Melbourne has been fined $5000 by the NRL after coach Craig Bellamy refused to attend a media conference following the Storm’s round nine win over Manly.
Bellamy was seething after a series of controversial refereeing decisions threatened to cost his his side the game.
As a result, the passionate Storm boss decided not to put himself in front of a microphone and risk a fine.
As it turns out, the Storm’s pockets are lighter anyway, with the club hit with a $10,000 penalty, of which $5000 has been suspended.
Despite the incident happening three weeks ago, the NRL decided the no-show from Bellamy warranted consideration.
Rule 1.24 of the NRL Operations Manual states that at the completion of each match, the head coach of each team must attend and genuinely participate in the post-match media conference.
The Storm have five working days to respond to the notice.
NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said the circumstance was unique, but couldn’t be allowed to slide.
“It’s an extremely rare event for a head coach not to attend the post-match media conference and we took the necessary time to consider the circumstances in this case,” Greenberg said in an NRL statement.
“Craig has been an outstanding ambassador for the game in more than 300 matches as head coach of the Melbourne Storm.
“While we understand the reasoning for Craig not attending on this occasion, it is an important part of the post-match that the head coach is available at the media conference.”