Every Storm fan has their own story or memory about Craig Bellamy. I’m sure many will be shared this week ahead of his 600th* NRL match in charge of the club.1 It certainly was nice to see the club continue to embrace Victorian traditions by having Kevin Sheedy (678 matches) and Mick Malthouse (718 matches) down at AAMI Park for media opportunities with Belsa this past week.
If you’re an avid listener to the 167 Podcast you might have heard a story from a caller a few weeks ago with an answer to their question “where’s the strangest place you’ve encountered a footy fan” with the answer being Bellyache on a train to the Meadowlands to watch a New York Jets game. Dear readers, that story was from your correspondent.
I was headed to my second NFL game, my first time in New York. Catching the train from Penn Station to Seacaucus Junction. Just going about my day ahead of the Jets facing off against the Chargers at Metlife Stadium and I’m looking around the train and lo and behold a metre of so in front of me is Craig Bellamy and Frank Ponissi. This is a couple of weeks after the 2011 NRL season had ended, so the pair of them were on one of their annual professional development trips. Gave them both a nod holding up my old Storm iPhone case, they gave me a smile and we were on all on our way. The postscript to that story is I ran into Bellamy a few weeks later in the stands at the 2011 Melbourne Cup. He did remember my face when I had a chat to him about running into him a few weeks earlier. Classic.
S12E25 – Melbourne Storm vs Sydney Roosters
Didn’t want to crank up the time machine to anything specifically Bellamy related, although I did enjoy this look through the pictorial archives from the Storm website.
Instead my mind turned to the last time Melbourne entertained the Roosters on 29 August… the farewell match for the Storm at Olympic Park.
Wait… what’s all that farewell to Olympic Park merchandise…
Oh dear, capitalism really popped off that day. I also kept a Storm × Olympic Park plastic cup from that final night.
As for the match itself, you might notice from the Big League team list that Greg Inglis was listed as “stood down, indefinite.” He had been stood down by the Storm earlier in August 2009 after being arrested and charged by police for assaulting his then partner.2 Inglis made his return in this match after his club suspension was lifted, with Joe Tomane making way.
Without Inglis, Melbourne had stumbled to consecutive losses at Newcastle and against Manly the previous Sunday afternoon at Olympic Park. They had kept their position in fourth on the ladder, but were in danger of dropping out of the top four with any further losses.
The Roosters entered this match in last position on the NRL ladder. Coach Brad Fittler was set to be replaced by Brian Smith at the end of the season after he was told he wouldn’t be part of the coaching staff in July.3
On a cold and damp night at The Graveyard, the Storm started strongly and didn’t relent. Steve Turner scored the first try on the back of a barnstorming run from Adam Blair, crossing over in the corner in just the fifth minute. Melbourne’s second try was one of their favourite set plays. Near midfield from dummy half, Cameron Smith shuffled forward passing outside to Cooper Cronk, who immediately passed back inside for Billy Slater. The fullback sending Inglis back through the middle after drawing the defence. The big four just doing their thing in one singular moment.
Melbourne were putting on a show, extending their lead to 18–0 when Will Chambers crossed for a simple try, the Roosters defence increasingly flimsy. Back from the break the Roosters did score through Shaun Kenny-Dowall, but it was just a minor blip for the home team in their swansong at Olympic Park. Slater sprinted clear to score his 10th try of the season, Inglis had a double moments later scoring the softest of tries from dummy half out wide.
With the home crowd roaring, Ryan Hoffman in his 150th match set up Aiden Tolman to score under the posts — indeed it was only the posts that could have stopped Tolman from scoring, his hit on the padding harder than any tackle from the Roosters. Melbourne’s final try of the night was from Turner who got on the end of a passing play that saw Inglis and Chambers both offload in tackles. Hoffy stepped up to take a conversion attempt from out wide in his milestone match, but the kick was waived away. Inglis could have had his third in the final minute, but fumbled as he tried to get the ball down over the line.
There was one downside to the match in an injury to Scott Anderson, although he would make a return during the finals.
Melbourne – 38 (Inglis 22', 50', Turner 5', 70', Chambers 29', Slater 46', Tolman 60' tries; C Smith 5/6, Hoffman 0/1 goals)
Sydney – 4 (Kenny-Dowall 42' try; Fitzgibbon 0/1 goals)
The win was the club’s 104th from 136 matches at Olympic Park. With AAMI Park nearing completion behind the Nikau Stand, the club played their finals matches in 2009 indoors at Docklands.
While The Graveyard was home, it was a venue of its time. The sight lines weren’t great, it was cramped in the stands, and the facilities were of 20th century standard.4 What made the venue great though was the Melbourne Storm and the fans. Happily the familiar faces and rituals made their way to AAMI Park and we now have a venue that, as lead tenant, the Storm have made their own since 2010.5
Stat attack
Melbourne have played four matches on 29 August, as recalled above winning the farewell to Olympic Park match against the Roosters in 2009, losing to the Tigers at the Lilyfield Rectangle the year after, and beating the Cowboys 14–6 at AAMI Park in 2015. Last year the Cowboys defeated the Renegades 38–30.
Melbourne have a seven match winning streak against the Roosters. The last time they won the day was at AAMI Park in 2022.
The Roosters have won four matches from their 14 visits to AAMI Park. In Victoria they’ve won eight of 26 matches.
Trent Robinson has coached the Roosters in 28 matches against Melbourne, the Chooks winning just eight of those matches.
