Joey in, but Bellamy shuns Storm staff
December 18, 2007 12:00am
CRAIG Bellamy has drafted rugby league great Andrew Johns into his New South Wales coaching panel -- but not one full-time member of his Melbourne Storm staff.
Desperate to avoid added disruption to Storm's assault on back-to-back titles, Bellamy, in his first year as State-of-Origin coach, will hand the reins over to assistants Michael Maguire and Stephen Kearney while he is away with NSW.
Maguire had assisted Bellamy with previous representative teams.
He will be handed the keys to the Melbourne castle during a tumultuous Origin period that could potentially see up to 12 Storm players involved.
"I've only just settled on it the last couple of days," Bellamy said of a Blues' coaching staff that includes Johns.
"We haven't got any full-time guys from Melbourne. It's hard when you take your coach away, so I don't want to take anyone else away either."
Johns will be joined by former Blues hit man Steve Roach on the Blues' coaching panel as NSW attempts to reclaim Origin pride after losing the past two series under Graham Murray.
Bellamy said the way North Queensland had struggled during the Origin period in the past two years, with Murray as Blues coach and his then assistant Neil Henry with the Maroons, played a major role in keeping Melbourne staff away from NSW roles.
The Storm beat the Cowboys 58-12 in Round 14 last year - three days after Origin II.
"It put a whole heap of pressure on their club," Bellamy said.
"We'll have enough players out of our squad, too, so we don't want to take any more full-time staff away."
Bellamy is expecting a record number of Storm players involved in next year's series.
He will be responsible for undermining several of his Melbourne players in the Maroons camp, including skipper Cameron Smith, lock Dallas Johnson and superstar outside backs Greg Inglis and Israel Folau.
Smith, Inglis, Johnson and Antonio Kaufusi played for Queensland last year, with Ryan Hoffman, Brett White and Matt King, who has left for England, involved in the Blues squad.
Australian forward Michael Crocker, recovering from double shoulder surgery, is keen to return to the interstate arena for the Maroons, with Bellamy also nominating Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Anthony Quinn and Steve Turner as candidates.
"We had seven involved last year," Bellamy said.
"You take Matt King out and you've got six (candidates), plus you've got guys like Slater, Crocker didn't play last year, and I'd imagine Turner and Quinn for New South Wales - they'd be a chance.
"They're a fair chance, but that will depend on how the team's going and how those individuals are going.
"But there is a lot of footy to be played before then."
