By Scott Bailey and Melissa Woods
Craig Bellamy has sided with Ivan Cleary, admitting the NRL have handed his Melbourne side an advantage with an extra two days to prepare for the grand final.
Fresh off Friday night’s 24-16 preliminary-final win over Cronulla, Storm players will enjoy a weekend off before returning on Monday to prepare for the decider.
Part of that will no doubt include watching Brisbane and Penrith take it to each other in Sunday afternoon’s other preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium.
“I think it is an advantage,” Bellamy admitted.
“But we didn’t make that decision. I think people have been a bit critical, as if it’s been us saying we want to play Friday and put them on Sunday.
“At the end of the day, the NRL made the decision, not us.”
Bellamy’s comments come after Penrith coach Cleary labelled the situation as “definitely unfair” on Friday, given the Panthers’ shorter turnaround time.
Since the league went to a top-eight system with two preliminary finals in 1995, the matches have always been played a day apart.
But this year has broken from tradition, with head office keen to introduce more daytime football for finals matches.
The NRL were also keen to avoid a clash with the AFL grand final in Melbourne, making for a Friday-Sunday split.
“It’s definitely unfair,” Cleary said on Friday.
“At the end of the day, if that’s our problem next week, I’ll be pretty happy.”
Brisbane great Corey Parker also slammed the move when announced by the NRL last week, labelling it “lop-sided, poorly done and selfish from the NRL.”
Head office have defended the move, insisting there is little difference in the impact of turnarounds once they reach seven days or beyond.
“Once you get to that level of rest and recovery, we were really cognisant of the fact that seven days is key,” NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.
“If you look at the regular season, obviously we have byes, so you have some teams playing teams that have effectively had two weeks’ recovery.
“We’re talking about the best professional athletes on the planet, and the clubs do an unbelievable job in terms of high-performance management.”
Melbourne did get through Friday night’s win unscathed, with halfback Jahrome Hughes making a successful 22-day return from a fractured arm.
Even with no injury concerns, players are happy to have the extra rest.
“There is probably a bit of upside,” star five-eighth Cameron Munster said.
“It gives the boys a couple of days off to enjoy their family time and stuff.
“But it won’t mean much if we don’t win next week. We have the chance to have a couple of days off and enjoy and come back Monday.
“We don’t control the draw. The NRL control the draw and they think they can sell out Suncorp on a Sunday. They’re going to get a massive crowd.”
Coach Craig Fitzgibbon has cut a frustrated figure after Cronulla’s heartbreaking successive preliminary final loss, but his dismay wasn’t over his team’s performance.
For the second straight year, the Sharks bowed out in the grand final qualifier, gallant 22-14 losers to Melbourne in their Friday night clash at AAMI Park.
But the Sharks mentor believed his team were much improved on the side that were eliminated in a 20-point loss to Penrith in 2024. Finishing fifth on the ladder, they took out minor premiers Canberra en route to the preliminary showdown, and showed some steel in defence but were unable to overhaul a 16-8 halftime deficit.
“I’ll tell you this, we’re in a better position than we’ve ever been. We’re not going away and we’re not going to get worse,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We’re a better side now. We didn’t play very well tonight.
“We were brave. It was pretty hard to fault our effort off the back of a couple of big weeks.
“There’s only two teams that get there and we fell short again but it’s not through a lack of effort or attitude.”
What did get the mild-mannered coach fired up were the 18 penalties – nine per team – blown by referee Ashley Klein, with 11 coming in the first half alone.
While accepting the better team won on the night, Fitzgibbon said the constant whistle-blowing affected the spectacle of the game as well as his team’s ability to get a roll-on.
“I am not sooking about the ref, Melbourne were the better side hands down,” Fitzgibbon said.
“But the first half was 22 minutes of ball in play. What are we doing for a prelim? What do the fans want? You want to see ball in play.
“But the better side won, so I can’t complain about it.
“Some of those calls were warranted on us, but it’s a lot for this time of year, for our game.”
Fitzgibbon believed his team could still improve to gain “ultimate respect” by winning a premiership.
“I think we’re a really good side that just haven’t quite converted to becoming a great side at the moment and that’s what these pressure moments and situations are about.
“We haven’t earned the ultimate respect – you don’t do it unless you win the comp.
“It’s not up for debate.”
The Sharks coach was also confident his side will be able to join the elite teams in the NRL in years to come.
“The Storm understand what it means to be a great side. I think we are a really good side who haven’t converted to become a great side,” he said.
“That’s what these pressure moments and situations are about. We just missed the start and their freshness and physicality got the better of us.”