Craig Bellamy is searching for answers as the Storm once again were second best on Friday night in their clash against the Raiders.
Bellamy’s Storm side found themselves down 12-0 in the opening 10 minutes before rallying back to take a lead at the break, partially thanks to a Corey Horsburgh brain fade.
But in what is becoming a worrying trend, when push came to shove, they came up empty, with Bellamy casting a dejected figure in the coach’s box for one of the first times in his long and successful coaching career.
The Storm have now lost five straight after they gave up a halftime lead to go down 26-22 to Canberra at GIO Stadium.
The last time they lost five in a row was back in 2012.
They won the comp that year, but it’s hard to see history repeating itself as they look lost for answers, even with stars Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant steering the ship.
After losing the past two grand finals, the Storm now face a challenge to make the top eight.
If they don’t, it will be the first time a Bellamy side has missed the top 8 based on results.
The only time the Storm did not play finals footy since he took over in 2003 was when the Storm finished last in 2010 due to salary cap penalties, they would have otherwise made the finals.
Bellamy now must find answers and fast and he looked concerned as cameras panned to him on several occassions on Friday night.
Simi Sasagi leads the way for resurgent Raiders
The Raiders have now won back-to-back matches, and they can thank Simi Sasagi after their right centre produced the game of his life to rescue them at home.
Sasagi has done a wonderful job in a number of roles over the years, but he has found a home on the right edge this season and was again Canberra’s best player.
He got the scoring started on the back off a lovely move by Ethan Strange a minute after the Raiders thought they’d scored through Hudson Young only for a Bunker call that sent social media into meltdown.
With his side on the ropes, Sasagi flipped the game on its head with a try-saving intercept to prevent the visitors from going 10 points ahead, with the Raiders star then flicking a great offload to put Strange over to tie things up.
He came up with another big intercept when the Storm were attacking the line and had another assist called back for a forward pass, with Sasagi finishing the night with a team-high 182 metres.
– with Newswire
Originally published as Craig Bellamy image speaks a thousand words as Storm lose five straight