Double Vision Certain To Keep Bellamy Focused

Sun Herald

Sunday March 9, 2008

By Steve Jancetic

CENTENARY celebrations are a focus for the NRL this year, but for Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy what's happened in the more recent past is only for scrapbooks - preferably unopened.

When the Storm finally turned regular season dominance into post-season triumph last year it was the culmination of five years of planning and hard work under Bellamy's watch. Retaining the NRL crown looms as an even bigger task, a feat not achieved in a unified competition since Wayne Bennett's Broncos reigned in 1992 and 1993. The astute Bellamy has worked hard to drum into his squad that their day of glory on September 30 is no longer relevant.

"It's a brand new year. I don't see how whatever happened last year is going to help us this year, or hinder us," he said. "It's a new start. We're a different footy team, and there's some things we need to change.

"We had a bit of a review of what happened last year when we came back and took out of that what we needed to and threw away the rest.

"We've lost some players, and there's some other guys that come in who haven't won anything yet."

While some tweaking may be required, the core of last year's group will return to ensure the Storm are again favourites for the title, a burden they have carried since midway through the 2006 season.

But as teams grow, different challenges emerge. This year Bellamy will be forced to juggle Storm commitments with plotting to ensure NSW win back the State of Origin shield they have not held since 2005, an issue on which he has already sought advice from the likes of Test coach Ricky Stuart.

"What I do with NSW won't interfere with the Storm," Bellamy said. "I won't be here for the weeks leading into the Origin games, but I have two good assistants here - hopefully it won't be a big burden for us."

Skipper Cameron Smith will be forced to deal with the rigours of fatherhood on top of his football commitments, while boom centre Israel Folau continues to be chased by every club in the land.

And as the Storm tussle with issues from within, two major hurdles again loom as challenges this season - grand finalists Manly and the exciting Parramatta Eels.

© 2008 Sun Herald

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