Storm chairman Matt Tripp believes a call on whether or not coach Craig Bellamy will go on in 2024 is “imminent”, however he doesn’t know which manner the veteran mentor will swing.
Bellamy, 63, is locked in on the membership till 2027 with an possibility every year till then in his favour, permitting him to maneuver out of the top teaching position and into one other position on the membership.
But having given a robust pre-season indication that 2023 can be his final season within the coach’s field, Bellamy, one of many biggest coaches within the recreation’s historical past, has been wavering.
A choice both manner is close to, based on Tripp, who mentioned Bellamy was acutely aware of the membership needing time to discover a alternative must be determine he’s had sufficient
“I’m hoping it (the decision) is less than a month, I feel it’s imminent,” Tripp mentioned.
“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 report this season following their Anzac Day win over the Warriors and a number of other gamers are eager for Bellamy to proceed.
But Tripp conceded he didn’t know which manner 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 instructed 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 4 premierships and 5 minor premierships.
Source: www.foxsports.com.au