‘Still makes me shiver’: The 2024 grand final moment Craig Bellamy hates the most

4 days ago 2

Not wanting to see his nine-year-old granddaughter Billie heartbroken and in tears at full-time is a good enough reason for Craig Bellamy wanting to avoid a second straight grand final defeat with the Melbourne Storm.

There were touching moments at Accor Stadium 12 months ago when Bellamy had to park his own disappointment and frustrations following the 14-6 loss to Penrith to comfort Billie.

One of the most moving moments in the Craig Bellamy: Inside The Storm documentary came in the final minutes when Billie, the daughter of Bellamy’s son and Storm assistant coach Aaron, was seen trying to keep it together before breaking down in the arms of her grandfather.

When this masthead showed Bellamy the footage during the week, he said: “I can still remember it. I don’t need to see the pictures of it. It still makes me shiver when I see it. She was inconsolable that night.

“She’s a big fan, all the grandkids are, but Billie’s probably the biggest.

“She talks a fair bit about footy, especially after games, and especially if we lose. She’ll give me a few tips.”

Craig Bellamy consoles his granddaughter Billie after last year’s grand final loss.

Spending more time with his four grandchildren is the reason Bellamy flirts with the idea of giving up head coaching almost every season.

Club officials will tell you Bellamy does not relax after a loss until he is comforted by one of his grandkids.

He made a point of mentioning how much he missed them while collecting the Dally M coach of the year award in 2021, when the competition was relocated to Queensland because of COVID-19.

And just last month he started wearing a bracelet made by his grandson, Bowie, which he described as a lucky charm, and how the Storm lost the last two regular-season games when he was not wearing the colourful fashion accessory.

In the same documentary, which was screened on Stan, the sports streaming service owned by Nine, publishers of this masthead, there was vision of Bellamy addressing the playing group for less than 90 seconds after the Panthers defeat.

“There’s not much I’m going to say that will make us feel any better,” he says.

“You don’t get those opportunities too often.

“The good part about this year, we deserved to be there, we just weren’t good enough tonight.

The mastercoach is into his 11th grand final with the Storm.

“Without getting too technical or tactical, they [Penrith] stick to what they are good at, and they don’t budge. Sometimes we try to do a couple of things we’re not so good at.

“If we don’t come back to pre-season hungry after that, we shouldn’t be here.

“We let an opportunity slip; I need to learn from it, you need to learn from it, we need to learn from it.

“If we don’t, well, it’s a waste of time going through this pain we’re going through.

“It’s hard to get to a grand final, but as we found out tonight, it’s a lot harder to f---ing win one, too.”

Bellamy said on Thursday: “I hope we have learned from last year. You never know what will happen, you can’t predict it, you just have to prepare the best you can.

“We haven’t waited until the grand final to see if we have [learned from last year]. We wanted to learn right from the start of this year.

“We reviewed the hell out of [last year’s preparations], took a couple of things and said this is what we need to be better at.”

If they lose on Sunday, you know who will be giving Bellamy free advice in the sheds, but only after she is given a cuddle.

NRL Grand Final Day is live and free on Channel 9 & 9Now on Sunday