Slater, Smith, Cronk and life at the Storm, by Craig Bellamy

Slater, Smith, Cronk and life at the Storm, by Craig Bellamy


Paul Crawley: When you arrived at Melbourne Cameron Smith had just come out of his rookie year. Billy Slater made his debut the same day you did as an NRL coach and Cooper Cronk came on the next year. You have helped shape these blokes from teenagers into three of the game's best role models. It must make you proud of the men they have become?

Craig Bellamy: I am really proud of them as footy players but even more so the way they have developed as people. They are wonderful leaders.

It would be nice for me to take all the credit but a lot of it is the way they were brought up, all their parents are very down to earth people and you just don’t go from being a reasonable teenage to a reasonable adult. We have certainly helped them as footy players and probably as people as well but their grounding and beliefs came from their families.

PC: In saying that, there are a lot of good blokes in the game but these three come across as exceptional, you have to take some credit?

CB: I suppose my biggest contribution to their development as players and as people was to install that value of hard work. Unless they work hard and be consistent in working hard and working smart you are never going to be capable of reaching your potential and all three took that on board.
Cameron played a couple of first grade games before I came here so everybody could see his ability but Billy and Cooper’s stories are a lot different.

Billy basically drove from Cairns to Brisbane to have a trial with Norths there as a 17 or 18-year-old. No one spotted him, things weren’t given to him on a plate.

And Cooper was spotted but he had to be so persistent. We always thought he was going to be an NRL player but we didn’t know what position. He played hooker, back-row, fullback … it would have been very, very easy for him to get frustrated because basically for 18 months he couldn’t make it into our squad and then it was another six months of playing a bit of everywhere.

They really had to overcome tough times to become NRL players and I think when you have a bit of adversity you are stronger for that. And the joining point there is that they are now great leaders, really exceptional role models for all our players.

PC: It’s a good lesson for other clubs. You talk about the hard work mentality at Melbourne and how these three lead by example. A lot of clubs struggle with having the right leaders and player power can kill coaches.

CB: It certainly can, we have seen that at other clubs and it is quite strong and prevalent in other footy codes in Australia. I suppose over the last 10 years there has been this fad about leadership groups. I have learned a bit about leadership over the years, leadership groups are not for all clubs.

My first mentality about leadership groups was that it was your oldest and more experienced players but I learned early that is not necessarily the case. You can have really good players who don’t want to be leaders and it doesn’t suit their personalities or the way they live their lives. Not everyone is equipped to take on a leadership role, it doesn’t matter how old they are or how many games they have played.

PC: How would you describe your relationship with your players. A mate, a father-figure, a role model, are they like family?

CB: It is certainly like family. Certainly a bit of a father figure and I would like to think I was a good role model for them, certainly early in their careers. I’m their coach and I’d like to think I was their friend. We all go through issues and problems at times and I am there to help them. And it’s all players at the club, we have all grown together.

PC: You don’t want to talk about your future and it’s your business.But I heard you say maybe one day they will stop listening to you.From a distance you’d think it would take a hell of a lot to drag you away because they are like your family?

CB: Without a doubt but things change. I can’t guarantee I am going to be here until they finish their careers, who knows. I don’t worry too much about what has happened in the past. History is nice but it shouldn’t hinder you. But I don’t look to far forward into the future.

I am not thinking anything about my future at the moment, I have a role here to play and it is a really important time of the year for the club. I have to make sure I focus on what is important and at the same time I have another year here as well and that’s a long time.

Things can change, you are always questioning yourself as a coach and I’d imagine it doesn’t matter what profession you are in. The one thing I have always tried to do is when you make tough decisions I always try to make that decision on what is right for the team. Sometimes that might be a bad decision for an individual but I can sleep at night if I’m sure I made that decision for the good of the team.

These guys at some stage might need another coach or might get something out of another coach. I have been amazed at how Wayne (Bennett) was so successful for so long at the Broncos, I think that is quite amazing.

