Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy blasted the Storm’s performance against the Cowboys as “putrid” after the club slumped to a 20-year low in a 45-20 defeat on Sunday.
The Cowboys headed into the Townsville clash floundering in second-last on the ladder after a start to the season that was well below their heights of 2022, Todd Payten’s men were at their phenomenal attacking best as they racked up the biggest score of any team against the Storm since 2003.
While the scores were locked at 14-14 at half-time, North Queensland ran in five second-half tries and kept Melbourne to one.
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The Cowboys scored two tries in the first 10 minutes of the game and another two tries in the opening 12 minutes of the second half, which left Bellamy seething in his press conference.
“The second-half start was the same as our first-half start,” Bellamy said.
“It was putrid, to be quite honest. Our defence today was the really disappointing part of it, but the two starts to our halves — we were down 10-0 after about seven minutes and then they blew us away at the start of the second half.
“That’s when we should be at our freshest, but we just don’t learn from our mistakes. It went to another level today. I’m just not sure when the penny is going to drop.
“I can’t think of anything at the moment (to change).
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“It was disappointing. We got what we deserved, to be quite honest.”
Winger Semi Valemei had a dream Cowboys debut after being selected at the expense of club great Kyle Feldt, crossing for a hat-trick and racking up 159 run metres following his mid-season switch from the Raiders.
Valemei became the first Cowboys player to score a hat-trick on club debut.
The rest of the North Queensland tries were scored by Murray Taulagi (two), Valentine Holmes, Jeremiah Nanai and Chad Townsend.
The Storm will face the Sharks in Melbourne next Sunday afternoon in a rematch of the 2016 grand final, while the Cowboys are set for a bye.
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