Craig Bellamy’s Storm milestone matches:6
100th — Round 24, 2006: lost to Warriors 20–24
200th — Round 14, 2010: lost to Roosters 6–38
300th — Round 10, 2014: defeated Rabbitohs 27–14
400th — Round 2, 2018: lost to Wests Tigers 10–11
500th — Round 2, 2022: defeated Rabbitohs 15–14Melbourne have won eight of ten matches when Todd Smith has the whistle. He did put Trent Loiero in the sin bin earlier this season in the Storm’s loss against the Dolphins.7
Team line-up
Ryan Papenhuyzen
Kane Bradley
Marion Seve
Grant Anderson
Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown
Cameron Munster ©
Tyran Wishart
Stefano Utoikamanu (100th NRL match)
Bronson Garlick
Alec MacDonald
Shawn Blore
Joe Chan
Trent Loiero
Jonah Pezet
Ativalu Lisati
Lazarus Vaalepu
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Sualauvi Fa’alogo
Josiah Pahulu
Will Warbrick
Keagan Russell-Smith
Angus Hinchey
Referee: Todd Smith (Bunker: Liam Kennedy)
Preview
Melbourne Storm vs Sydney Roosters
— AAMI Park, 8:05pm Friday 29 August 2025
Well then, all change again for Melbourne as resting time begins.
With the Storm seemingly locked into second on the ladder behind the Raiders, there’s a stack of changes. Harry Grant is having his Luke Patten enforced two-week break, so Bronson Garlick is back in the squad. Tui Kamikamica is having a concussion enforced week off and Josh King must have wanted to not have a 100 Storm games banner this week,8 so Alec MacDonald is in the number ten jersey with Nelson Asofa-Solomona back on the bench. Huh. The Chin in 10 is going to look weird, but I’m here for it. One constant in the forward pack this year has been Stefano Utoikamanu, who will line up for his 100th NRL match after making three appearances for Parramatta in 2020 and 75 appearances for the Wests Tigers from 2021 through 2024. Fun Stefano fact: he’s played in 16 Melbourne Storm wins this season, one less than the entire time he played for Wests.
Shawn Blore is back from his weekend off (ankle injury or not), so Eli Katoa gets a rest this week. In the backs, Xavier Coates and Nick Meaney are being put in the garage, so Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown gets his second crack at the NRL on the wing, with Kane Bradley coming back too. GA is back in the centres, so I guess he’ll get next week off. What’s this in the reserves though… Sua Fa’alogo9 and Will Warbrick… 🧱️🧱️
We might also see a couple of debutants with Josiah Pahulu and Angus Hinchey possibles to make their Storm debuts either this week or next week against the Broncos.
Must admit I thought that more players might have liked to play this week in Bellyache’s big milestone match and that the Renegades might have got a full run next week. I guess it’s best to rest players across both weeks instead.
It does mean that Cameron Munster will be flying solo as Storm captain for the first time in his career having had the © beside his name in six previous matches, but all as co-captain.
For the Roosters, well they beat up on the Bulldogs a fortnight ago, but then lost to Parramatta… now that’s a bipolar footy team. Sam Walker is out with concussion again, so Sandon Smith will partner Hugo Savala in the halves. They’ll be looking to get the ball out to their wingers where Daniel Tupou and Mark Nawaqanitawase will be hard to stop. Their forward pack will be an interesting watch too up against the mix that Melbourne are putting out. A head-to-head battle in the middle would be fun, but I doubt either team are going to play too close to the middle of the field, unless oh, the forecast:
Maximum 13°C.
Rain, windy. Very high chance of rain, with possible small hail in the afternoon and evening. Damaging winds possible.
Well then, that’s going to put a damper on things.
Despite the players missing from Melbourne’s lineup, I hope that they still have enough to take the win this week. Limiting the Roosters ability to go wide will be important, but this really does feel like a free hit weekend as long as there’s no injuries coming out the other side.
What else is going on?
After securing the minor premiership last weekend, the Jersey Flegg Cup squad have their last match of the season against Parramatta on Saturday afternoon (kickoff 2pm) at Seabrook Reserve. Parra won against the Storm in the rain a few weeks ago, but with both teams guaranteed finals football it will be interesting to see how the teams go about their work.
North Sydney have their final match of the season on Saturday night (kickoff 7:30pm) also against Parramatta. In Queensland, it’ll be a big Sunday afternoon for the Storm affiliates — the Falcons host the Burleigh Bears (kickoff 2:10pm) in the 9Now match. The Sunshine Coast boys could steal fourth place on the ladder with a win and a loss to the Seagulls (Wynnum Manly version) who play the Tigers (kickoff 3pm). The Tigers will know if it’s a win and in finals scenario if the Hunters or Dolphins lose on Saturday afternoon, or Jets stumble in the earlier kickoff on Sunday. Should be an interesting final weekend in the Queensland Cup ahead of the finals.
Again, being pedantic — he’s coached two games while at Brisbane, missed two games for Melbourne and coached the club in four World Club Challenge matches. 600 matches can be counted a number of different ways.
He would later avoid conviction when put on a diversion program in April 2010.
This was the year Fittler had his drunken Townsville Holiday Inn incident. Was 2009 really that different a time?
In other words, still infinitely better than Leichhardt Oval, Shark Park, Brookvale Oval, or Belmore Sportsground.
I will be forever mad about the deal Eddie McGuire pulled that led to the demolition of Olympic Park though. Send Collingwood back to Collingwood.
Qualifications: NRL matches only, and Bellamy supposedly in charge while away during the Origin period in 2008.
Reminder that no NRL players have been sent off in 2025. The last season with no players sent off was 2017.
Nice guy Josh leaving space for Bellyache and Stefano.
Although he is more than likely to be playing for the Falcons.