Bellamy’s bellows an intense soundtrack to a grand final triumph
I HAVE never been on the end of a Craig Bellamy spray and, after Sunday night, I never want to be.
You never know what you’re going to witness when you settle into the media box to cover an NRL grand final.
Rugby league has a way of delivering in the most spectacular fashion. Little did I know Sunday’s grand final was going to be a feast for my ears as much as it was my eyes.
It began the moment referee Gerard Sutton blew the first whistle and lasted for 80 minutes. Craig Bellamy’s tirade from the coach’s box, unabated and unfiltered.
From constant threats to hook players to a litany of swear words that would make a sailor blush.
Not even the concrete wall separating my ears from Bellamy’s mouth could contain the coach’s voice as every word he roared seeped straight into an adjoining media box.
Nor was the sound of 40,000 fans enough to drown him out.
Hearing him ride home Suliasi Vunivalu’s intercept try like he had backed a Melbourne Cup runner was surreal.
But for the highs, there were lows. The Nathan Cleary try with 13 seconds remaining to give Penrith the faintest glimmer of hope was too much for Bellamy to bear.
He stood up, unloading obscenities, stormed to the back of the coach’s box and let fly with a kick that launched a chair crashing into the wall that was separating us.
That vision of Bellamy will no doubt feature on highlight reels for years to come. Most will only ever see the muted vision. But I’ll watch on knowing I had the privilege of hearing every single word — the good, the bad and the ugly.
The privilege of not only witnessing greatness, but hearing it in all its glory, as Bellamy rode every play and ref call on his way to another premiership victory for the Storm.