Melbourne haven’t given up on Josh Addo-Carr changing his mind and staying with the Storm beyond this NRL season.
Set to play his 100th NRL match when Melbourne take on South Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Friday night, Addo-Carr is just one try away from equalling Marcus Bai in seventh place on the Storm’s all-time try scoring list.
The Test winger is likely to knock that off this round, having scored seven tries in six games against the Rabbitohs.
He also loves ANZ Stadium, touching down six times in his past four games there.
Like Bai, ‘The Fox’ has become a Storm fan favourite and one of Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy’s too.
Addo-Carr announced pre-season he hoped to return to Sydney from 2021 to be closer to his extended family, also bringing a son named Fox into the world mid-season.
But with Suliasi Vunivalu leaving Melbourne at season’s end to play rugby with Queensland, Bellamy hoped that the 25-year-old Add-Carr doesn’t exit with his fellow winger.
“I know he wants to go back to Sydney but hopefully in the next couple of months he might change his mind,” Bellamy said.
“We are proud of what he has done for our club and the player he has become.
“Josh is a very proud Indigenous person and player – it’s inspiring to be around.”
Bellamy said that Addo-Carr had made the most of his chances after arriving at the Storm.
“Every opportunity that has presented itself, he has grabbed with both hands and it’s got him an Origin jumper, an Australian jumper and we are really proud of him,” he said.
Addo-Carr has spoken about playing fullback with another NRL club, with the Storm well covered in that position through Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Bellamy thought Addo-Carr’s best position was on the wing but believed he could be a success in the No.1 jersey.
“He’d probably have to make a couple of little changes there, but I couldn’t see why not,” he said.
“I think he would work it out pretty quickly – he’s certainly turned into a smart footy player too so it wouldn’t take him too much to adapt to a fullback role.”