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“I Never Saw It Coming” – Craig Bellamy’s Stunning Revelation About Andrew Johns as Storm Future Hangs in the Balance
As he approaches his 23rd consecutive season as Storm coach, a new Stan documentary shows Craig Bellamy like fans have never seen him before. Bellamy spoke to Yahoo Sport Australia about the doco – ‘Craig Bellamy – Inside the Storm’ – his future at Melbourne, dealing with grand final defeat, his Origin comeback, and of course, the infamous coaching box blow-ups.
Craig Bellamy’s family motivation behind documentary
Bellamy jokingly admits to being duped over the direction of the documentary when the cameras started rolling. “I thought it was going to be more about the Storm than focused on me, but the camera seemed to be on me a whole heap,” he explained.
And his thoughts on the finished product? “I found it a bit boring myself but I live in that world every day,” he said with a laugh. “Probably the main driver for me to keep going with it was to have something there for my grandkids, or hopefully great-grandkids, to see what old Pop was up to when he was working.”
Embarrassment’ over blow-ups in coaches’ box
Bellamy is renowned for his histrionics during games and admitted to some anxiety at having the documentary cameras capture his every move from inside the coaches’ box. Craig’s daughter Rachel describe her dad’s meltdowns as her favourite part of the game because she understands its driven by passion.
There were certainly some concerns when you see it and think to yourself ‘is it that bad?’ he said. “I can’t say I am not like that because it’s all there for everyone to see. I get a bit embarrassed about that sometimes, but it is what it is and that’s the way it is.”
Craig Bellamy undecided on coaching in 2026
In the documentary, Storm chairman Matt Tripp likens taking over from Bellamy as head coach is akin to “batting after Don Bradman”. Sixty-six-year-old Bellamy is contracted until the end of 2027 but has an agreement with the club that he can make a call on a year-to-year basis.
The word “retirement” scares Bellamy and he admits it took a discussion with Andrew Johns – in which Joey pointed out the boredom of doing nothing – to convince him to go around again in 2025. The Storm boss revealed a decision on 2026 will be more a gut instinct call than going through a pros and cons checklist.
Tripp can expect a phone call sometime in April-May. “I haven’t really thought about that yet, and Matt hasn’t put the pressure on me, but at some stage a decision will have to be made,” Bellamy said.
“Hopefully there’ll be something that clicks or don’t click and it’ll make it an easy decision. The last couple years it’s been a tough decision, so I’m not quite sure either way (about 2026), but hopefully we will sort that out in the next couple of months.”
Dealing with grand final defeat
The cameras capture Bellamy in the hour after Storm’s loss to Penrith in last year’s grand final. Maybe surprising to some, he is a picture of calm amid the devastation.
I’ve been to a few grand finals and lost some and won some,” he explained. “It’s a great season if you win it but you’ve still had a good season if you don’t. You fight like hell to win it but there’s 15 other teams that couldn’t get there and I think I’ve handled the last couple of losses by consoling and convincing myself with that.”
The Storm boss expects his team’s biggest threat this season to again come from the Panthers, while Cronulla will be a massive danger.
State of Origin redemption with Laurie Daley and NSW
Bellamy will return to the State of Origin arena this year, assisting Laurie Daley in his second coming as NSW coach. Despite Daley winning just one series in five during his first stint in charge of the Blues, Bellamy has nothing but admiration for his ex-Canberra teammate.
“Laurie hasn’t coached at NRL level so to do what he’s done and coached Origin is quite remarkable,” he said. “It just goes to show he’s really smart with his footy knowledge. The other reason I’d like to work with him is he’s such a good guy and he’s genuinely going to do what’s best for NSW.”
