It is almost uncharacteristic of the Storm to lose 5 games in a row, but that is what happened, as the St George Illawarra Dragons kept their finals hopes alive, with a gutsy win over the premiership heavyweights, with Brett Morris a key man in the game.
The win moves the Dragons into equal eighth spot for the time being, with a crowd of 11,477 fans able to cheer loudly at full-time at WIN Stadium – with the five-game losing streak the Storm’s first since 2002, the year before Bellamy took over at the club.
The Storm’s problems were compounded, with interchange forward Kevin Proctor put on report, for what was deemed a dangerous throw by the referees. .
With some doubt over the question of Dean Young, following his concussion last week from that huge Greg Inglis hit – the Dragons stalwart played, but said his place in the lineup was never in doubt.
“I was always going to play … our season was on the line tonight so there was no decision to be made really,” Young said after the match.
He also refused to weigh into the shoulder charge debate.
“My view is I get paid to play footy not to make decisions about whether or not the shoulder charge should be allowed in the game of rugby league,” Young said.
“That’s why I didn’t come out and say anything … smarter people than me make those decisions.”
Steve Price was also full of praise for the Dragons lock, calling his performance, ‘courageous’.
“He’s playing on one leg (and) he’s the heart and soul of this footy club,” Price said.’
For the Storm, Craig Bellamy conceded that his side will have to go back to the drawing board, but he said that they have no intention of giving up.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board, and we’re not giving up here,” he said.
“That’s probably a bit of foreign land for us (the slump) but we’re pretty much sure what we need to do, it’s just a matter of doing it consistently for 80 minutes.”