Bellamy and Smith differ on restart

MELBOURNE coach Craig Bellamy may not agree with Cameron Smith, but he has defended his skipper’s right to resist moves to resume playing during the Covid-19 crisis.

The NRL is believed to be considering a June restart with a two-conference system and teams isolated in two “bubbles”, in NSW and Queensland, for a 14-week regular season.

Storm leader and former Kangaroos captain Smith has said he is not comfortable with that prospect and feels it will have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of players.

Smith’s most recent comments came after he was heavily criticised for suggesting after the Storm’s Round 2 match that the NRL competition go on hold for a few weeks amid health concerns.

Bellamy said on the Whateley program on SEN radio yesterday morning: “There’s some people in our game that whatever Cameron says, they’re just going to go against him, for whatever reason.

“The one thing about Cameron ... he will always have the game at heart, he loves it, and he’s a very, very smart guy ... we probably should be taking more often.”

But Bellamy doesn’t necessarily agree with Smith’s view.

The coach is eager to get the game moving for the sake of players and staff, saying it will be a “shot in the arm” for the isolated general community.

“Probably a little bit in the middle there ... but the health of the players and community has got to be No.1,” he said.

“It’s a huge ask for them (players) to leave their families and put it all on their partners.

“That’s a big ask if it’s going to be a reasonable amount of time.” notice of him more

Melissa Woods