Master Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy is a mystified about — what he perceives to be — a change in interpretation of hip drop tackles.
After the Storm won their first final Melbourne against Canterbury (26-18) on Friday night and charged into another preliminary final, Bellamy was quietly seething over an incident that left Cameron Munster in serious pain.
The tackle happened in the last five minutes of the game with Bulldogs forward Jaeman Salmon grabbing Munster around the legs and dragging him to the ground.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
Munster was in immediate discomfort and grabbed his ankle as he rolled around the ground.
But the ruling was that Salmon was taken down by his own player and slid down Munster’s legs.
After the game, Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo complained about slow play in the rucks, and Bellamy was asked if he thought there was an issue.
Bellamy said he would look at it, before pivoting to his own issue on hip drop tackles.
“The one thing I noticed today, it might have been slow play-the-balls, it might not have been. But it seems as though the league has come (to) a different opinion of hip drops now,” he said.
“I don’t think any player goes out there to drop their hip on the back of someone’s legs, but in the past we’ve had players at other clubs be suspended for that.
“All of a sudden now it seems to be an accident.
“That’s what I took out of the game.”
And that concluded the press conference
Fortunately for the Storm, Munster appears to be OK.
“I don’t think (the leg is) great, but I don’t think it’s anything too serious,” Bellamy had told reporters earlier.
“He said it was really sore but he’ll be right.”
It is Melbourne’s 18th preliminary final — their 10th in the past 11 years under Bellamy — as they chase a 12th grand final berth.
But Bellamy wasn’t entirely happy with his team.
“I thought we really started the game well, but I thought we lost our way with the ball a bit. I think what hung us in today’s game was our defence,” he said.
“You’ve got to give the Bulldogs a lot of credit too as they had a few injuries there and they had to move different people to different positions and whatever, but they kept fighting all the way.
“It’s really nice to be in another prelim. I think the nicest thing, especially for the players at this time of year, they get a week off playing.”
While unhappy with some of the refereeing calls that went against his side, Ciraldo hailed his team’s bravery.
“It’s one of the bravest performances I’ve seen or been involved in,” he said.
“I’m just incredibly proud of how they prepared and how they played.
“A lot’s been said about how we’ve been playing, but we came down here full of belief and played like it and the mission stays the same.
“We’ve still got three wins to do what we want to do.”
- With AAP
Stream free on
