Craig Bellamy slams ‘disappointing’ Storm for conceding ‘soft’ tries in shock loss against Raiders 

Craig Bellamy lamented his team’s ‘disappointing’ defensive effort as Melbourne allowed Canberra too many ‘soft’ tries in their elimination final loss on Saturday.

The Raiders won 28-20 to secure a fifth successive victory in as many trips to AAMI Park and book a semi-final against Parramatta next week, while the Storm season is over.

It marks Melbourne’s earliest exit in the NRL finals since 2014, when they lost 28-4 to Canterbury in the elimination final.

Speaking after the game, Bellamy said the inconsistent display encapsulated the Storm’s difficult season.

‘We let too many points in – you don’t win a finals game letting the opposition score 28 points,’ he said.

‘They scored a couple of soft ones too, as soft as butter, and that was the disappointing thing.’

The Storm have been hamstrung by injuries throughout the season and were missing seven players on Saturday night, including star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen.

The Storm suffered a Week 1 exit from the finals for the first time since the 2014 season

Jordan Rapana (right) won the game for the Raiders with a try seven minutes from time

Bellamy conceded injuries had eventually taken their toll, but refused to use the absence of some key players as an excuse. 

‘It has been a hard year, a long year with the injuries we’ve had and few other things happening,’ he said.

‘I thought the guys did a good job to finish where we finished but to go out on that performance, especially defensively was disappointing.’

Meanwhile, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart paid tribute to his players for upsetting the Storm and praised Melbourne for making life as hard as possible for the Raiders.

The Raiders will play Parramatta in Sydney in the semi-final on Friday night 

‘It was a tough night, Melbourne did a really good job getting out of their end and we didn’t get any good ball,’ he said.

‘The way the players hung in tonight makes me so proud […] We were out on our legs on a number of phases of that game both in the first and second half. You’ve got to be a good football team to beat Melbourne down here. There’s no secret, you’ve just got to turn up and play well.’ 

With stalwart brothers Jesse and Kenny Bromwich, Brandon Smith and Felise Kaufusi all leaving the Storm next season, Melbourne will look drastically different in 2023.

Canberra, meanwhile, move on to face the Eels in the finals for the first time next week at CommBank Stadium.