‘I was gone’: Bellamy to coach on at Storm after retirement backflip

Craig Bellamy will be coaching his 22nd season with the Melbourne Storm in 2024, the tenured helmsman told southern officials on Sunday evening, after originally deciding to call it quits at the end of the current NRL campaign.

The 63-year-old was originally expected to step away from the top job in November and begin moving into an administration role, but instead called up the Storm bosses and told them he would be sticking with it into the 2024 NRL season.

He told the players less than 12 hours later in a morning meeting.

Bellamy’s ongoing contract—inked through to the end of 2026—lets the veteran coach tell the club by round 1 each season whether he will continue on or if he wants to shift into a director role.

As recently as two weeks ago, the 531-game coach was ready to pack it all in. It was so set in stone, Storm football manager Frank Ponissi told the Sydney Morning Herald this week, that the 63-year-old had actually already ‘formally’ put in his plans while the pair were in Glasgow last November to visit Ange Postecoglou at Celtic.

“I’ve done a 180-degree turnaround,” Bellamy admitted today.

“Things have got a bit testy over the past few weeks but I finally decided to coach on for another season in Melbourne. The relationship with the players is important to me. I enjoy that part of it. The players have been really good to coach this year.”

The thought of finishing up changed his mind, he added. “Eight weeks ago I was gone. Finished. But I’ve been speaking to a lot of blokes about retiring and I came to realise you are a long-time retired.”

Bellamy has been coaching Melbourne since 2003 and has won five grand finals with the heavyweight southern outfit, though the 2007 and 2009 victories were later stripped due to a salary cap cheating scandal at the club.

He got his start by coaching two Broncos games while Wayne Bennett was on Origin duty.

Since his shift to Melbourne, Bellamy has become a benchmark for coaching in the NRL. Across 529 games with the club he has won 367 for a 69 percent win rate. He has never finished with lower than 14 wins in any campaign he’s led the Storm and has guided the Victorian team to nine grand finals in 20 attempts.

“This is the news I’m sure everyone connected with Storm—our players and staff, our partners, and our members and fans—wanted to hear,” Melbourne chairman Matt Tripp said after the news dropped on Monday morning.

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