Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was seen spraying his players as some dodgy discipline threatens to rule out a couple of stars.
The Storm were stunned by Newcastle 26-18 in the Hunter on Saturday, ending an 11-game streak against Adam O’Brien’s side.
And Melbourne will now be sweating on the NRL’s match review committee after a number of reports.
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Harry Grant and Tariq Sims were penalised for separate incidents, with the latter sin-binned for a high tackle and the Knights capitalising with three tries while he was off.
Grant was the first to be punished, reported for dropping his knees into the back of Newcastle player Phoenix Crossland in the first half.
Referee Gerard Sutton called it “carelessness” but opted not to send Grant from the field.
“(Knights player Lachlan) Fitzgibbon didn’t really like it… I tell you what, that’s a penalty,” league legend Steve Roach said.
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“There’s no arms really trying to wrap around, it’s all knee.”
A week earlier, Eels prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard was binned for dropping his knees on Titans player Chris Randall, and later copped a four-game suspension from the MRC.
Shortly after the Grant incident, Sims found himself marched from the field for a swinging arm to the head of Jackson Hastings.
Greg Marzhew and Lachlan Fitzgibbon scored in the minutes before half time to give the Knights a lead, and Mat Croker went over just after the break to make it a treble while Melbourne was down to 12 men.
According to Fox League, Bellamy labelled the first-half performance “soft” during the break.
Cameras then captured him giving his players both barrels in a fiery half-time address, pointing specifically at Sims who sat with his head down.
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Bellamy doubled down on his criticism after the game.
“Sometimes you wonder how important it is to them,” he said.
“It was like it just got too hard, or we thought it was going to be easy.
“One thing we pride ourselves on is never getting complacent. That’s not what we’re about.”
“One thing I hate is inconsistency… but that’s what we’ve been this year.
Melbourne is guaranteed its spot in finals, while the Knights are gunning for a spot inside the top eight and hoping for some late-season form.
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