Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has questioned a series of officiating decisions after his side slumped to a 14-6 loss to the Sydney Roosters, leaving their finals hopes hanging by a thread.
The defeat at AAMI Park was Melbourne's first home loss to the Roosters since 2015 and leaves the Storm sitting 10th on the NRL ladder with 20 competition points, four behind the eighth-placed North Queensland Cowboys, with just six rounds remaining.
For a club that has become synonymous with September football, Melbourne is now facing the prospect of missing the finals for the first time since 2002.
The Storm were already understrength heading into Friday night's clash, forced to field a halves pairing without both Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes for just the sixth time since 2018. Munster is expected to miss at least another two matches, while Hughes' return remains unclear as he continues to recover from a lingering hamstring injury.
Their injury toll worsened during the contest, with winger Will Warbrick suffering a season-ending Achilles injury in a cruel blow for both the Storm and the New Zealand international, who is set to join the Warriors next season.
Despite the setbacks, Bellamy believed several key refereeing decisions swung the momentum of the contest.
One of the biggest talking points came when the Roosters appeared to complete a goal-line dropout after the shot clock had expired. Had the Storm been awarded the penalty, they would have had the chance to level the scores at 8-8 with a straightforward penalty goal.
Melbourne was also left frustrated after having a try disallowed before the Roosters marched downfield to score at the other end.
"Well, that was probably one. I think there was a fair few to be quite honest," Bellamy said when asked about the failure to penalise the Roosters for the late dropout.
"I think we had a try disallowed, and it might have been disallowed, but it should've gone to the video ref, and I think they scored a try off the next set of six. Having said that, we played a part in not stopping that try, but there were a couple of big decisions out there today.
"Six to eight weeks ago, we got done for taking too long with a line drop out.
"At the end of the day, it is what it is. It ain't going to change, but I thought the effort of our players was tremendous.
"I probably will (ask the NRL for an explanation). It's really disappointing, but you can't change it, unfortunately."
The Storm still had opportunities to force the issue late in the game. With just three minutes remaining, Nick Meaney spilled the ball over the try line in what proved to be Melbourne's final genuine scoring chance. Even if he had grounded the ball and the conversion was successful, the Storm would have still needed another score to steal victory.
The Roosters were also missing their own captain and chief playmaker, James Tedesco, but found enough composure to claim an important away win to move to second place.
Melbourne's path to the finals now looks daunting, with clashes against the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Brisbane Broncos and Cronulla Sharks to finish the regular season.
Already without key personnel and now facing the loss of Warbrick for the remainder of the year, Bellamy's side has little room for error if it is to avoid missing the finals.
