Bellamy was ‘set on retirement’ a year ago. This week, he’s re-signed again

Craig Bellamy will be staying at the head of the Melbourne Storm through to at least 2028, re-signing for a further two years this week as he prepares to lead the southern NRL powerhouse for a 23rd straight season.

The question around when “Bellyache” will retire often dominates headlines every NRL preseason, especially after he started signing one-year deals with the Storm in the early 2020s. This two-year extension, which will take him through 2026, 2027, and 2028, may have been a way to put those near-constant rumours to bed for at least a few campaigns.

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With so many starting Storm players leaving recently — Grant Anderson, Bronson Garlick, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Jonah Pezet, and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, among them — there may also be talks of a rebuild at the perennial challengers.

While he’s said nothing about it officially, this Sporting Base writer suspects Bellamy wouldn’t want to leave the club where he’s worked for the past quarter century holding the bags as it figures out how to navigate that exodus, plus Cameron Munster’s impending retirement, without the 66-year-old helmsman stabilising the ship one last time.

The only thing that may have turned Bellamy’s head was the chance to coach the Gold Coast Titans, considering he eventually wants to move there (and already owns property on the glitter strip). The Titans were so keen that they inserted a “Bellamy clause” into Josh Hannay’s contract, but it’s looking fairly unlikely Bellamy will move there before he retires now.

Talking to Code Sports, Bellamy admitted he had been “sort of set on retirement… I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do in retirement,” but eventually decided he wanted to keep working as long as it’s not a burden.

“Coaching the Storm has always been a huge honour,” Bellamy said in a statement Friday. “I love this club and everything it represents, the people, our history and our fans. I’ve always said I’ll only keep coaching if the club believes I can still contribute. Having that certainty for the next three years is reassuring, and I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can continue to grow as a squad.

“I’m excited to keep working with our coaching and performance staff, who make Storm such a great place to be.

“We’ve got an outstanding group, who are very capable, and I’m looking forward to helping with their ongoing development.”

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Storm chairman Matt Tripp declared that Bellamy was “one of the greatest coaches in rugby league history” after the re-signing was unveiled. “Craig continues to coach at the highest level, leading an exceptional group of coaches and performance staff who give him every opportunity to focus on developing our players and driving success,” the Melbourne boss said.

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Tripp continued with his plaudits, adding that, “Craig’s passion and determination are as strong as ever. He still has the energy and drive to take our team forward and help Melbourne Storm chase another premiership.”

That target will start this month, when the Storm start their preseason against the Titans on February 21.