Knights vs Storm: Craig Bellamy questions Melbourne’s attitude after loss

Ahead of Melbourne Storm’s game against Newcastle, Craig Bellamy surprisingly admitted before the game that he wasn’t quite sure where his side were overall this season.

About 15 minutes into the Hunter game, he will have felt some relief as they took an early lead and seemed to have a comfortable evening ahead of them against the Knights.

Craig Bellamy questions Melbourne Storm’s attitude after loss to Knights

The Storm were on an eight-year, 11-game winning streak against the home side and that stupidity seemed certain to continue when Trent Loiero got past on the second attempt within eight minutes.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Melbourne fell off a cliff as the Knights flipped the script to the top four hopefuls.

MORE: Trent Robinson is confirmed by James Tedesco’s appearance after holiday criticism

Dom Young hit back for the hosts before Bradman Best continued to enjoy his newfound confidence post-Origin as he launched a remarkable three-try run in just six minutes from close range against a stunned Storm defence.

“I’m not exactly sure what our intensity was for the last half hour of the first half,” Bellamy said.

“Sometimes you wonder how important it is to them… They just looked like they wanted it more than we did.

“It was disappointing, probably the most disappointing 70 minutes I can remember. Especially the first half. We lacked energy, lacked enthusiasm and seemed to lack communication.

“I’m not entirely sure where that initial enthusiasm, aggression and intent led to. It was like it just got too hard or we thought it was going to be too easy.”

Bellamy then questioned his side’s intent and ability to stay in a contest when things got difficult after losing another lead in what was unusually a volatile season for the Storm.

They’re in the top four but currently have the worst points difference of any team in the top eight except for the Raiders.

While they have a tough run ahead of them with games against Parramatta, Penrith and Canberra next month, they will be instrumental in determining where they will ultimately end up on the leaderboard.

“It’s been a year of ups and downs,” Bellamy admitted.

“You get beaten every now and then when you get off to a good start, but this year it was a bit inconsistent.

“We have to ask ourselves: How ruthless are we or how ruthless do we want to be?

“Do we want to be a good football team when we have all the ball and it’s easy going? Or do we want to be a good football team in every situation?”