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Sydney will get behind Storm: Bellamy
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has called on Sydneysiders to put interstate rivalry aside and support the Storm in Sunday's NRL grand final against Manly at Telstra Stadium.
With the Sea Eagles looking to rally the support of Sydney, despite their reputation as "the team everyone loves to hate", Bellamy said he believed many fans had adopted Melbourne as their second team and was confident of getting a fair share of supporters on Sunday.
"I think we have got a fair bit of support through some of the states now," Bellamy said.
"Even when we played the Cowboys up there (in Townsville) earlier in the year, I was surprised at how many Melbourne supporters there were up there.
"We've got a lot of Queenslanders in our team but I'm sure a lot of the Sydney fans will realise we've got a lot of New South Welshman in our team as well.
"So, hopefully if they follow another team they'll turn up on Sunday and support their second team - and hopefully that's the Storm."
Regardless of the split of supporters, Bellamy said the Storm were not fazed at the prospect of facing a Sydney team on home turf in the competition decider, having beaten St George in the 1999 grand final in Sydney.
"We've done it before, so it's nothing completely new to us," Bellamy said.
The Storm arrived in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon, and will be based in Coogee in the lead-up to Sunday's match.
Bellamy says the Storm are much wiser and are using last year's preparation to their grand final loss to Brisbane as valuable experience - a reason why they have flown up a day earlier than last year.
The Melbourne mentor is also relaxed despite ongoing claims about his players' tackling style.
Prop Brett White's tackle, which left Parramatta's Nathan Cayless with a torn pectoral muscle after Sunday's preliminary final win, has attracted the most criticism and was branded a "ripper tackle".
But Australian coach Ricky Stuart and former Test star Gordon Tallis leapt to the Storm's defence, labelling the controversy surrounding Melbourne's tackling as "rubbish".
"I think they've summed it up very well," Bellamy said.
"I guess (the controversy) is a little tactic to get our focus away from where it should be.
"But we've been through it before and the guys find it amusing actually.
"So at the end of the day when someone gets hurt in a tackle with us, we've invented a new tackle? We ain't that smart really."
Source: AAP
Sydney will get behind Storm: Bellamy
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has called on Sydneysiders to put interstate rivalry aside and support the Storm in Sunday's NRL grand final against Manly at Telstra Stadium.
With the Sea Eagles looking to rally the support of Sydney, despite their reputation as "the team everyone loves to hate", Bellamy said he believed many fans had adopted Melbourne as their second team and was confident of getting a fair share of supporters on Sunday.
"I think we have got a fair bit of support through some of the states now," Bellamy said.
"Even when we played the Cowboys up there (in Townsville) earlier in the year, I was surprised at how many Melbourne supporters there were up there.
"We've got a lot of Queenslanders in our team but I'm sure a lot of the Sydney fans will realise we've got a lot of New South Welshman in our team as well.
"So, hopefully if they follow another team they'll turn up on Sunday and support their second team - and hopefully that's the Storm."
Regardless of the split of supporters, Bellamy said the Storm were not fazed at the prospect of facing a Sydney team on home turf in the competition decider, having beaten St George in the 1999 grand final in Sydney.
"We've done it before, so it's nothing completely new to us," Bellamy said.
The Storm arrived in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon, and will be based in Coogee in the lead-up to Sunday's match.
Bellamy says the Storm are much wiser and are using last year's preparation to their grand final loss to Brisbane as valuable experience - a reason why they have flown up a day earlier than last year.
The Melbourne mentor is also relaxed despite ongoing claims about his players' tackling style.
Prop Brett White's tackle, which left Parramatta's Nathan Cayless with a torn pectoral muscle after Sunday's preliminary final win, has attracted the most criticism and was branded a "ripper tackle".
But Australian coach Ricky Stuart and former Test star Gordon Tallis leapt to the Storm's defence, labelling the controversy surrounding Melbourne's tackling as "rubbish".
"I think they've summed it up very well," Bellamy said.
"I guess (the controversy) is a little tactic to get our focus away from where it should be.
"But we've been through it before and the guys find it amusing actually.
"So at the end of the day when someone gets hurt in a tackle with us, we've invented a new tackle? We ain't that smart really."
Source: AAP
