Name any player you want heading into this NRL finals series. Nathan Cleary. Kalyn Ponga.
Tommy Turbo. James Tedesco. Cameron Munster.
Jahrome Hughes. Stephen Crichton. If every player and coach was on the open market and you could choose just one to have on your side, I’d pay Craig Bellamy twice as much as the next best.
Watch every game until the NRL Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today > It’s a hypothetical debate worth having after the NRL Rich 100 came out over the weekend. It listed Ponga as 2024’s top paid player on $1.
3m ahead of Cleary, Moses and Trbojevic on $1.2m, and Munster rounding out the top five on $1.15m.
No question, every one of those players is worth every cent to their current clubs. But just imagine what rivals like the Broncos, Wests Tigers and a stack of other clubs would pay Bellamy if the soon to be 65-year-old ever considered leaving Melbourne? At an age where most men are thinking retirement, Bellamy is still at the top of his game. Coaching as good now as he ever has, after guiding the Storm to another minor premiership.
It was reported Bellamy signed his most recent deal for $1.7m-a-season, making him the game’s top paid coach. If that is even close to the mark the Storm still got him for a song.
Over 22 seasons now Bellamy has maintained a phenomenal 69 per cent winning strike rate. Don’t forget in that period they have missed the finals just once (in 2010 when the club was s.