Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has expressed concern about the safety and welfare of NRL players over the shortage of contact work they will do before the competition’s scheduled resumption later this month.
Squad sessions will resume on Wednesday, but permission for contact isn’t expected to be granted until later in the week.
That means players will potentially have under three weeks of work in that crucial area before the scheduled May 28 restart.
No games have been played for six weeks and Bellamy said Melbourne would definitely have to change their philosophy.
“For me, it feels unrealistic to expect them to, after what they’ve had off, to have three weeks’ preparation and be ready, but that’s the situation we are in,” Bellamy told Fox League Live.
“I’m a little bit concerned I suppose, not about our team, but I suppose about players safety or welfare with the lack of contact.
“I think we are going to be able to start contact on Saturday you’d love to be able to start it on Wednesday.
“We’re not going to just let them go bashing into each other straight away, they are going to have to let their bodies adjust, but come Saturday I think there’s only about two-and-a-half weeks before the first game.”
Melbourne won their two games before the competition was suspended.
Storm players on Monday returned to AAMI Park for the first time in over a month.
“it’s been very difficult times for guys to train and for some guys it will be very hard to stay motivated.” Bellamy said.
“But seeing them today, they all look OK, but come Wednesday or Thursday that will tell us the true story.”
A total of 50 Storm players and staff will on Tuesday travel to Albury as the state of emergency in place in Victoria prevents the team training at its home ground, forcing across the border into NSW.
“I’m not quite sure how long we are going to be up there, it could be five days it could be four of five weeks, who knows?” Bellamy said.
“We’d like to think as it goes on as the restrictions start easing off a touch that we will be allowed to train in Melbourne hopefully in the near future.”
He hoped Josh Addo-Carr and other NRL players would learn from the star winger’s recent breaches of social distancing laws.
“He paid a reasonably heavy price as far as the fine so that is going to hurt,’ Bellamy said.
“We all go through life and make some mistakes.”