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Former Warriors star and current TV analyst Shaun Johnson has openly criticized Craig Bellamy following an intense incident where the Melbourne Storm coach was seen on camera berating one of his players during a heated locker-room moment.
The incident unfolded as Bellamy unleashed his frustration on forward Joe Chan during halftime of their 38-14 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday evening.
This marked the Storm’s fourth consecutive loss, positioning them at 13th on the ladder and handing the Kiwi team their first victory in Melbourne since 2014.
Nicknamed ‘Bellyache’ for his notorious on-field temper, Bellamy directed a fierce reprimand at Chan, punctuated by pointed gestures, before benching him just minutes into the second half.
Johnson was not impressed, criticizing Bellamy for targeting Chan when the entire Storm squad fell short of their typical performance levels that night.
‘Joe Chan was the scapegoat tonight,’ Johnson said on Fox Sports’ coverage.
Pictured: Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy gives forward Joe Chan (left, in the No.11 jersey) a severe dressing down at halftime of the team’s loss to the Warriors on Saturday night
Bellamy was accused of making Chan the scapegoat as the Storm fell to their fourth straight loss, which left them 13th on the ladder
Chan (pictured right playing against the Cowboys) was one of many Melbourne stars to struggle badly in their 38-14 defeat
‘Those pictures don’t look good.
‘I’ve been in a similar position where it’s just not clicking for you and you try harder but it snowballs and it becomes worse, and you think on the sideline wondering if I’m the only reason for the team’s poor performance.
‘But he wasn’t the only reason. He wasn’t alone. It was right across the board.’
Fox host Yvonne Sampson also felt for Chan.
‘He was the whipping boy tonight,’ she said.
‘He copped it from Bellamy and his teammates and he was dejected.’
Fox colour commentator Cooper Cronk, who is one of the Storm’s all-time greats, said superstars Cameron Munster and Harry Grant will cop it from Bellamy in the aftermath of the loss for being ‘lazy’ in defence.
In his post-match press conference, Bellamy was asked about the side’s tackling after they allowed 50 points to Penrith in their previous match.
The coach’s spray did not go down well with Warriors great turned commentator Shaun Johnson (pictured)
After the match, Bellamy (pictured right with Warriors coach Andrew Webster) said the team will need to get rid of players and staff who aren’t ‘doing their jobs properly’
‘We done a lot of work on our defence this week. May as well have gone to the pub and had a couple of beers,’ he said.
‘There’s a lot of things going wrong so we need to have a good, hard look at ourselves.
‘We’re all going to take responsibility, and if there’s people not doing their jobs properly, well, we need to make changes.
‘That’s with staff as well.’
The defeat marks the first time the Storm have lost four straight since 2022.
Last year, Bellamy admitted he was ’embarrassed’ about some of the footage of him that appeared in the footy documentary Inside the Storm.
After learning over 900 hours of vision was collated for the documentary, Bellamy was in disbelief – and also expressed regret at his antics when mic’d up.
‘I definitely forgot I had the microphone on at times,’ he said.
‘I wish I could take back some things I said to the coaching staff about the players, but I guess it was heat-of-the-moment stuff.’