Craig Bellamy has angrily hit back at claims Melbourne’s Max King tried to injure a rival player in the Storm’s 30-22 loss to St George Illawarra, labelling them ridiculous.
The Dragons ended their sorry NRL season with a win on Sunday against an undermanned Storm, with Tyson Frizell bagging a double in his farewell game.
But even after resting 12 of their starting 17, the Storm still have several headaches ahead of next week’s qualifying final against Parramatta.
King was placed on report for a hip-drop tackle on Blake Lawrie, which prompted him to briefly leave the field injured.
Former Dally M Medallist Greg Alexander claimed in Fox League commentary there was “an intent to injure” from the “obvious foul play”.
The comments angered Bellamy, who has previously had to defend his team’s tackling style time and time again on the eve of the finals.
“That’s ridiculous. That is ridiculous” Bellamy said.
“I would be very disappointed if any player in the competition goes out to intentionally injure an opposition player.
“That is ridiculous.”
The veteran coach said he had not seen the tackle properly when asked if he had concerns over whether he would be suspended.
“I didn’t see it closely,” Bellamy said.
“There were bodies entangled there. We’ll have to have a look at it.”
Tui Kamikamica could also be under the microscope for a first-half shoulder charge on Jayden Sullivan after he’d passed, despite it going unpenalised on field.
Making matters worse, Kamikamica finished the game off the field with an ankle injury.
“I’m not quite sure how bad it is yet, but it’s certainly a concern for next week,” Bellamy said.
But even while fielding the second least experienced side in the NRL era with just 547 games between them, the Storm still looked likely to win at times.
They led 16-6 before letting the game slip in the second half, and finished the game with 12 men as Bellamy opted against putting rested players back on the field after other injuries.
Both sides scored five tries, but the Storm were left to rue four missed conversions from stand-in skipper Ryan Papenhuyzen who was otherwise their best.
The fullback set up their first when he sliced through the Dragons’ left-edge defence and put Paul Momirovski over.
He also threw the last pass for Chris Lewis to score another, this time catching the Dragons’ right edge short with his speed.
But after Sandor Earl and Isaac Lumelume also both crossed off kicks, Frizell’s farewell party began in his 165th and final game for the Dragons before moving to Newcastle.
He ran onto a Matt Dufty ball to make it 16-12 at the break, before the Dragons were given the lead in the second half via a penalty try to Zac Lomax.
McInnes was the man who laid the grubber on for Lomax, as well as the Dragons’ next when he burst down field and put Dufty over.
Then after Nicho Hynes put the Storm back in the game when he grubbered for himself, Frizell cemented the Dragons’ win by claiming a Sullivan kick and scoring.
“I thought he (Frizell) was great,” coach Dean Young said.
“He had the most runs he had all year, so he obviously wanted to finish on a high.”