Craig Bellamy still pondering future at 400-game milestone

Craig Bellamy reaches 400 games when his Melbourne Storm run out against Wests Tigers on Saturday but the milestone is the furthest thing from his thoughts.

The Storm (2-2 win-loss) head to Auckland on Thursday without two key players - Will Chambers (suspended two games) and Dale Finucane (thumb injury 4-6 weeks) - while Kangaroos back-rower Felise Kaufusi has yet to prove he has overcome a persistent hamstring issue.

Kenny Bromwich’s return from injury helps cover for Finucane in the second row and, depending on Kaufusi’s status, a utility forward like Brandon Smith or Joe Stimson could support him off the bench.

Add to those outs the Storm’s issues with penalties and errors, and you can see why Bellamy had his focus elsewhere.

“Hopefully the penny has dropped, we have been disappointing with a couple of the games we have dropped, especially the last one [to Cronulla],” Bellamy said.

“It’s a nice milestone and the club has made a little bit of it but our focus is on the footy game this week.”

The Storm had NRL referees at training on Tuesday to help them get a better understanding of why they are finding themselves on the wrong side of the whistle, especially at the defensive end.

“We've worked really hard this week to try and get that right,” Bellamy said on Wednesday.

“There were a few real tough penalties in the game on Friday night, not just for us but for Cronulla as well but we're working hard at playing our part of it.

“Hopefully it will all start rounding off. The referees came down yesterday and did some work with us. We're doing our part and hopefully we can see some results of that on Saturday night.”

Bellamy said Kaufusi only completed part of training on Tuesday but could still travel with the side as part of the 19-man squad. The Storm miss his run from the edge and nose for a try but he won’t be rushed back.

“We want to be conservative with him as he had two incidents with the hamstring within 10 days [when first injured],” Bellamy said.

“At the time, I didn’t realise it would take this long but we will check him out Wednesday and go from there.

“If he only needs another couple of days, then we would take him as we can take 19 players and there is a good chance he will be in that 19 but it will be a big sign for us how he gets through Wednesday training.”

Bellamy was non-committal about his coaching plans as his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Could he do some kind of handover next year to an assistant coach? Could he coach elsewhere or retire altogether? After 399 games, plus how ever Storm play this season, it’s hard to imagine Bellamy exiting stage left but he didn’t have an update on his plans on Wednesday.

Should he coach every game this season, he will finish the campaign in fourth place on the all-time NRL list for games coached.

“I still have to think about the future,” Bellamy said.

“Like I say, hopefully soon, I'll make some sort of decision, but at the moment we're focused on the footy. Hopefully we can start doing a few things better from what we've been doing.”

Storm play Wests Tigers at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, on Saturday at 3pm.