Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy has warned his side their premiership hopes will go up in smoke if they don't stop looking for the easy way out.
The Melbourne side were shock losers on Saturday evening as the St George Illawarra Dragons won their first game in the Victorian capital since 1999.
The 18-16 victory had it all, with the Dragons grimly hanging on in defence against an at times wasteful Melbourne side.
The Storm will sit at the top of the NRL ladder and are odds-on favourites for the minor premiership, but the loss brings the Penrith Panthers back into the picture.
Bellamy accused his side of not doing the hard yards during the contest.
โThe teams that have success are the consistent teams and we're not that at the moment," he said during his post-match press conference after the loss.
โBasically we're looking for the easy options. If we keep doing that, we aren't going to be in this competition too much longer.โ
โEven after the first half, our completions were really poor, just over 50 per cent with half an hour into the game.
โYou're not going to beat teams, especially a big, physical team like St George when you give them more of the ball and you're going to pay the price and we paid the price.โ
Bellamy said his side 'got what they deserved' but said the Dragons were a physical side who wore his team down.
The Storm, who completed at just 66 per cent during the game, had a seven-match winning run broken by the loss to the Red V, who now appear odds on favourites to secure a spot in the top eight at the end of the campaign.