Bellamy praises Storm’s resilience

The Storm came under siege in the first half but managed to escape with an 8-0 lead at the main break despite sloppy completion and “fairly ordinary errors”.

“We were a bit untidy with the footy and our kicking game wasn’t probably great either so we put a lot of pressure on ourselves but we defended that pressure really well I thought,” Bellamy said after the game.

“Our defensive effort was probably as good as we’ve had all year.

“I’m really proud of the boys.

“Obviously our execution let us down a little bit in the first half to be able to put that defensive in for 80 minutes was tremendous.”

Storm was full of running in the second half, scoring three tries in 11 minutes to break the game open.

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Despite the scratchy start, Bellamy said the week off helped Storm capitalise on its opportunities.

“The advantage of having that week off was there for everyone to see in the second half,” he said.

“The Bronx probably couldn’t go with us in that last part of the second half and I’m probably thinking that’s because they’ve played two finals games in consecutive weeks and the pace of the game obviously goes up.”

Storm captain Cameron Smith addressed the players during the break, calling for cool heads under pressure.

“We lacked a little bit of composure in the first half,” Smith said.

“We started quite well and we had some early ball down their end and looked quite likely at times but we just, wouldn’t say lost our way, but we just were a bit frantic.

“I think that was probably due to being a little bit overenthusiastic to be honest.

“We were all pretty keen to get involved in this match tonight so I just said it was a fairly incredible effort for our team to be up 8-nil at halftime.”