Craig Bellamy was embarrassed to accept an award for his 600th game after his players conceded 40 second half points in a thrashing by arch rivals the Roosters in Round 26.
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The Storm led 10-0 and were defending superbly in the first half, but they faded badly to sour what should have been a memorable milestone occasion for their coach.
“I’m not quiet sure to be honest, it certainly wasn’t the result we wanted, but the lack of effort was the thing that stood out for me.” Bellamy said.
“Last week we didn’t play so well in the second half either, but I can probably think of a couple of words, but I can’t say them on that second half. Like that was 40-nil in a half of footy.
“That’s embarrassing, so that’s about the nicest word I can use.”
Bellamy was clearly dejected and at a loss as to why his side defended so poorly in the second half after producing some excellent scramble defence in the first half.
“We were up 10-0, then we got put on the second half and with all due respect, obviously, the Roosters are a good side and they’ve got some really good attack on players, but we were as soft as butter in the second half,” Bellamy said.
“I really can’t say how disappointed I am in that performance, and especially coming at this time of the year.
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“You don’t have to go into the finals not playing well. It’s all a bit surreal for that to happen, but it’s happened, so we’ve got to deal with it and work out why and then move on.”
Pressed on his personal milestone, Bellamy was clearly agitated he had to try and celebrate such a milestone on a horror night for his team.
“It was embarrassing actually to be quite honest to go out there, especially with Andrew Abdo coming down and that sort of stuff,” Bellamy said.
“I found that embarrassing. Anyway it is what it is.”
Bellamy was pressed on what his players had to say for themselves.
“I had a fair bit to say, but they didn’t say a whole heap,” Bellamy said.
Adding to the Storm’s woes, Nelson Asofa-Solomona was placed on report in another blow to their lead-up to the finals.
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“Certainly disappointed, but we’ll see what happens and go from there,” Bellamy said.
“I must say I didn’t think there was too much in it. Again, I don’t really watch the replays, I didn’t sort of see the live thing. Again, I didn’t think there was a whole heap, but at the end of the day he is on report, so it’s obviously something.”
Bellamy warned if his players were not ready to get excited for the finals then they won’t be in the team next week.
“We’ve had a bit of a chat already,” Bellamy said.
“They’ll give their impressions on the game or their thoughts and then we’ll get together and work out why or try and work out why and then go from there.
“I’m not quite sure why we’ve had a couple of really poor second half’s. Obviously the second half tonight was a lot worse than last week.
“But so there’s a little bit of a pattern there, so we’ll get together and come up with a few things and then we’ll work on that and see what happens.
“But at the end of the day, it’s getting close to the end of competition at the end of the season, so if some of the players can’t get excited for that, well we don’t want them in the team.”
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