{"id":48376,"date":"2026-07-11T04:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T04:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/48376\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T04:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T04:57:10","slug":"craig-bellamy-airs-complaint-as-queensland-origin-star-ruled-out-of-melbourne-storm-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/48376\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig Bellamy airs complaint as Queensland Origin star ruled out of Melbourne Storm game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Craig Bellamy has become the latest big-name figure to bemoan the farcical nature of the <a data-ylk=\"slk:NRL and State of Origin schedules;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;cpos:1;pos:1;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;outcm:mb_qualified_link;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/calls-grow-for-nrl-suspension-as-two-nsw-stars-stood-down-for-four-games-after-origin-triumph-213439952.html\" class=\"link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL and State of Origin schedules<\/a> after revealing Cameron Munster won&#8217;t play for the Storm on Sunday night. Melbourne will face the Gold Coast Titans in a crucial game for the Storm&#8217;s finals hopes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Bellamy&#8217;s side are 11th on 18 points heading into Round 19 &#8211; sitting four points adrift of the top eight. The Storm can ill-afford a loss to the 16th-placed Titans if they want to play finals footy.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Craig Bellamy alongside Cameron Munster and Origin teammates.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"517\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/craig-bellamy-cameron-munster_2798.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Craig Bellamy (R) revealed Cameron Munster (L) won&#8217;t back up for the Storm after State of Origin 3. Image: Getty<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But they&#8217;ll face the Gold Coast without five-eighth Munster, who won&#8217;t back up after <a data-ylk=\"slk:State of Origin 3;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;cpos:2;pos:1;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;outcm:mb_qualified_link;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/cameron-munster-speaks-out-after-channel-9-cuts-controversial-state-of-origin-moment-224636550.html\" class=\"link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">State of Origin 3<\/a> on Wednesday night. &#8220;Munster is definitely out,&#8221; Bellamy said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We&#8217;ll check the other two \u2013 Trent (Loiero) and Harry (Grant) \u2013 and there are also a couple of others with some minor stuff. We just need to check them and make sure they get through today&#8217;s session. If they do then they&#8217;ll play. If they don&#8217;t then we&#8217;ll have to make a couple of changes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Cameron Munster, pictured here after Queensland's loss in the State of Origin decider.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"591\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/cameron-munster_1794.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Cameron Munster will rest after Queensland&#8217;s loss in the State of Origin decider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Bellamy pointed out that his Origin players would need to play three games in just nine days, with the Storm&#8217;s Round 20 clash with the Roosters just five days after they face the Titans on Sunday night. &#8220;It is tough to have the last game on Sunday and then expect players to back-up five days later,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I&#8217;m not quite sure if that&#8217;s in the best interests of any NRL players and teams. It is what it is and that&#8217;s the hand we&#8217;ve been dealt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The situation is likely to change from 2027 with the NRL considering putting the comp on hold for three weeks while the Origin games are played. But that won&#8217;t help the Storm this year as they try and recover from a woeful start to the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" aria-description=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"size-full object-cover\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net\/v1\/jit\/6415665815001\/3dc1c090-58d6-4fa5-aa07-6c6c6efbf9.jpeg\"\/>Oryn Keeley expected to get minutes against Dolphins<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They&#8217;ve been boosted by the <a data-ylk=\"slk:immediate arrival of Oryn Keeley;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;cpos:3;pos:1;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;outcm:mb_qualified_link;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/melbourne-storm-sign-two-players-from-nrl-rivals-as-fourth-star-could-miss-rest-of-season-022923252.html\" class=\"link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">immediate arrival of Oryn Keeley<\/a> from the Dolphins, who agreed to release the second-rower to join the Storm early. &#8220;We signed him for next year but we were fortunate the Dolphins were willing to let him go for the rest of this year,&#8221; Bellamy said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;He&#8217;s only been here a week but he has made a really good impression. I am pretty sure he will add something to the squad.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Oryn Keeley.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"616\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/2026-07\/26d62057-2a04-41b3-a650-89829ecc10c2.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oryn Keeley has made an immediate move from the Dolphins to Storm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Bellamy has become the latest big-name figure to bemoan the farcical nature of the NRL and State&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[764,645,805,260,1406,3771],"class_list":["post-48376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-cameron-munster","tag-craig-bellamy","tag-gold-coast-titans","tag-melbourne","tag-nrl","tag-state-of-origin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}