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Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy wants his players to take ownership after poor discipline while in possession of the ball cost the Storm victory against Canberra.
“One thing we can control is our actions,” Bellamy said.
“To give away penalties when you have got the ball, it cost us. It cost us dearly.”
The Storm lost 20-18 in golden point in the final match of Magic Round on Sunday. In regular time, they led 18-12 and fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen kicked a field goal in the 75th minute that would have taken them to 19-12.
On review, the Bunker found an elbow to the head of Raiders captain Joseph Topine by Storm lock Trent Loiero in a previous play when Melbourne had the ball. Papenhuyzen’s one-pointer was overturned.
The Raiders then levelled through a scintillating try to fullback Kaeo Weekes.
But the Storm were in position for a field goal in golden point when prop Stefano Utoikamanu was pinged and sin-binned for stomping on hooker Tom Starling in the play-the-ball.
He’d already given away a penalty in the first-half while in possession, after wrangling with Canberra prop Joseph Topine.
Loiero again transgressed when he hit Raiders forward Hudson Young in a high tackle in the 85th minute, with Jamal Fogarty landing the winning penalty.
Storm captain Cameron Munster, no saint when it comes to ill-discipline, had a chat to Loiero post-match.
Morgan Smithies, Jamal Fogarty and Tom Starling celebrate winning. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“I said to him to just take some learnings from it. I have been in those situations before,” Munster said.
“You don’t what to be the guy that clips a chin and they go for two and get the penalty. I have been in grand finals where I have done some silly stuff. He will learn from that.
“He’s a great player and we’ve all had those opportunities and lost those moments. Unfortunately, tonight it was him.
“I’m not going to sit there and bag him. He’s done some great stuff for us as a player. I know what he is feeling. A lot of people will be on his back but as a group we have got to stick together and learn.”
Bellamy also weighed in on Utoikamanu’s actions.
“I’ve only had one look at it. I’m not exactly sure what happened,” he said of the stomp.
“To turn the ball over when you’ve got the ball 15m from their line … if he was in the wrong he needs to pick his discipline up. I don’t know exactly who was the instigator.
“Twice he did it. It’s unlike anyone. You show me a bloke that gives away two penalties when you’ve got the ball in a game. You are not looking at too many people.”
There was a sense the Storm had been hard done by but Bellamy wasn”t going down that path.
“You can say that if you like,” he said.
Munster was also careful about commenting on the officiating. “I can’t remember the last time a team got penalised with the ball but … we played some dumb footy tonight,” Munster said.
“As much as it looked like it was in the hands of the ref, we have to be disciplined with the ball. It’s a tough pill to swallow. We can’t afford to keep doing it.”
Michael Maguire is set for the biggest call of his Brisbane coaching tenure yet as he deliberates whether Ezra Mam will come straight back into a badly-beaten Broncos side for round 10.
Mam was booed by the Suncorp Stadium crowd when shown on the big screens in Brisbane’s 32-8 loss to Penrith at Magic Round, the last of nine games he missed due to his ban for drug-driving.
A magistrate told the Broncos playmaker he was lucky not to have killed anyone when he crashed into an Uber containing three people while driving unlicensed and under the influence of cocaine last October.
Mam pleaded guilty, was fined $850 and banned from driving for six-months.
He made a public apology in February and has been training at five-eighth in preparation for an NRL return with the Broncos, who face South Sydney on Friday.
Ezra Mam celebrates with teammates after scoring in the 2023 GF. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
At full-time in the loss to Penrith, Maguire said he had not yet considered whether to recall Mam for the Souths game or ease him back through Queensland Cup.
“I’ll go through this game and work out which way we’ll go,” he said.
On that review, Maguire will come face-to-face with a Broncos side whose halves were thoroughly outclassed by Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary at Magic Round.
Broncos halfback Adam Reynolds admitted he put the Broncos under pressure, with stand-in five-eighth Ben Hunt also struggling to halt the Panthers once they were on a roll.
“I’ll put my hand up there. I obviously didn’t have one of the greatest games,” Reynolds said.
“There’s a few things I got wrong out there and put the team under a bit of pressure. I’ll wear that one.”
In Mam, the Broncos would have an attacking livewire eager to write his wrongs.
But the fifth-placed Broncos have been largely served well by Hunt at five-eighth on a 5-4 start to the season.
“(Mam) will be ready to play if he was called upon. Until you’re actually playing games, you can’t qualify on that,” Maguire said.
“But he’s done everything he possibly can to give himself the opportunity to come into selection.”
Maguire will consult with Reynolds and senior players as to whether Mam should be selected, or whether he may need time playing for feeder side Souths-Logan.
“There’s parts of his game that under repetition he hasn’t been able to have. That tends to be the defensive side. I have to make sure he is ready to go,” Maguire said.
“I talk to my leaders all the time about how the team looks and what we’re doing and what we’re moving towards.”
with AAP
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