Craig Bellamy has made the most of resources outside the NRL through a professional development trip to the home of AFL club Port Adelaide last week.
Bellamy said mixing with the likes of coach Ken Hinkley and other staff at the Power provided a unique perspective through the lens of another code to bring back to his own club.
“We’ve been over here for a couple of days and we’ve picked some things up that we think can help our program,” Bellamy said.
Be there at AAMI Park in Round 18 when Storm take on the Bulldogs.
“When you see how another elite sporting group goes about their business and you can use some parts of that in your program and into our structures, that’s only going to help the team and help individuals that help the team help the club.
“Certainly some of the coaching has been a bit of an eye-opener and certainly having a chat to (High Performance Manager) Darren Burgess has been very interesting as well.”
The relationship between the two clubs has proved mutually beneficial. Port Adelaide mentor Hinkley praised the success of Storm under Bellamy, citing their ability to overcome trials along the way.
“His record speaks for himself, he’s been a great coach in the NRL and he’s been a great coach at Melbourne Storm,” Hinkley said.
“It’s something we’d love our football club to become, and that’s why we look at clubs like Storm and think we’ve got to learn stuff off them about sustainable success and hopefully we can do what they’ve been able to do.
“We get to mix with elite athletes in another sport where we get out of our own little bubble and see how other clubs do things, how hard they do certain things and hopefully learn some stuff from them; and from their point of view hopefully they get something back from us.”
