Craig Bellamy has opened up on the highlight of his coaching career as Melbourne prepare for a tilt at their first premiership in four years.
The Storm cruised their way into a preliminary final last week with a big win over Cronulla, with the club once again dreaming of lifting the trophy on the first Sunday in October.
Bellamy has enjoyed a long love affair with the NRL premiership. However, there is one in particular which stands out in the coach’s mind as his greatest achievement to date.
NRL FINALS LATEST NEWS: NRL 2024 finals results, schedule | NRL casualty ward, latest injury news | Every NRL player retiring in 2024
Craig Bellamy reflects on his greatest achievement as Storm coach
"Winning any premiership is obviously a nice thing, but when we won in 2012 - that was a pretty special time," Bellamy said while making an appearance on the Clubhouse podcast.
The Storm had been in the midst of a golden run as they’d made four successive grand finals to pick up two premierships in 2007 and 2009.
But a bombshell struck the club and the NRL when the Storm were found guilty of rorting the salary cap.
The findings sent shock waves through the game and saw the club punished with two titles stripped from them, while they were also handed a points deduction and forced to release a number of players to become cap compliant.
However, despite the turmoil, Bellamy - with help of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith - remarkably had the Storm back competing at the top of the ladder in no time.
SHOP: The Furon7+ and Tekela 4+. Available now
"We lost 14 real good players at the end of 2010, so then to come into 2011 and win the minor premiership [was great]," Bellamy said.
"We didn’t have the class to win the premiership that year but to back up and win the premiership two years after [the salary cap scandal].
"I don’t think I’ve ever been through a tougher period in my life except for a couple of tiffs in the family.
"It was a horrible year in 2010, but for the club to recover from that and win the premiership in '12 - that’s the one I remember most.
"It’s the one I remember most fondly and grip onto."
