The Storm have revealed that Curtis Scott is dealing with off-field issues which led to his poor form, as reported by NRL.com.
The 21-year old was dropped from Craig Bellamy's side a fortnight ago amongst rumours that he was being shopped to rival clubs despite still having three years to run on his deal.
It is understood that a move to his native Sydney could be in the best interest of the youngster.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said the club had Scott's best interests at heart as he works through this tough period.
"Curtis had a couple of very personal issues that you would hope would remain private," Bellamy told NRL.com.
"Having said that, it was reported to the Integrity Unit. But there's never been any investigation, and they told us today that there's no plans for any investigation so we just want to keep it a private matter.
"All our players' welfare is our main concern at all times."
Bellamy said he was a noticeable drop off in Scott's performance, even on the training track.
"There was a couple of things in Curtis's game that weren't Curtis like," Bellamy said.
"He's got a couple of wonderful traits as a footy player and he wasn't delivering these traits during games and also during the week at training. He probably wasn't where he usually is and not where we expect him to be.
"The reason that he was left out of the side was because of his form.
"When I make those decisions, he's played in our last couple of grand finals, it's not an easy decision for me because there's always points where over a long term, players have done a good job for you. And he has without a doubt."
The dual premiership coach added that having the routine of playing footy was essential for Scott.
"For the people that counted it was probably better that he kept playing footy," Bellamy said.
"There was one week where we thought the week off would do him good. Other than that I think it's better that he keep playing
"These last two weeks he's been really good, his attitude to training. He's started doing the things he's good at again. He's not far away."
“Storm reveal Curtis Scott’s off-field “personal issues”
Melbourne have lifted the lid on the youngster’s off-field issues.”
If the Storm have revealed Curtis Scott’s off field “personal issues” (which I doubt) then Ben certainly hasn’t. There is nothing in this article that wasn’t in the media on Monday and this article does not tell us anything about what Curtis’s issues are.
I am sorry Ben but this is crap lazy journalism and Zero Tackle ought to be aiming higher.
All this tells us is they reported it to the “Integrity Unit” and they swept it under their bulging rug so as not to bring any bad attention to the Storm as they can’t have bad press about their beloved Melbourne team.
Guaranteed if this had been Parra or Tigers or Bulldogs it would be all over the media and the so called integrity unit would be handing out fines left, right and center.
I’ll be pis sed if Curtis leaves. One of my favourite players. Bellamy need to tread carefully Curtis has a lot of very close mates at Melbourne. One of his best mates The Fox, Brodie Croft, Brandon Smith, Joe Stimson, Christian Welch, Cam Munster Curtis still lives with a heap of them I think if Curtis leaves they will loose a lot more of our Young Stars 😡
My reading of the runes is that the lad has an issue of some sort that he needs to work out. Its nothing too serious because the integrity unit isn’t interested. I think that Bellamy is giving him some space and the rest is a media beat up. If Bellamy has given up on the kid then there will be good reason but I very much doubt that this is the case.