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| Born | (1958-10-03)3 October 1958 (age 67)[note 1] Portland, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Centre, Five-eighth, Lock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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As of 6 July 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Craig Bellamy (born 3 October 1958)[note 1] is an Australian professionalrugby league football coach who is the head coach of theMelbourne Storm in theNational Rugby League (NRL), and a former professionalrugby league footballer.
He has previously coached theNew South WalesState of Origin team. Bellamy started his coaching career as assistant coach toWayne Bennett at theBrisbane Broncos. He also writes a column forThe Australian.[4]
Bellamy played his entireNSWRL premiership career with theCanberra Raiders during the 1980s, and 1990s. In Canberra he played under the coachesDon Furner (1982–87), Wayne Bennett (1987), andTim Sheens (1988–92). Injury midway through the1987 season saw Bellamy miss the Raiders charge to their first ever Grand Final appearance which resulted in an 18–8 loss to theManly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Bellamy played from the bench in Canberra's 18–14 win overPenrith in the1990 Grand Final at theSydney Football Stadium.
After a coaching apprenticeship as Wayne Bennett's assistant at the Brisbane Broncos, which included a win over theWests Tigers with the "Baby Broncos" when Bennett and the teams stars were away onState of Origin duty. Bellamy was appointed head coach of theMelbourne Storm for the2003 NRL season. There he has achieved great success; winning the2007 Grand Final over Manly and the2009 Grand Final overParramatta, though both of these were later stripped due toextensive salary cap breaches. He also led the Storm to the minor premiership in2011, and won his first legitimate premiership as a coach in2012 when the Storm defeated theCanterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. He was the coach of theNew South Wales State of Origin team until he was sacked in 2010, the same year as the Storm's salary cap scandal, after three unrelenting seasons of disappointment which netted only two wins from nine matches.
Bellamy won his second recognised NRL premiership as coach with the Melbourne Storm after a dominant2017 season in which the Storm lost only four games. In 2018, the Storm had a successful year making it to the2018 NRL Grand Final before being beaten by theSydney Roosters. He won his third NRL premiership with the Storm in 2020.
He has yet to coach a losing NRL season, maintaining a better than 50% win–loss ratio for each season he has coached. Melbourne have played finals football every year since Bellamy began coaching the side, with the sole exception of the 2010 NRL season where the club would have placed fifth on the ladder had they not been penalised fora salary cap breach. He has also never lost in round one of a season as coach. Bellamy's 22 seasons with Melbourne is the longest consecutive stint by a coach at a single club.
Bellamy was born and raised inPortland,New South Wales, Australia.[5] His childhood nickname was 'Ned' because he was "as wild asNed Kelly."[6]
When Bellamy was a young adult, his father Norm died in a workplace accident.[7]
He played his early junior football for Portland Colts. Bellamy also played forOberon Tigers in theCountry Rugby League as a teenager before moving toMacquarie United in theNewcastle Rugby League in 1979.[1]
The Canberra Raiders signed Bellamy in their debut season,1982. He played the majority of his career in the centres but was also used as a utility player, appearing at times as fullback, winger, five-eighth and lock. After the Raiders won the1989 NSWRL season'sGrand Final (which he wasn't selected for), Bellamy travelled with the Raiders to England for the1989 World Club Challenge, but didn't play in the loss toWidnes atOld Trafford.
After winning the 1990 premiership with the Raiders, Bellamy spent 1991 with Turvey Park inWagga Wagga as captain/coach in theGroup 9 Competition, he was also the Riverina Rugby League Captain and also had a stint playing in England forSwinton, before returning to Canberra for one last year in1992.[1]
In 1995, Bellamy coached the Canberra Raiders'Presidents Cup team to a premiership win.[8] In 1997 he became performance co-ordinator and assistant coach toWayne Bennett at theBrisbane Broncos. That year they won the1998 NRL Grand final.
In 2002, when Broncos' head coach Wayne Bennett was onState of Origin duty with theQueensland Maroons, Bellamy gained NRL experience as a head coach. Forced to field a team full of young players due to the regular side's representative commitments, the 'Baby Broncos' upset theWests Tigers. The Tigers were a leading candidate to sign Bellamy as their coach for the 2003 season, although he ultimately joined Melbourne afterMark Murray was sacked. In his third season as an NRL coach with the Storm, Bellamy started coaching theCountry Origin team with a loss in 2005. He coached New South Wales Country to victory and his club, Melbourne won the 2006minor premiership and reached the2006 National Rugby League grand final, but finished as runners-up to former mentor Bennett's Brisbane Broncos. In the post season Bellamy continued as Kangaroos assistant coach, now underRicky Stuart for the 2006 Tri Nations series. The following season Country lost but the Storm were minor premiers and reached the2007 NRL grand final, in which they defeated theManly Warringah Sea Eagles 34–8 to become premiers. They were however later stripped of the title by the NRL.
