Bellamy proud of Storm’s season
superstars right across the park,” Gallen said on the Nine Network’s The Sunday Footy Show.
“You look at their forward pack. They get (Jared) Waerea-Hargreaves back, they’ve got Boyd Cordner there who I thought was man of the match (Saturday).
“Then you look at their backline: (Luke) Keary, (Cooper) Cronk, Latrell Mitchell, (Joseph) Manu, Brett Morris is in as good a form in his career as I’ve ever seen. And then James Tedesco, probably the best player in the game at the moment. So they’ve just got so many superstars right across the park.”
Canberra will be sweating on the fitness of Joseph Leilua, who suffered a calf injury in the club’s 16-10 triumph of South Sydney in front of a sold-out GIO Stadium.
Prop Josh Papalii was arguably the Raiders’ best with the match-sealing try. IT doesn’t always pay to dominate the regular season.
Melbourne produced arguably the best regular season in their history, but will walk away with only a minor premiership and no grand final appearance.
It dropped just four matches in the home-and-away season, the biggest of them by four points to Canberra in round 22.
Its defence was as good as any team this decade, as they conceded only 300 points along the way. So good were the Storm, they finished three wins clear of the next best. But when it mattered in the preliminary finals, the Sydney Roosters were just too good.
The Storm threw plenty at them in attack. They had the better of the ball in the second half and all the momentum.
But the Roosters held firm, time and time again, to win it 14-6. Right down to the point James Tedesco held Brandon Smith up with just minutes to go to virtually wrap up the win.
“It doesn’t make it harder,” coach Craig Bellamy said.
“I just said to the players I couldn’t be more proud of what they did this year. If we had our time again we might have done a bit different in September.
“Especially with our starts in the two games we lost. But what we did through the year I am ultra proud of them.
“We had a younger squad this year, and to do what they did through the year was quite exceptional.”
They’re not the first to feel the pinch though.
Of the 13 teams to have topped the ladder with 40 points or more at the end of the season during the NRL-era, only four have won the grand final. Melbourne has been in that position three times before.
In 2016 they walked away without the title after being beaten by Cronulla in the decider. Likewise in both 2006 and 2011. The Roosters in 2015 and 2004, Canterbury in 2012, Parramatta in 2001 and Cronulla in 1998 are the others.
Like Melbourne, many of those didn’t even make the grand final.
“At the end of the day there are two trophies up for grabs at the end of the year and I know one is a lot bigger than the other one,” Bellamy said. “But we’ve got to console ourselves that we won the minor one.”