Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy has revealed he once tried to sign both Luke Keary and Corey Parker for his club.

Bellamy has a track record of turning players into stars, and while both Parker and Keary made it without his guidance to that status, the Storm coach was once confident of landing both players, particularly Keary.

The comments came while Bellamy was chatting with the duo on Channel 7s The Agenda Setters.

"I tried to sign these two," Bellamy said on the program.

"Corey when I first come down and Luke I think was 17 or 18.

"I think he led me on a bit.

"We really thought that we had Luke, so I saw his number come up in the phone one day and he said I'm not coming.

"We can laugh about it now but these guys [Parker and Keary] have been great players for our game."

The admission means Bellamy first attempted to sign Parker in 2003 when he first arrived at the Storm. He has gone on to coach more than 600 games with the club and is now contracted until the end of 2028.

Parker, who played 347 NRL games with the Broncos as a one-club player between 2001 and 2016, became a State of Origin player the year after Bellamy began life in Melbourne, and was a sought after signature early in his playing days.

The now 43-year-old is one of Brisbane's greatest ever players, and played 19 Origins to go with 13 Tests for Australia.

Keary, on the other hand, debuted in 2013 for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, but Bellamy's admission means he almost never played for the Rabbitohs, or the tri-colours, where he did most of his work.

Now 34, Keary would have been approached by the Storm about three years before his first-grade debut around the turn of the decade and shortly before the salary cap scandal that defined the club's 2010 season broke.

Keary went on to debut for the Rabbitohs in 2013, playing 63 games, before joining the Roosters in 2017 where he played another 168 games through to the end of 2024.

Keary finished his career with the Catalans Dragons in 2025, and while there were hopes of an NRL return, they were short-lived, with the half, who played two Tests for Australia, three for Ireland and an Origin for New South Wales, electing to hang up the boots with 258 professional appearances under his belt.