The story of Melbourne Storm’s Cheyse Blair really is the story of Craig Bellamy. It is the story of what great coaching is and the influence that great mentors have on their team and each player.
Prior to arriving in Melbourne this season to add some depth at outside back, Blair was a below-average player who couldn’t hold down a first grade position. After playing 22 games for the Eels in his 2012 debut season, he managed just 22 over the following three years, dumped from the wooden spoon Eels team and then in and out of a declining Sea Eagles team. His handling was poor (16 errors in 13 games for Manly) and he was a defensive liability.
Fast-forward to 2016 and Blair is the starting left centre for an NRL grand final side. He has scored nine tries for the season, including the match-winner against the Raiders on Saturday night, made just four handling errors in 16 outings and has been among the most consistent three-quarters in the premiership.
Blair is no superstar, he would be the first to admit that. But he is a player who is now playing to his maximum capability, one who is contributing consistently to a very good team.
The key to turning Blair’s form – and career – turnaround has been simplicity. Craig Bellamy gave Blair a role and it could not have been simpler: run hard and make your tackles on the paddock, train with intent off it.
That is the subtle magic of Craig Bellamy. He gets the best out of all his players. He can make sponge cake with sour cream. He can turn an ugly duckling into a fair looking swan. The genius of his coaching is not showing how smart he is but by showing his players how simple the game can be.
Blair is not the first player to benefit from the Bellamy touch. The list is as long as it is impressive, the stories now written into rugby league lore.
Bryan Norrie was plucked from an appointment as the captain-coach of the Wagga Kangaroos to become a key member of the 2012 premiership side. Brett Finch was a mid-season transfer in 2009 – a player considered washed-up when he suddenly starred on the run to another title. Ben Roberts played his best football during his short stint at the Storm. Jaiman Lowe is a premiership player.
The flipside is equally true. There is almost no player who has left Bellamy’s system at the Storm and improved. Not superstars like Greg Inglis or Ryan Hoffman or Israel Folau. Not the likes of Joseph Tomane or Dane Nielsen or Kurt Mann – players who looked like emerging stars at the Storm before floundering elsewhere.
The clarity and simplicity of his message sees Bellamy get the most out of what he has. With so much of the salary cap tied up in four superstars, success for his team is reliant on getting the most out of undervalued talent. Bellamy, a kind of Billy Beane of the NRL, does just that. When other clubs then splash the cash on the players he has developed, he starts again, giving players clearly defined roles with easy-to-understand expectations.
In an era of unprecedented parity, where no team has won back-to-back premierships in a quarter of a century, Bellamy has had Melbourne in title contention for well over a decade. The only time the club has missed the playoffs during his tenure was when they were ineligible. Melbourne have played in six grand finals across the last 11 seasons. Only Manly come close over that time with four. No other club has played in more than two.
An indication of how successful Bellamy is with his astute roster development, his incomparable player development and his belief that hard work trumps all, is his relative win record. In 367 games he has won at a rate of 67 per cent, a full five percentage points ahead of Jack Gibson and Wayne Bennett, the two mentors regarded as the greatest of all time.
The only man to have coached more than 100 games and have a better strike rate is Norm Provan, who had at his disposal the greatest club team in rugby league history.
Bellamy is now mentioned in the same breath as Gibson and Bennett, but win or lose on Sunday, he should be regarded as the finest coach rugby league has ever known.
None have done more with less or more in such difficult circumstances than Melbourne’s coach. On Sunday, for proof, just look at Cheyse Blair – what he was and what he has become.
