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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Jack Snape at AAMI Park

Craig Bellamy’s 600-game party goes up in flames as Roosters torch Storm

Storm head coach Craig Bellamy during a presentation after his 600th match – a 40-10 defeat to the Sydney Roosters.
Storm head coach Craig Bellamy during a presentation after his 600th match – a 40-10 defeat to the Sydney Roosters. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Friday was supposed to be a celebration of one of rugby league’s greatest coaches. But following the Roosters’ 40-10 defeat of the Storm, Craig Bellamy was not amused. After watching the worst half in Melbourne’s history, during which his team completed just five sets after half-time, giving up a 10-point lead and conceding 40, he was better described as enraged.

Once known as rugby league’s human explosive, Bellamy said at his press conference this week that he had mellowed. But watching him on the television cameras pace furiously around an empty dressing room after full-time, it was the Bellamy of old.

Excruciatingly, he then had to walk out onto the field and address the crowd and receive a memento for his 600th game. Behind him a sign reading CB600 was on fire to mark the occasion, but there was steam coming out of Bellamy’s ears when he approached the microphone, and he dropped the f-bomb to make his feelings known. “It was embarrassing actually, to be quite honest, to go out there,” he said afterwards.

Just over the road in the Melbourne Park precinct, Cirque du Soleil was under way. The show featured Mauro, a dreamer clown, imagining his funeral as a festive carnival with angels. At AAMI Park, here was the game’s most serious man, watching the season of his premiership favourites take a sharp turn towards its grave. “I thought we’d done a really good job in the first half, but it was like a different team in the second half,” Bellamy said. “I really can’t say how disappointed I am in that performance and especially coming at this time of the year. It’s ah … yeah.”

While the trapeze might have been advertised for John Cain Arena, the real acrobatics were to be found in the south-western corner of AAMI Park. There, during an extraordinary second half, Mark Nawaqanitawase crossed four times – including two exquisite elevated putdowns – to move into first in the NRL try-scoring race with 20. Storm’s winger, Xavier Coates, previously had the lead, but was one of several Melbourne players rested with a top two spot all but secured, including captain Harry Grant and prop Josh King.

Still, an almost full house of Storm fans came, though their numbers streaming out of Richmond station were diluted by those on the way to Cirque du Soleil. Among them was a group of four in their 20s, in bowties, suspenders and evening gowns. One could be overheard discussing the merits of rugby league. “I’ve only watched a few games, but I understand it,” he said.

The matches in this penultimate round of the regular season, however, make little sense. On Thursday, the four-time premiership-defending Panthers, unrecognisable after 16 changes, succumbed meekly to the previously listing Bulldogs. Then on Friday, the Warriors failed to reel in the lowly Eels despite a roaring home crowd, leaving the top four open for the Broncos – who welcome Melbourne in a pivotal clash next Friday.

And can our well-dressed young gentleman please help out with what to make of this Roosters side? Two weeks ago they looked destined for the finals having reeled off three straight. Then they lost to the Eels last week, and the gloom returned. Against the Storm, they may have been missing playmaker Sam Walker due to concussion, but their lineup was one others could envy. A rejuvenated James Tedesco at fullback, a pack full of rep players and twin weapons on the wings.

Of course, they proceeded to give away seven penalties in the first half of a match that was looking like their season’s own funeral. Melbourne’s makeshift defensive line was superb in the first half, but the Roosters looked out of ideas and at half-time they were pointless in more ways than one. Then they emerged from the tunnel a different side.

In almost everything was Nawaqanitawase, who snuck the ball inside the corner flag twice despite diving defenders. Storm chief executive, Justin Rodski, suggested this week the next Melbourne Park statue should be of Bellamy. But when a weaving Nawaqanitawase left Grant Anderson at a standstill for his fourth try, the Storm already had one.

With the Storm’s defeat, the Raiders can secure their first minor premiership since 1990 with a win against the Tigers at a full GIO Stadium on Saturday. The Roosters will enter their local derby against the Rabbitohs next week knowing a win will be enough to make the eight – if they aren’t already secure by the end of the weekend – in what promises to be a marquee conclusion to their regular season. Their coach Trent Robinson wants them to fully absorb the buildup. “We’re human beings, we understand what it means when those two jerseys play each other, and the week will be great,” he said.

But he himself was more measured after the game, a clear contradiction with his players who had spent much of the previous 40 minutes hooting and high-fiving. “You don’t get giddy, the job’s not over, though you can feel I’m really proud of the guys,” he said. “But also there’s next week, there’s always next week. Until there’s not.”

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