In April, 2008, Bellamy signed a five-year contract extension through to 2013 with Melbourne despite interest from theBrisbane Broncos.[9] This signing meant that Bellamy would become the first 10-year coach in the Storm's history. After theNew South Wales Blues' poor showing in the2007 State of Origin series, Bellamy was appointed as coach for the2008 series.[10] In his first series in charge of NSW, the Blues lost toMal Meninga's Maroons 2 – 1. The second and third series have also resulted in series losses, therefore posing serious questions on Bellamy's abilities to coach at representative level.
During the finals campaign of the2008 NRL season, Bellamy cost his club $50,000 after he was fined for disclosing scathing remarks and views on the NRL's decision to suspend his side's captain and goal-kicker,Cameron Smith over a controversial "grapple tackle" on Brisbane'sSam Thaiday. Bellamy claimed that the administration was corrupt and that bookkeepers already knew that Smith would be denied the opportunity to play for the rest of the season and furthermore along with Melbourne's CEO questioned the NRL's integrity in their opting to side-line Smith and not others who were guilty of committing similar tackles. This drew threats of legal action from the members of theNRL Judiciary.
Bellamy coached Melbourne to their 3rd successive NRL grand final, but could not repeat the feats of the previous year as his side suffered an enormous 40–0 defeat toManly.[11]
2009 marked the fourth consecutive year Melbourne played in the grand final under Bellamy. Melbourne also reached the top four on the NRL ladder for the fourth consecutive year. Craig Bellamy coached Melbourne in their grand final win in 2009 only to be stripped of the title due to breaching the salary cap.[12]
Bellamy was named coach of the year at the 2009RLIF awards.[13]
Bellamy left as Blues coach after the2010 State of Origin series which resulted in a 3-0 whitewash, the first in Origin and also the Blues' first since 2000.Ricky Stuart was later named his successor. So far the Storm had not missed the finals in Bellamy's seven seasons at the helm with the exception of 2010 when they were not allowed to earn any points due to their 2009 salary cap breach. Had they been allowed to accumulate points however they would have made the top 8 again. He took them to the minor premiership in 2011, just narrowly missing out on a spot in the grand final to a loss in the preliminary final to theNew Zealand Warriors. He went one better in 2012, winning the2012 NRL grand final against Canterbury 14–4. That year he also received theRugby League International Federation's coach of the year award for the second time.[14]
Despite speculation he would move to the Warriors orSt George-Illawarra as coach, he signed a new three-year deal with Melbourne Storm in early 2013.[15] He coached the team to victory in the2013 World Club Challenge overLeeds, earning the title of world champions. Late in the2013 NRL season during an interview withPaul Vautin forChannel 9's"The Footy show", it was revealed that Bellamy was an electrician by trade, though downplayed it by saying that he was "not a very good one." Also during 2013 Bellamy's book,Home Truths: On Life, Leadership, Adversity, Success and Failure was published.[16]
On 16 May 2014 Bellamy reached a milestone, and created a new club record, of having coached the Melbourne Storm for 300 games.[17]
On 4 March 2016, Bellamy extended his stay as Melbourne Storm coach to the end of 2018.[18][19]
Bellamy had coached the Melbourne Storm to yet another NRL Premiership title in2020, defeating the Penrith Panthers26–20. This was despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had his players living away from home for five months straight.[20]In the2021 NRL season, Bellamy guided Melbourne to 19 consecutive wins throughout the regular season as the club claimed another minor premiership. The win streak equalled the Eastern Suburbs team of the 1970s. Melbourne would however suffer a shock loss against Penrith in the preliminary final. In the2022 NRL season, Melbourne would qualify for the finals but were eliminated in the first week by Canberra. In the2023 NRL season, Bellamy guided Melbourne to a third placed finish. The club would reach the preliminary final but were convincingly beaten by Penrith 38-4.[21][22]
On May 10, 2024, Bellamy re-signed as coach of Melbourne for the 2025 season.[23][24]Bellamy guided Melbourne to the minor premiership at the conclusion of the 2024 regular season. The club would eventually reach the grand final but were defeated by Penrith 14-6[25]
On 5 June, Melbourne announced that Bellamy had re-signed with the club for the 2026 season.[26]Bellamy guided Melbourne to a second placed finish in the2025 NRL season and eventually the2025 NRL Grand Final where they squandered a 22-12 half-time lead against Brisbane to lose the match 26-22.[27]
CommentatorPaul Kent describes how Bellamy transforms "journeymen footballers into accomplished players.".[28]
Coach, commentator and rugby league administratorPhil Gould stated:
Melbourne’s military-like, mechanical, meticulous and clinical form of rugby league excellence, not only wins a lot of games; it stands up under pressure; it teaches individuals within the team to stand up; it makes good players of average players; great players of good players; it turns great players into champions . Basically, it produces championship teams.[29]
| ^ | Club won NRL Premiership |
| * | Club stripped of NRL Premiership |
It's my birthday today. I'm 66.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Graham Murray 2006–2007 | Coach New South Wales 2008–2010 | Succeeded by Ricky Stuart 2011–2012 |
| Preceded by Mark Murray 2001–2002 | Coach Melbourne Storm 2003–present | Succeeded by Incumbent |
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