{"id":600511,"date":"2026-04-11T18:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/600511\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T18:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:06:23","slug":"nrl-news-2026-joe-chan-hooked-half-time-spray-from-craig-bellamy-melbourne-storm-vs-new-zealand-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/600511\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026 | Joe Chan hooked, half-time spray from Craig Bellamy; Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a>‘s decline after last year’s grand final loss has hit a new low after the powerhouse club was smashed 38-14 at home against the Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The conceding of 50 against the Panthers was a major shock but the nature of the performance against New Zealand will have Craig Bellamy<\/a> seriously worried.<\/p>\n

The super coach’s anger peaked when he delivered a spray to second-rower Joe Chan at half-time as his side trailed 18-14.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bunker ‘rewarding mediocrity’ after latest disruptor call<\/a><\/p>\n

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“I’ve sat in that chair, just a bit of advice for Joe, don’t talk back to Craig, it didn’t work well for me last time I did that,” Cooper Cronk said on Fox League.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Craig Bellamy sprays Joe Chan.\u00a0Fox League<\/p>\n

Chan had been guilty of errors, a ruck infringment and a penalty in the first half.<\/p>\n

Lock Trent Loiero was also ill-discilpined and placed on report for a high shot before the break.<\/p>\n

“Trent Loiero and Joe Chan I imagine are going to get a speaking to from Craig Bellamy … they have put their side under pressure tonight with some ill-discipline,” Mick Ennis said. <\/p>\n

The rev-up didn’t work because Chan had an error early in the second half and was hooked in the 45th minute and didn’t return.<\/p>\n

“It’s tough, he’s had a tough night, we’ve all had tough nights. He’s a good player, Chan,” Ennis said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Joe Chan after he was hooked to the bench.\u00a0Fox League<\/p>\n

Following the break, the Storm didn’t put on a single point with the Warriors winning 38-14 making it their first at AAMI Park for 11 years and the club’s biggest win against Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Melbourne’s frustrations were clear with 13 minutes to go when Chanel Harris-Tavita put a massive rib shot on prop Josh King. King dropped the ball and received a serve from the half. King took exception to that by pushing him and running back into defence.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Players from both sides then came together with Stefano Utoikamanu notably squaring up with Jacob Laban.<\/p>\n

“This is frustration from Melbourne,” Ennis said.<\/p>\n

“How good’s Harris-Tavita, he doesn’t get enough wraps for his defence and he let Josh King know.”<\/p>\n

The referee brought together captains Harry Grant and James Fisher-Harris with Jahrome Hughes placed on report for a high shot that happened immediately after the King knock on.<\/p>\n

No player went to the sin bin for the whole drama.<\/p>\n

On the last tackle of the following set, Will Warbrick went close in the corner but was bundled into touch by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.<\/p>\n

“Their defence is vicious, savage and unrelenting,” caller Andrew Voss said as players came from everywhere to celebrate with the Warriors back.<\/p>\n

Tuivasa-Sheck was feeling himself too, putting one finger in the air to let the Melbourne players know what just happened. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck celebrates his tackle.\u00a0Fox League<\/p>\n

Post-match, Bellamy was sitting in the coaching box for a long period well after full-time as he stared into oblivion.<\/p>\n

“This is off the back of two losing grand finals, I think that’s a key part of what’s happening at the Melbourne Storm,” Cronk said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne‘s decline after last year’s grand final loss has hit a new low after the powerhouse club was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-600511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}