Storm chairman Matt Tripp believes a decision on whether coach Craig Bellamy will go on in 2024 is “imminent”, but he doesn’t know which way the veteran mentor will swing.
Bellamy, 63, is locked in at the club until 2027 with an option each year until then in his favour, allowing him to move out of the head coaching role and into another role at the club.
But having given a strong pre-season indication that 2023 would be his last season in the coach’s box, Bellamy, one of the greatest coaches in the game’s history, has been wavering.
A decision either way is near, according to Tripp, who said Bellamy was conscious of the club needing time to find a replacement should be decide he’s had enough
“I’m hoping it (the decision) is less than a month, I feel it’s imminent,” Tripp said.
“Craig acknowledges that the longer it goes on, the less runway we have to find a replacement and we’ll never find a replacement like the great Craig Bellamy.
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“But we’ll need as much time as we can to run a pretty comprehensive and thorough search in order to get the right person to fill the void.
“He’s very mindful that a decision needs to be made soon.”
Storm have racked up a 5-3 record this season following their Anzac Day win over the Warriors and several players are keen for Bellamy to continue.
But Tripp conceded he didn’t know which way Bellamy, who has coached the Storm since 2003, would go.
“Honestly, if you put a gun to my head and said, ‘Will he or won’t he’, I’d have to say pull the trigger, I genuinely don’t know, I couldn’t say,” he told SEN.
“This time a month ago I thought … he was done. That may have softened a little bit in the last few weeks but not to the extent that I could say with any great confidence that he’ll coach on.
“We’re going to catch up later in the week, we’ve got a few days off after the game (against the Warriors) given we’ve got the bye, so we’ve got quite a decent break.
“Probably towards the back-end of this week he and I will get together for a chat; as I said, I’m giving him hope that we can keep him for one more year.”
Bellamy has coached the Storm to four premierships and five minor premierships.
