After a lacklustre showing in a 28-16 victory over Souths, Storm coach Craig Bellamy has told his team that they would have a difficult night against Penrith next week if they don’t improve.
Last week, the Dragons shocked the Storm, and although they defeated a weak Souths team on Thursday night, their second half performance was lacklustre.
Early in the second half, Melbourne led 26-4, and Bellamy was hopeful his team would “put the foot down.” However, at the 72nd minute, the Rabbitohs pulled within 10 points thanks to some uncharacteristic mistakes and poor discipline.
After giving Bellamy and the Storm an unwarranted scare, the famous coach bemoaned Melbourne’s inconsistent play.
To be honest, I don’t know what to think. In his news conference following the game, Bellamy stated, “There were some good patches, but there wasn’t enough.”
“We ought to have stepped up when we had that lead, but we didn’t. It seems to me that we began searching for short routes and simple solutions.
That’s not generally effective, and it wasn’t tonight.
“That constancy is absent from us for eighty minutes.
“We had a chance to win it, but we faltered after halftime.”
The match between Penrith and Melbourne at BlueBet Stadium, which is most likely going to determine the 2024 minor premiership, is the next match on the schedule.
Penrith still has the game in hand, but the Storm have a four-point advantage over the Panthers.
Bellamy was questioned about if his team was planning too much for next week.
Not at all. I genuinely don’t think the Penrith game was brought up over the week,” he declared.
However, that is who we are always. We don’t get ahead of ourselves and take each game as it comes, but it wasn’t a great preparation for the challenges we’ll face the next week either.
After the game, Bellamy expressed his excitement for the matchup with the reigning champs, saying he thought the Storm would lose badly unless something changed.
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