

Then, about a fortnight ago, the coaching merry-go-round swung around. The so-called done deal was off and he would apparently finish his career in Melbourne.

An announcement is likely to be made in the next few weeks, although negotiations between the Storm and Bellamy's manager John Fordham continued at the weekend and that suggests it's not done. Not done-done.

Bellamy made it clear in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in grand final week that testing his coaching at another club - as was the case for Bennett when he joined the Dragons - would have no bearing on his decision.

Refreshingly, he said money meant as much as anything, for this would be his last deal ahead of retirement.

Storm owner News Ltd - publisher of this newspaper - has ostensibly thrown the bank at him to retain him for another five years, knowing full well the club needs the best coach in the business.

Doubtless, though, Bellamy would have considered it a significant risk to walk away from the best-resourced club in the NRL.

At about $12 million a year, the Storm spend more on their football than anyone else.

The Bulldogs spend about $11.2 million - an assurance Hasler squeezed out of them before his shock defection to Belmore from Manly.

In the era of strictly enforced and complicated salary caps, the areas of high performance and its platoons of specialist coaches are becoming the difference between the contenders and also-rans.

To that end, the cashed-up Warriors apparently made such assurances to Bellamy, before he rejected their offer last year.

So what about the Dragons?

It is believed they spend about $9.5 million on football expenditure, but with two ailing leagues clubs at Kogarah and Wollongong it is uncertain how deep their pockets will be in the future.

They might've had enough to secure Bellamy, but would they have had enough to resource him?

And that's a shame, in soap opera terms.

Craig Bellamy has nothing to prove. In the past two seasons, he took a side and club ravaged by the salary cap scandal and somehow won the grand final.

He is the best coach in the competition ... but how will he be considered when it is all over should he stay down in Melbourne?

He won the competition last year with a spare-parts team of unwanted misfits and footballers other clubs considered best suited to country footy.

But it was won with possibly the best the hooker of all time in Cameron Smith, a player who could possibly become the best fullback of all time in Billy Slater, and the best halfback going around in Cooper Cronk.

How many more can he win? And how long before the Dragons will challenge for another?

The 'official' statement will come from Craig when he's ready.
Everything spouted - rumoured - printed until then is just piss in the wind

I'll wait & whatever comes comes

Firstly that AW article is awful. Like somehow CB's accomplishments with us are lesser then those of WB or TS when they had superstar rosters.
Secondly Mathew Johns has come out and said Craig is staying so that makes me feel better.

Matthew Johns also came out and said Cronk was gone. He knows nothing

Go and have a read of the SMH today. Theres a lot of noise being made about an international consortium who are ready to buy news ltd out....but only if Craig is the coach.

Bellamy key to consortium eyeing Storm
Pretty sure 'consortiums' have been tagging NEWS Ltd for a while now,(pre salary cap crap) but until last years N.L.I dramas & the ARLC there was no need for a fire sale