There has been speculation surfacing that Melbourne Storm legend Billy Slater will take over the coaching duties of the club following Craig Bellamy's reign.
Slater has an impressive coaching record, including three QLD Maroons series wins since the beginning of his reign in 2022.
He has won seven of 12 games as the Maroons head coach and has reportedly begun conversations about his long-term future.
On Triple M's Beau, Cat & Woodsy, the radio crew discussed a whisper surfacing that Storm officials have spoken with Slater about eventually succeeding Craig Bellamy as a long-term coaching option.
“I'm hearing in recent weeks, Melbourne Storm officials have spoken with Billy Slater about taking over as head coach when Craig Bellamy decides to officially step away," an unidentified source said when calling into Triple M.
Former NRL players Beau Ryan and Aaron Woods weighed in on the situation, where speculation has risen about what the future of the club looks like.
“How long does Craig have left?” Ryan said.
Woods responded, “He just signed for two years at the start of the season.” With Ryan interjecting, “But there's been a lot that has unfolded in Craig's life over the last six months”.
“There has been. Obviously, Melbourne will work around Craig and what the doctors say. Billy has been earmarked for years, hasn't he?” Woods added.
Ryan commended Slater's illustrious NRL career for the Storm, where he played 319 games, scored 190 tries and tallied 760 points in his 16-season run.
Regarded as one of the best fullbacks of all time, Slater also played 31 games for Queensland, 30 Tests for Australia, four premierships (two stripped) and a Dally M Medal in 2011.
He also questioned why he would walk away from his current position at Nine and Origin coaching, given that it has been a successful tenure in both respective roles.
“Billy Slater is a genius. We know what he did on the field, and we've seen what he's done as Queensland coach. Why would he take on a head coach role when he's got the Queensland Origin job? Ryan added.
"He does a little bit at Melbourne [Storm] on his own terms… and then he's got his job at Nine. How would you step away from that? It's got to be lucrative.”
There has been no official confirmation from the Storm on the matter.
Long-term Storm teammate Ryan Hoffman has in the past made the claim that Slater would not take on the head coaching role.
When appearing on Zero Tackle's The Boardroom NRL Podcast, Hoffman said Slater's commitments outside of the Origin window may interfere with the NRL coaching gig.
"A lot of people have tossed up Billy Slater's name as a head coach, but I know for a fact Bill will not be a head coach," Hoffman said.
"Look, I think Bill loves coaching, and he gets to scratch that coaching itch for three games of the year. But he's got so many other interests outside with his horses, his Channel Nine (job)."
Hoffman and Slater played 233 NRL games together, both reaching great success on the field, with 21 finals matches played together.
"I don't really think he wants to set himself up for pretty much 11 months of the year, having to work so hard, to be quite honest," Hoffman said with a smile.
"I'll tell you a funny story, I was talking to Michael Maguire's wife last year after the Grand Final, I went and saw her and said congratulations, she goes 'Geez, I liked it so much better when he was an Origin coach because it was only three games.'
"So it's the stress on the family and everything too, compared to a 26-game season plus finals, compared to a three-game Origin series."
After suffering seven losses in a row, the Storm bounced back with a 44-16 thrashing over the Wests Tigers on Mother's Day.
They will continue to build on their season comeback when they face the Parramatta Eels on Saturday at Magic Round.
