Melbourne Storm Head Coach Craig Bellamy had nothing but praise for his sides efforts after their impressive 28-8 win over the Sydney Roosters in wet conditions at AAMI Park.
With halfback Jahrome Hughes returning to the fold, Storm rarely put a foot wrong in the rain, laying on five tries in the opening 50 minutes of action before keeping the Roosters scoreless in the second half.
Bellamy post-match: Round 6
Boasting a completion rate of 84%, Bellamy said he was impressed with his sides discipline with ball in hand and credited their ability to close out the game in the final stages.
“I thought we controlled the ball really well which made it easier on our defence which was good tonight,” Bellamy said.
“We improved last week and then took that another couple of steps further tonight,” he said.
“It was our completion that stood out tonight, just how we closed the game out and showed a lot of patience,” he said.
Bellamy said he was pleased with his sides decision making and ability to stand up when it mattered in the big moments.
“It was well controlled performance…the way they controlled the game was first class,” he said.
“We played the way we wanted to play, in the last twenty minutes we took the high percentage plays which was an improvement on the first few weeks,” he said.
“It’s the little things that matter at the end of the day, those big moments in games don’t just happen, you’ve got to do the little things really well and then it comes off the back of that,” he said.
With Cameron Munster pulling the strings, Xavier Coates also had a night to remember, going over for a hat-trick.
“I thought Munster was outstanding…even when Nick went off and he went to fullback that didn’t phase him, he looked to enjoy it out there,” Bellamy said.
“As for Xavier, he’s one hell of a talented player, he’s starting to find his niche in our team and the rest of the players are becoming aware of what he’s good at and how he can help the team,” he said.
“That’d nearly be his best performance for us…he’s doing a great job, he buys into what the team is about and cares about his teammates.”
