Some of the greatest minds in rugby league have been wondering how the game can thank the Warriors for their incredible sacrifices over the past three years to keep the NRL going.
When you’re talking about the best minds in footy, there aren’t many better than Storm coach Craig Bellamy, who has a fairly radical idea ahead of the 2023 season.
“I don’t know what, but we could give them four or six competition points to start with because they probably deserve it with being away for three years,” he said.
The Storm could use four or six points right now after four-straight losses, but Bellamy spoke of how those struggles were nothing compared to what the Warriors have experienced during their nomadic journey up and down Australia’s east coast after border restrictions meant they had to stay away from their families to keep the competition going.
“I think there are some players that haven’t set foot in New Zealand except for the last game against the Wests Tigers,” Bellamy said.
“What they’ve done for the game has been unbelievable.
“To go over to Australia and live in Redcliffe – some without their families and some with their families – they’ve done a great job.
“They’ve basically kept the competition alive, and they’ve made a lot of sacrifices – a lot more than any other team in the competition.
“We should all tip our hats to the Warriors and congratulate them and be grateful for all they’ve done.”
One of the ideas being floated is to have all 24 Warriors games played in New Zealand.
It would be a big call for the other clubs to take a home game across the ditch, especially the Storm who generate massive crowds when they host the Warriors on Anzac Day.
“That’s probably out of my hands, but anything we can do to show our gratitude and show our support for what the Warriors have done (we would consider),” Bellamy replied when asked if the Storm would take their home game to New Zealand.
“We’d certainly consider that. They certainly deserve some sort of recognition for what they’ve done.”
The Storm have bigger things to worry about after they arrived in Auckland on Wednesday night ahead of Friday’s danger game against the battling hosts.
The team that has had a mortgage on the top four for the past decade has slipped to fifth and is in free fall with their defensive structures falling to pieces as they struggle with several injuries in the outside backs.
Bellamy says the club must do the little things to make the big things happen, and that starts on Friday against a team they’ve beaten 12 times in a row.
“We’re in a bit of a situation now where we have to lift our form a touch and be more consistent with the things that are important to us to play a good game of footy,” he said.
“For us, it’s not about winning or losing at the moment.
“It’s about finding a bit of form and being more consistent with the things that we know are important to us as a footy team to perform well. We’ve gone back to really nailing those things at training, and hopefully we’ll improve in the games.”
Bellamy is expecting a far more competitive contest than the one we saw on Anzac Day when the Storm piled on 54 second-half points to win 70-10.
The premiership-winning coach described that night as “bizarre” and said the Warriors would be much tougher this time around at home with former Melbourne player Tohu Harris in the side.
Bellamy also addressed speculation the club had tried to pinch Reece Walsh for the rest of 2022, although that seems dead in the water with the August 1 deadline just days away.
“We got hit on the head at some stage,” he said. “I’m not sure how far it went.”
Originally published as NRL 2022: Craig Bellamy’s big call would give rivals a huge head start
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