Craig Bellamy chatted to the media ahead of Melbourne Storm's Friday night clash with rivals, the Sea Eagles.
Here are the bite-size bits you need to know ahead of the Round 7 matchup!
Halves shake-up
With Nick Meaney dropping away from the starting line-up after suffering delayed concussion symptoms, Cameron Munster will step back to fullback, a position he kicked-off his career in almost a decade ago.
Speaking on the switch-up, Bellamy shared the decisions were the best thing the Club could do heading into the Friday night game.
“He actually trained on Monday then, he wasn’t too bad, but he wasn’t feeling himself on Tuesday so the Doc told the Club he didn’t want to take any chances even though he was eligible, but he wasn’t just feeling the best.”
“He’s [Cameron Munster] played plenty of [fullback]. He played it a lot last year when [Ryan Papenhuyzen] got injured. He came here as a fullback so it shouldn’t be worrying him too much.”
“He’s good like that Munster, he’s just willing to do what’d best for the team.”
“He’s obviously a very talented player and he
has not trouble switching to different positions for different roles.”
Bellamy pre-game media: Round 7
Return of the Pez dispenser
To the delight of Storm fans everywhere, after making a massive first impression in Rounds 3 and 4, Jonah Pezet will once again pull on the purple jersey in Round 7 as five-eighth.
After a couple of years on the Storm training track and now with three first-grade games under his belt, the head coach now sees the 20-year-old as a more reliable and experienced player.
“He’s done a good job in the two or three games that he’s played. It was probably a bit hard on him when Hughesy came back, but he’s had that week off so hopefully that should freshen him up a little bit and he can keep doing the job he was doing before.”
“He knows what NRL is about now. It’s different training with the group than actually playing, there’s nothing like that for experience.”
“He’s three games in now and he’s obviously still got a lot to learn, a lot to feel and go through in-game but having had experience has been good.”
Rivals in form
Round 7 will see the fierce rivalry between Storm and the Sea Eagles continue into 2023. With the purple contingent hunting their fourth consecutive win and the Manly team looking to prove themselves after a devastating 32-point loss last week, both sides are sure to be more fired up than ever.
Bellamy shared while his boys are on the up, improving week by week, the Sea Eagles are not to be underestimated.
“They had a great start to the season.”
“We know they’re a good team and they’re going to be back at their home ground so I think we can wipe the slate clean from last week and expect them to be a lot better this week.”
“Over the last two week’s we’ve been a lot better defensively, that’s been the big turnaround, but we still think we can improve a lot in a few parts of our game.”
“Certainly, our defence in the last two weeks has been a lot more about what we see ourselves as being capable of and what’s expected and hopefully, we can keep that up again tomorrow night.”
