Craig Bellamy chatted to the media ahead of Storm's clash with the Gold Coast Titans.
Here are the bits you need to know ahead of the Round 3 matchup!
Three injured players return to the pack
Following a week of training, injured stars Xavier Coates (SC joint), Justin Olam (fractured arm) and Tui Kamikamica (ankle) look set to rejoin the Melbourne starting line-up.
Bellamy spoke of their return;
“The three of them trained good today, so I'd imagine unless they pull up a bit sore, they should be right to play tomorrow.”
“They got through the whole session today so hopefully they’ll be right.”
"Getting Tui back he's a really reliable player."
“That's obviously a real benefit to us and we'd like to see the three have a little bit more game time this year, but they're all experienced, so I'm sure they'll get through.”
Veteran with potential to make Storm debut
Joining the Club from St George Illawarra at the beginning of the 2023 pre-season Tariq Sims has been eager to pull on the purple jersey for a few months.
A calf injury saw the Origin star sidelined for pre-season trials, alongside the first two rounds but after undergoing a strong rehabilitation, Sims could potentially run out on the NRL stage after being named on an extended interchange bench in Craig Bellamy's 19-man squad.
Bellamy said this of the experienced player;
“He hasn’t done a whole heap of training, to be quite honest. But with all due respect, he's 33 years old. He's played origin. So he's had a lot of training, and a lot of games in his career, so I'm sure it won't take too long for him to find his niche out there.”
“With his experience it's going to be real handy for our young guys.
"They've come in with all those experienced guys leaving so hopefully he'll supply a little bit of experience there.”
“But he's a pretty aggressive performer as well and hopefully he can supply a little bit of that to the team as well.”
Munster's potential return
After suffering a compound fracture in his ring finger in Round 1, Cameron Munster was in high spirits attempting cartwheels during a Friday morning training session.
Expecting two to three weeks of rehabilitation, the five-eighth's efforts show no signs of slowing down towards his return.
Bellamy spoke of the injury;
“Nothing surprises me about Munster...but that sounds alright.”
“I haven't sort of spoken to him about the injury, but he's been training against the NRL side this week so that's promising.”
“We'll just see what the medical team say and I think they're still thinking he'll miss next week [Round 4] as well and might be back the week after that [Round 5].”
Watch the full Round 3 pre-game press conference
Craig Bellamy pre-game media: Round 3
