{"id":336742,"date":"2023-10-06T07:25:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T07:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336742"},"modified":"2023-10-06T08:00:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T08:00:58","slug":"blues-greats-one-concern-with-bellamys-origin-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336742","title":{"rendered":"Blues great's one concern with Bellamy's Origin return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could Craig Bellamy<\/a> be the man to lead the NSW Blues<\/a> to State of Origin<\/a> redemption?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parramatta Eels<\/a> stalwart Junior Paulo<\/a> believes the Storm mentor could be the man who could revive the team in the wake of Brad Fittler's exit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fittler confirmed in recent weeks that he would not be re-signing with New South Wales Rugby League<\/a> after only being offered a five-month contract to remain at the helm.<\/p>\n

Battle on the Reef<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Pay-Per-View will be live & exclusive on Stan this Saturday from 6:30pm AEDT.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It's understood whoever coaches the Blues will be subject to the same five-month deal.<\/p>\n

\"Coach<\/p>\n

Bellamy is the latest in a slew of NRL coaching icons whose names have been linked with the vacant NSW role.<\/p>\n

"There's a lot of guys, past players, who have put their hand up and have really excelled in that field of coaching," Paulo told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

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"You know, there's a lot of standouts. Madge's (Michael Maguire's) name has been thrown up. Craig Bellamy, we've obviously seen how long he's been at the reins of Melbourne Storm and the success they've had.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"There's guys who have been there before and who are happy to put their hand up. So, yeah, it would be awesome to see someone in there.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,<\/p>\n

"Look, I'm sure whoever steps into that role is going to be a proud New South Welshman and ready to win back that shield.<\/p>\n

"Whoever it is, I'm sure all the boys will be pitting their best forward to be a part of that Blues squad again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's always an honour to represent the sky blue. We just have to go back and play some good footy and see what happens in the next year."<\/p>\n

Bellamy has history with the Blues, having led the team in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 series.<\/p>\n

In that time, he won just two games during what was a dominant period for the Queensland Maroons.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1709897260933529741<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Cooper, who played 13 Origins in the Blues jersey, was in the team when Bellamy held the reins.<\/p>\n

He's backed Bellamy to lead the team again, but admits there's one major stumbling block.<\/p>\n

Although Fittler suggested a current NRL coach could lead the Blues, Cooper isn't so certain Bellamy \u2013 or any other coach for that matter \u2013 could do the double.<\/p>\n

"To be honest, I feel like if you're gonna coach Origin, you can't be coaching an NRL team," Cooper told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

"It's not fair for the NRL team that they're coaching. Origin takes a lot out of the coach. It's got to be an independent coach that's not currently coaching an NRL side."<\/p>\n

Bellamy could conceivably be in the crosshairs of the NSWRL given his tenure with the Storm is drawing towards an end. <\/p>\n

The 64-year-old signed a unique five-year deal with the Storm in 2022, one which allows him to decide whether he wants to remain as coach or to transition into a coaching director role at the end of every year.<\/p>\n

"I think he would be a great choice," said Cooper.<\/p>\n

"I feel like he's only got one more year of coaching. Craig could come in, retire from NRL, and then he could be the full time Origin coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm sure Craig would have certain players that have played for New South Wales in mind that could help him do what Queensland have done \u2013 bring in those younger sort of coaches.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

"He's gonna retire and he's still gonna watch footy.<\/p>\n

"He's still gonna have that passion. I feel like he'd be looking at that and then he'd be really thinking about doing it, because he is one of the greatest coaches I've seen."<\/p>\n

Would Bellamy want to return to the Blues though?\u00a0<\/p>\n

He'd be just the sixth coach to ever have two stints or more after Harry Bath (1962 and 1968\u20131972), Ted Glossop (1980\u20131981 and 1983), Frank Stanton (1978\u20131979 and 1982, and 1984), Phil Gould (1992\u20131996 and 2002\u20132004), and Ricky Stuart (2005 and 2011\u20132012).<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1709878539301048728<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps redemption would motivate Bellamy, who led the team during one of the most dominant periods in the history of the Maroons led by Mal Meninga.<\/p>\n

"He actually coached me in Origin. It was at a time where Queensland won, what was it? Eight or nine in a row," said Cooper.<\/p>\n

"So Craig came in and coached Origin at a really bad time. You can't judge his performance back then because of the team that Queensland had.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"They were so dominant and he did his best. He would be an awesome Origin coach full time without being an NRL coach."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could Craig Bellamy be the man to lead the NSW Blues to State of Origin redemption?\u00a0 Parramatta Eels stalwart Junior Paulo believes the Storm mentor […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336742"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336747,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336742\/revisions\/336747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/336744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}