Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy breaks his silence on the hotly awaited decision on his future

Melbourne Storm fans can breathe a sigh of relief, with the club announcing on Friday that head coach Craig Bellamy is 'not going anywhere'. 

Bellamy has chosen to remain the coach of Melbourne for a 23rd year in 2025, opting not to switch to a different position within the NRL club or retire. 

At 64, he agreed to a five-year deal with the Storm in 2022, giving him the annual option to either keep coaching or move into a director role. 

Currently, with Melbourne sitting second in the NRL rankings, he confirmed on Friday his decision to continue as head coach next year. 

'I've always maintained that I will only continue coaching if the coaches, players and club think I still have something to offer,' Bellamy told melbournestorm.com.au.

'As I said last season, my focus now is helping individuals learn and grow. If we can help players and coaches improve, the team will improve,' Bellamy said.

'We have a really settled list now and I have seen this group of players grow on and off the field over the last couple of seasons. They have already shown some great improvement in the first few rounds this season, but there is a lot more ahead for them and I am excited about what that might look like.

'Making this decision, I also wanted to make sure it wouldn't hold back any of our coaches who equally make this club a great place to work at.

'Our coaching group is very settled now and, in my opinion, all of them could step up at any time and coach at NRL level today.'

Bellamy took on the senior coaching role with the Storm in 2003, leading the team to a semi-final in his first year.

Since then the Storm have played in 20 finals series, winning the grand final on five occasions and the minor premiership seven times.

Since making his head coaching debut in 2003, Bellamy has developed into one of the most successful coaches in the NRL era. 

He has led the team in 555 games, winning 387 at an impressive 70% winning rate while also clinching three premierships (2012, 2017 and 2020) and five minor premierships (2011, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021). 

Bellamy has also been named Dally M Coach of the Year on six occasions and the Rugby League International Federation Coach of the Year twice. 

Beyond Melbourne's achievements on the field, Coach Bellamy has also mitigated the darkest days at the club when they were stripped of their 2007 and 2009 premierships and the 2006, 2007 and 2008 minor premierships over salary cap breaches.

He has also shown his guile as coach by managing the high-profile departures of players such as Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, and the Bromwich brothers, who either moved to other clubs or retired over the last decade, without a dip in the team's performance.

He has cultivated a new generation of talent, including Harry Grant, Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen, and Jahrome Hughes, propelling the team to second place in the rankings after 10 rounds this season.

Hughes is another player rumoured to be looking to exit the club, but he recently denied that emphatically and wants to achieve big things under Bellamy.

'If I have my way I will be staying in Melbourne for the rest of my career,' he said.

'I feel like our spine can create something really special here if we all stay together.' 

Bellamy's announcement is a significant lift for the Storm as they prepare to face the Sharks in a critical match for the top spot on Saturday night.