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Advantage Storm: Bellamy admits prep days benefit
Scott Bailey and Melissa Woods, AAP • September 27th, 2025 8:06 am
Cameron Munster's Storm have an NRL grand final place - and two days more prep than their opponents | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
Craig Bellamy has sided with Ivan Cleary, admitting the NRL have handed his Melbourne side an advantage with an extra two days to prepare for the grand final.
Fresh off Friday night's 24-16 preliminary-final win over Cronulla, Storm players will enjoy a weekend off before returning on Monday to prepare for the decider.
Part of that will no doubt include watching Brisbane and Penrith take it to each other in Sunday afternoon's other preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium.
"I think it is an advantage," Bellamy admitted.
"But we didn't make that decision. I think people have been a bit critical, as if it's been us saying we want to play Friday and put them on Sunday.
"At the end of the day, the NRL made the decision, not us."
Bellamy's comments come after Penrith coach Cleary labelled the situation as "definitely unfair" on Friday, given the Panthers' shorter turnaround time.
Since the league went to a top-eight system with two preliminary finals in 1995, the matches have always been played a day apart.
But this year has broken from tradition, with head office keen to introduce more daytime football for finals matches.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy admits his side have an advantage with two days extra prep | Photo: AAP
The NRL were also keen to avoid a clash with the AFL grand final in Melbourne, making for a Friday-Sunday split.
"It's definitely unfair," Cleary said on Friday.
"At the end of the day, if that's our problem next week, I'll be pretty happy."
Brisbane great Corey Parker also slammed the move when announced by the NRL last week, labelling it "lop-sided, poorly done and selfish from the NRL."
Head office have defended the move, insisting there is little difference in the impact of turnarounds once they reach seven days or beyond.
"Once you get to that level of rest and recovery, we were really cognisant of the fact that seven days is key," NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.
"If you look at the regular season, obviously we have byes, so you have some teams playing teams that have effectively had two weeks' recovery.
"We're talking about the best professional athletes on the planet, and the clubs do an unbelievable job in terms of high-performance management."
Cameron Munster admits the extra preparation time before the grand final helps the Storm | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
Melbourne did get through Friday night's win unscathed, with halfback Jahrome Hughes making a successful 22-day return from a fractured arm.
Even with no injury concerns, players are happy to have the extra rest.
"There is probably a bit of upside," star five-eighth Cameron Munster said.
"It gives the boys a couple of days off to enjoy their family time and stuff.
"But it won't mean much if we don't win next week. We have the chance to have a couple of days off and enjoy and come back Monday.
"We don't control the draw. The NRL control the draw and they think they can sell out Suncorp on a Sunday. They're going to get a massive crowd."
Stephen Kearney on what makes the Storm a top club | Running It Straight
