Craig Bellamy admits Storm ‘might as well have hit the pub’ after concerning defensive stats this week

Craig Bellamy acknowledged that his team “might as well have headed to the pub” instead of focusing on defensive drills during the week, following yet another disheartening performance against the Warriors.

After suffering a 50-point defeat to Penrith, the Warriors then handed down 38 points to last year’s grand finalists, clearly signalling that changes are necessary at the club.

Overall, the Storm missed 32 tackles during the encounter, a far cry from the defensive standards expected from such a dominant team in the competition.

“We dedicated a lot of time to working on our defence this week, but we might as well have gone to the pub for a couple of beers,” Bellamy admitted in the post-match press conference.

This latest loss marks a concerning fourth consecutive defeat for the Storm, following losses to Brisbane, the Cowboys, and the Panthers leading up to the match against the Warriors.

Bellamy finds himself in unfamiliar territory, with his team sitting in 13th place just six rounds into the season. They could potentially slide to 14th if the Eels manage to defeat the Titans on Sunday.

Following the game against the Warriors, the coach hesitated to place all the blame on his players.

“There are many areas where things have gone awry, so at the end of the day, we must take a good hard look at ourselves,” Bellamy stated.

“It’s not solely about the players’ performance; some of it falls on our preparation as coaches or myself as a coach. We all need to review what we’re doing,” he added.

“We’re probably doing things very similarly to what we’ve done over the last five or six years, perhaps it’s time for a bit of a shake-up. The past couple of weeks have been extremely disappointing, so I hope we can identify the underlying issues.”

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In addition to the high missed tackle rate, Melbourne only managed a completion rate of 78% and made 10 unforced errors, compared to the Warriors who completed at 90%.

The Storm also gave away seven ruck infringements, compounding their errors with penalties.

Captain Harry Grant described some of the errors as “silly and preventable”.

“It’s certainly becoming a part of our game, and while every team goes through phases like this, ideally you’d like to avoid it,” he said.

“As individuals and as a team, we need to improve in certain areas to eliminate these penalties and errors, especially when they’re silly and avoidable. Yet, we also need to be tougher in defence; it’s inevitable that you will concede penalties, but we have to limit their impact.”