PC: Well, you have had 10 years at Melbourne and every year bar 2010 and we all know what happened there, but you have made the finals every season. It’s an enormous achievement itself.

CB: I suppose it is when you think of it like that. I don’t think too much in the past but, yeah, it is. But we can all take a little bit of credit for that and I’d like to think when I started here there was already a certain culture and I’d like to think I’ve helped develop that and push it forward but if your players don’t jump on board you are no chance and I have been very, very lucky here having most players here get on board.

PC: What do you get out of coaching Craig? It seems like a bloody tough job and you live a rollercoaster in the coach’s box. Is it addictive?

CB: I don’t see it as addictive. If I got the sack next week, obviously I would be disappointed but I wouldn’t go into a state of depression.

PC: You do every week, mate, watching you in the coach’s box, I wouldn’t say it is hilarious but it is like a drama itself. Have you ever put a heart monitor on yourself?

CB: No, actually they wanted to do that a couple of times but I never let them. But that coaches box is like an hour and a half of the whole week. As you say, some people probably do find it hilarious but I find it quite embarrassing at times.

Not all the time but I have tried to change but that is obviously who I am. I don’t particularly worry about it too much now but I don’t like when they see me going off and obviously saying the things I shouldn’t be saying. But like I say it is embarrassing for me and a little bit alarming for people at home watching.

PC: But it is you and it’s human. It reminds me of this corresponding game last year when you lost that Grand Final qualifier to the Warriors. There was that image of you alone in the dressing rooms at fulltime and you looked like you had just had your heart torn out. Can you explain what it was like at the time and how you felt?

CB: I remember the players were out on the field and doing a lap like they always do to thank the fans for the season and I knew I had to get my thoughts together and get a bit of perspective on what I was going to say to the players.

I went to a spot in the dressing rooms that I thought was camera free and it usually is but for the finals they stuck a camera up in the corner. So I didn’t notice it was there. Without doubt I was disappointed, without a doubt. But what I was trying to do was collect myself and make sure I said the right thing to the players when they came in. I knew they would be feeling like me.

To be quite honest most of my disappointment was for the players. After what happened in 2010 (with the salary cap scandal), then to have a year like we had, to be the minor premiers and then get to the prelim … I was so disappointed for the players and what they had done because you remember we had half our squad turned over.

PC: Is that a motivation this week?

CB: No, I have always said what happened in the past can’t help us and it shouldn’t hinder us.

PC: Is Billy back to his best now? You think back to the way he started the season, then he got that injury and everyone started talking up the way Greg Inglis was playing and asking if Billy was still the number one fullback. I thought he really made a statement last week against Souths?

CB: Seven weeks (out) was always going to affect him … I think Superman would struggle to come back and be at his absolute best after seven weeks out. As you said, I think there were some great signs last week. The thing I wanted him to be a little bit more aware of as we got towards the end of the season was just his involvement and when Billy is heavily involved you know he is very close to his best.

PC: Are you a better coach now than you have ever been? You’re 52.

CB: I’m actually 53, that’s wrong in the (media guide). I told them five or six years ago a couple of times but they never changed it. But anyway I’d like to think I’m a better coach than when I started. Obviously you learn as you go and get more experience. We all learn from our mistakes and I have made mistakes along the way.

You work your players too hard or you don’t work them hard enough, you make some selection errors every now and then … we all talk about sport and coaching and tactics but a whole heap of it is about man management and treating people in the correct manner and making sure that you understand that there are people sometimes going through tough times because they have lives, relationships, girlfriends, wives, kids, they all go through ups and downs.

If you want the players to care about your club your club has got to care about the players and leading that area has to be me. If I want these players to care for this team I have to make sure I am caring for the players. I think one of the things I leaned at Brisbane with Wayne was that it’s just not about footy.

A lot is about footy but it is about all the other things as well. When I was there the Broncos had a lot of care for their players and in return they got a lot of care from the players for the club. Wayne led that and that is nearly the main thing I learnt when I was at the Broncs.