One of the NRL’s most successful administrators has offered a rare insight into legendary Melbourne Storm head coach, Craig Bellamy.
Speaking on the Chiming In podcast with Steve Gillis, Melbourne Storm General Manager of Football Frank Ponissi lifted the lid on his 18-year professional relationship with Bellamy—including his thoughts around constant speculation as to when the super coach will retire from the job he’s held since 2003.
“It’s not a game Craig plays, he genuinely doesn’t know (when he will stop coaching),” Ponissi said, explaining that Bellamy is on a five-year contract with a one-year rolling option.
“As a coach he is just so focussed on the now, and the next game, he actually struggles making decisions too far ahead.”
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“Craig is unbelievably ‘in the moment’—if you pin him down and ask ‘hey, can we do this in a couple of weeks?’ he just gets rattled,” Ponissi explained.
‘He will keep going and going and going’
Having extended his own stay at the Storm until at least 2029 at the end of last season, Ponissi acknowledged that one day Bellamy will decide to step away—but contrary to all the rumours, he doesn’t see it happening any time soon.
“It will be big, no doubt about that when it eventually does come, but I don’t think it will be for a while, I think Craig will keep going and going and going,” Ponissi said.
“We probably got some good practice with the ‘big three’ (Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk) because there was always a theory that when they retired the place would go downhill, so we got ready for that.
“At some stage Craig will leave and hopefully we have things in place for that.
“When you’ve been here for 23 years and you’re so invested in the place, he genuinely cares about the football club, so he’ll want to make sure he gives every opportunity for the Storm to continue succeeding.”
‘I’d find it really difficult to imagine’
Asked if he could ever see Bellamy departing the Storm to coach another NRL club, Ponissi said he felt that time had probably passed.
“No, not at this stage, maybe a couple of years ago just as a challenge, but I’d find it really, really difficult to imagine (Craig coaching somewhere else in the NRL), but you never know.”
Whenever Bellamy does decide to depart, Ponissi is also confident his replacement will be someone with Storm DNA.
“Obviously that will be a decision for the owners, but we have spoken about it numerous times without mentioning specific names,” he revealed.
“I think our first preference would be to either get someone who’s in the Storm system right now, or a coach that’s been here at some stage either as player or as a coach.
“There’s certainly a fair pool to select from.”
Indeed, there is—including the aforementioned ‘big three’ just for starters.