In a bombshell report ahead of Sunday’s grand final, it has been revealed that the Parramatta Eels offered Craig Bellamy a massive $10 million deal to try and lure him from the Storm.
In the end, the Eels signed rookie coach Jason Ryles to lead Parramatta out of the rut the club finds itself in.
However, before a deal with Ryles was done, Eels brass offered Bellamy the richest ever coaching contract in NRL history according to The Daily Telegraph to replace the sacked Brad Arthur from 2025.
Bellamy, who has been weighing up a retirement date from coaching for the past couple of years, is in the midst of a five-year deal with the Storm which runs until the end of the 2026 season.
The 65-year-old has been given the blessing by Storm powerbrokers to step away from coaching if he likes, but under his five-year deal, if he was to do that, he’d transition into another role at the club.
Instead, Bellamy has put off retirement for the immediate future and it’s so far paid off with Melbourne gunning for yet another premiership.
Despite his contract with Melbourne, the Eels were willing to move heaven and earth to land Bellamy, but the Storm coach wished to stay put.
Bellamy wasn’t the only big fish the Eels attempted to reel in, with club chairman Sean McElduff confirming that Parramatta had targeted the legendary Wayne Bennett.
The Eels are just the latest club that Bellamy has rejected the advances of while at the Storm, with the Tigers, Sharks, Titans, Warriors, Dragons and Broncos all interested at one point or another.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the Eels confirmed their interest in Bellamy on Thursday but said the snag was that the coach was still under contract with Melbourne.
Storm chairman Matt Tripp knows that other clubs have offered Bellamy more money than the $2 million he earns at Melbourne, but is confident Bellamy won’t head anywhere else.
Tripp also gave some insight into what Bellamy’s coaching future may look like.
“The truth is Craig has been offered much more money by other clubs than we can give him,” Tripp told News Corp.
“If Craig was motivated just by money, he would have taken the offers and we wouldn’t have him anymore.
“I’d be incredibly surprised if Craig got the urge to go to another club, or even a start-up (expansion) club, because of his familiarity with Melbourne and what he has created here.
“To be honest, the greatness of Craig is that he is coaching better now than he ever has.
“He’s contracted with us until 2026 and we’ve got a rolling arrangement where in March or April each year, Craig has a think about things.
“He will tell me whether he was to stay as head coach or move into a mentoring role.”
