Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has openly claimed that he will stand in the way of The Dolphins' attempts to pry any of his premiership stars loose ahead of their entry to the competition in 2023.
Bellamy's comments come in the wake of those made by incoming expansion coach Wayne Bennett when he publically suggested he would love to see Cameron Munster in a Dolphins jersey.
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As the seven-time premiership winner also stated that it was his preference for The Dolphins' inaugural roster to have a 'homegrown' feel to it, further Queenslanders such as Christian Welch and Felise Kaufusi have been mooted for moves byย The Sydney Morning Herald.ย
Although a contract extension has been tabled to the recently embattled Brandon Smith, the Kiwi rake has also been linked with a potential shift to the sunshine state.
Despite each of the aforementioned quartet remaining contracted to the AAMI Park side for next season, Welch, Kaufusi, and Smith are yet to commit their future to the club beyond the cessation of 2022, while Munster's deal is set to end 12-months later.
Given Munster's previous comments about a potential return to his state of origin and his admiration of Bennett, Bellamy blasted the recently admitted side for already speaking with the mustachioed playmaker.
โMunster has made that point [about returning home] himself a few times,โ he was quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.
โWith all due respect, theyโre not meant to be approaching our players until November 1. If theyโre not doing it publicly, theyโre probably doing it privately."
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With The Dolphins' wasting no time making waves in the player market, Bellamy revealed that as Queensland continued to be a fruitful orchard for growing the franchise's talent, he expected the new kids on the block to set their sights on more of the Storm's stars soon.
โI donโt know what the Dolphinsโ plans are, but I know there will be a few of our players they might target,โ the 62-year-old said.
โWe have two feeder teams in Queensland โ weโve always recruited heavily from Queensland โ and there are a lot of Queenslanders in our squad.
โI canโt give you an answer on what we will do about it or what we can do about it."
Having spent his formative playing years with the Raiders the long-term steward's intimate knowledge of what it takes to build a roster from scratch.
With this understanding in mind, Bellamy believed Bennett and the club's board will be willing to throw plenty of cash during their looming competition raids.
โThey will have a lot of money," he said.
"If players are tempted by money, they will be a good chance of getting them. But there are other things besides money for some people."
The triple-premiership winning coach also laid down a challenge to the northerner's pursuits by stating that if they wanted a required name, they would have to bring a tantalizing offer to the table.
โIf they want someone still on contract, they will not be leaving unless we get something for them. Iโm not even sure what they can give us because they donโt have any players," Bellamy divulged.
โWeโre not just going to give a player away who fits into our system. And everyone at the Storm is on board with that opinion.โ
Though he expected the wins to come slowly for the Redcliffe-based side, Bellamy also believed they had the right man at the helm to eventually steer them to success.
โIt will take time [for Redcliffe to become strong]. They will have plenty of good players, but it will take time for all of them to get used to each other," he continued.
โWayne has experience putting teams together. Theyโve got the right bloke there."
With the November 1 date for approaching and signing off-contract players fast approaching, you can be sure that it isn't just Bellamy and the Storm that are battering down their hatches ahead of the Dolphins' league-wide shopping trip.
