Bellamy happy with victory

Craig Bellamy has expressed his satisfaction at Melbourne’s opening round win over Manly.

The Storm triumphed 18-6 thanks to three tries from Matt Duffie, Chase Stanley and Dane Nielsen, with Manly only able to muster a Michael Robertson score in reply.

The result extends the club’s opening round winning run to ten years – but more important for Bellamy was the two competition points.

“It’s always nice to win the first round,” said Bellamy.

“There was a few different emotions to be honest and relief was probably one of them.

“Just to be back playing for points again, that’s a relief.

“I think the players were pretty happy with themselves as well. They’ve worked really hard in this pre-season and it’s nice to see them get some rewards so there’s a bit of satisfaction there as well.”

However, Bellamy is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and expects a tough test when his players meet Gold Coast in the next round.

“We’re not getting carried away here, it’s only round one and there’s certainly some things we need to improve on,” said Bellamy.

“There were some things we worked on really hard after the Brisbane trial and while I think we made some improvements in those areas on Saturday night I think we can still get better.”