Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy is not confident his side can turn their fortunes around and save the season.
Backed by in-form winger Alex Johnston, Latrell Mitchell led the Rabbitohs to a 24-12 win at Accor Stadium, the fourth straight loss for the Storm and Bunnies against Melbourne.
Bellamy said he wasn’t confident his team could turn the season around.
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“I come here saying the same thing every week … we had some good efforts tonight, but there are things you’re not going to get away with at this level and you’re going to pay a price for it,” he said.
“And that’s what we did.”
Harry Grant of the Storm looks dejected after a loss during the Round 19 NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Melbourne Storm at Stadium Australia on July 23, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images) (Getty)
The Storm lost five consecutive games in 2012 between rounds 16-21 (including a bye) but did not lose another game on their way to the Premier League.
Bellamy said poor defensive efforts needed to be rectified after ball-handling errors.
“This first half took a lot of gas out of us, and if you make mistakes, you have to be able to defend them,” he said.
“For now, we’ll do it 80 percent of the time, but then the other 20 percent we won’t.
“We’ve lost four in a row now. I thought the first two losses we were really poor, but I thought we made some real strides last week and I thought we had some good parts of the game tonight, but if you keep mistakes and don’t back it up with the defense, well, you’re going to lose the game.”
Storm skipper Jesse Bromwich said his side needed to get back to playing their “own style of football”.
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“It’s frustrating for the whole team – we’re not playing the Melbourne Storm style of football,” he said.
“There’s a lot of bad discipline and we’re working too hard in areas we shouldn’t because these things are happening.
“We need to get back to the Melbourne Storm style of football – high discipline, high finishing, good kicking games, do the difficult things that other teams don’t do.”
The Storm travel to Auckland to take on the Warriors next week, before hosting the Titans. His home run includes the Panthers, Broncos, Roosters and Eels.
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