Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy has exploded at his playing group over their third straight defeat, with the club letting in 50 points for the first time since August 10, 2003.
On that day at the Sydney Showgrounds, it was the Canterbury Bulldogs who became the fourth side to put 50 on the Storm in their history.
The fifth took another 23 years, but with a try in the dying minutes at CommBank Stadium on Good Friday, the Penrith Panthers would do just that, winding up with a 40-point victory.
There was nothing good about the day for Bellamy though, who put his playing group on notice after fulltime, suggesting you don't have to be a brain surgeon to defend, and that reserve grade was looming for players who didn't want to put in.
“We just go a little bit harder,” Bellamy said during his post-match press conference.
“If they don't want to go harder, well, they can go and play in reserve grade and bring some young blokes up, so that's how we always handle these situations.
“We've just got to learn from tonight and just be better, that's all. The disappointing thing for me was our defence.
“You don't have to be a brain surgeon, to be a good defender. You just need to work hard and be determined.”
The Storm have had a handful of injuries to deal with during the early going of the season, but after scoring 50 points themselves in Round 1 with a completely new-look back-row, the recent form, which has included losses against the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys on the run in to their defeat at the hands of Penrith, changes could be on the horizon.
The issues don't stop at first-grade level for Bellamy though. His reserve grade side has won just one of their first four, and let in 40 points against Penrith on Friday evening in the curtain-raiser at CommBank Stadium.
Penrith, who are clearly the best team in the competition, employed a spine of Jaxen Edgar, Jack Cole, Kurt Falls and Vea Tapa'atoutai in the game as they ran riot against Melbourne, with at least Edgar and Cole likely to feature during the Origin window.
Bellamy, while frustrated at his own side, didn't stop short of delivering Penrith their flowers who have an average winning margin of 30 points and have conceded just 40 in total across their opening 5 games.
“Disappointing, we knew we were playing a good side, and they are probably head and shoulders above everybody at the moment in the competition,” he said.
“They haven't had many points scored against them and they've scored a lot of points, but I was just really disappointed in our defence tonight.
“To let that many points in and the way we let those points in, that was the disappointing thing for me, but hopefully we'll learn from it and move on.”
Melbourne's next chance to turn things around will come back on home soil next Saturday night against the in-form New Zealand Warriors.
