{"id":837000,"date":"2026-08-01T03:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T03:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837000\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T03:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T03:37:11","slug":"nrl-news-2026-billy-slater-melbourne-storm-coaching-rumours-dressing-room-vision-craig-bellamy-coaching-future-cooper-cronk-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837000\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Billy Slater Melbourne Storm coaching rumours, dressing room vision; Craig Bellamy coaching future, Cooper Cronk comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Slater<\/a>\u2019s appearance in the Melbourne Storm<\/a> sheds at half-time against the Bulldogs<\/a> has reignited rumours he\u2019ll replace Craig Bellamy<\/a> as coach.<\/p>\n

Although officially contracted at the Storm until the end of 2028<\/a>, doubt remains whether the veteran coach will continue into 2027. He was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disorder in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cameras captured Billy Slater in the Melbourne Storm dressing rooms at half-time.\u00a0Fox Sports<\/p>\n

At half-time during the Storm\u2019s 36-22 loss<\/a> at home to the Bulldogs, which officially ended the club\u2019s chances of making the eight, cameras captured Slater in deep conversation with halves Tyran Wishart and debutant Hayden Watson in the dressing rooms.<\/p>\n

Having played every one of his 319 NRL<\/a> games for the Storm under Bellamy, Slater has long been seen as the obvious heir.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Fox League\u2019s post-game coverage, Kangaroos<\/a> coach Kevin Walters<\/a> said Slater was the \u201cobvious choice\u201d, and the vision \u201clooks to me like the next Melbourne Storm coach\u201d.<\/p>\n

But fellow panellist Cooper Cronk<\/a>, who spent 14 seasons playing alongside Slater in the Storm spine, said he didn\u2019t think Slater was interested in throwing himself back into the cauldron of full-time NRL involvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he wants to do it, I don\u2019t think he will do it. I think the Melbourne Storm would love for him to do it,\u201d Cronk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoaching is 24-7, 365 days. There is not a day off. He did that as a player for 16, 17 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get to retirement, you find a good balance in your life \u2026 I think he likes the idea of it, but the execution of it wouldn\u2019t fit into his lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Melbourne Storm would love him to do it. Personally, he\u2019s never said this to me, but I just don\u2019t think he would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since retirement, Slater has remained involved in league as an expert with the Nine network and more recently as Queensland Maroons<\/a> coach. The \u201cdevastating\u201d Origin<\/a> III loss at Suncorp Stadium, and the earlier revelation he was on a year-to-year handshake agreement<\/a>, has cast some doubt he will continue in that role.<\/p>\n

Away from footy, Slater has started his own thoroughbred stud farm, a continuation of a lifelong passion for racing. He famously spent a year working as a track jockey for Gai Waterhouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After Bellamy\u2019s health diagnosis was made public, Slater \u2013 who is employed as a consultant with the Storm \u2013 promised he would take on more responsibility at the club if asked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do things that you care for and Craig Bellamy and the Melbourne Storm are two things that I really care for so if Craig Bellamy ever asks me for a hand, he wouldn\u2019t have to ask twice, put it that way,\u201d he told 9News Melbourne at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Slater\u2019s appearance in the Melbourne Storm sheds at half-time against the Bulldogs has reignited rumours he\u2019ll replace…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-837000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837000","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=837000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}