Bellamy wary of Storm losing momentum - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Bellamy wary of Storm losing momentum

By Melissa Woods 14/09/2009 05:18:42 PM Comments (0)

Although relieved to have secured an NRL preliminary finals berth, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is wary of his side losing momentum with a week off.

The Storm advanced directly to the final four play-off with a 40-12 shellacking of Manly last Friday night.

They will now play the winner of the semi-final clash between minor premiers St George Illawarra and Brisbane on Saturday week at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne.

In their last three matches the Storm have hit their straps, racking up 108 points with only 16 scored against and are now the bookmakers' premiership favourites.

Bellamy said he was wary of the team losing that winning feeling.

"We've got some good momentum going at the moment and some people think it can halt the momentum by having the weekend off," he said on Monday.

"I think it's a little bit safer to have that weekend off and have less games to win to get to the big one.

"I think with us, probably the big benefit is that even if we had played here this week and won, we would have had to travel for the preliminary final whereas now we've got it at home which I think is a real good bonus for us."

The Storm also enjoyed direct passage through to the preliminary finals in 2007, the last time they won the NRL premiership, and Bellamy said he would use that successful campaign as a template for 2009.

He said he didn't have a preferred opponent between the Dragons and Broncos.

"All we're concerned about is what we can do and we'll start preparing after Saturday night.

"We're just glad to be where we are ourselves without worrying about who we're going to be playing."

The Melbourne players went through a light training session on Monday, with gun centre Greg Inglis sitting it out with ice on his back.

Storm physiotherapist Mary Toomey said the injury was only a cork and he would be available for their next training session.

Prop Scott Anderson, who damaged his hamstring in the final round of regular competition, could return for the match.

He is likely to have a hit-out with the Storm's feeder side on the NSW central coast this weekend.

"He was very close to playing last week, he just hadn't done enough work at high intensity," Bellamy said.

"He trained the full session today and he's right to go and we'll look at the option of playing him on the central coast if we think it's going to help him and to make sure that hamstring is fully recovered."

Etihad Stadium is booked to host the VFL grand final on Friday week while the Nine Network doesn't want a daytime Sunday match, leaving AFL grand final day as the only option for the Storm's home final.

"It's out of our control ... hopefully a few will come over from the AFL grand final," Bellamy said.

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