Craig Bellamy has ruled himself out of the vacant NSW Blues coaching job for next season and the Melbourne Storm master coach has put something of an end date on his tenure declaring he won’t see “70” as a coach.
On the eve of a 10th grand final Bellamy’s name, as well as that of grand final rival Ivan Cleary, have been raised as prospective replacements for Michael Maguire who quite his post at the Blues after one year to become coach of the Brisbane Broncos.
But 65-year-old Bellamy, who has had one unsuccessful stint with NSW while also trying to coach the Storm, said the role should be taken by someone who isn’t working full-time with an NRL club.
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Bellamy, named the Dally M coach of the year on Wednesday night, and Cleary are two of the best at their craft, with the Panthers coach strongly endorsed by his players if he wants the job.
But three-time premiership winner Cleary didn’t bite when asked about it at Thursday’s fan event in Circular Quay.
“Is that for me?” he replied when asked about the job opening.
“I have no idea.”
The Blues have a big call to make in the coming weeks as they look to build on what Maguire achieved in his one campaign that saw them bounce back from a horror loss in Sydney to win the decider in Brisbane.
Guys like Cleary and Bellamy have been mentioned, while former players Michael Ennis, Paul McGregor and a return to former coach Laurie Daley have all been tossed up.
The problem with the grand final coaches is that both states have gone away from hiring someone in charge of an NRL club, with Bellamy the last to juggle both roles during his stint from 2008-2010 where he won just two games and hated coaching against his Storm players.
“I don’t think you can do it these days,” he said.
“Isn’t it if you coach in NRL then you can’t do it in Origin?
“I would never try that again. It needs someone independent of coaching in the NRL. That’s my opinion.”
Bellamy has other things to worry about ahead of his tenth grand final in charge of the Storm, with the veteran coach unsure how much longer he’ll stay on after one of the most decorated coaching careers of all time.
“I don’t know whether the team actually fuels me,” he said on his 65th birthday.
“At the end of the day it’s a responsibility I’ve got and I want to perform that responsibility as best I can, just like I’d expect from the players and everyone in our organisation.
“I just want them to do their job as best they can. If I expect that from them then I’ve got to do it myself.
“I’m not quite sure how long the fire is going to burn, but I don’t think I’ll see.”
Source Agencies
