NRL fans all say same thing after Laurie Daley move captured on camera during game
An interested observer during the game was NSW Blues coach Daley, who was seen standing behind Bellamy in his box. Daley is the new Blues coach in State of Origin for 2025, and Bellamy will work alongside him in an advisory role.
It's not known whether Daley was in attendance on Saturday to shadow Bellamy and see how he operates, or whether he was watching potential NSW players for selection. Either way it didn't work, with the Storm suffering their first loss of the season.
Spotted: NSW Blues coach, Laurie Daley in @storm's coaches box, joining Craig Bellamy who is Daley's chief adviser this 2025 Origin series #NRLDragonsStorm pic.twitter.com/dm9R8NldXV
— Stormcast Podcast (@StormcastPod) March 29, 2025
Daley's presence wouldn't have had anything to do with the result, but fans couldn't help but feel it was a bad omen for NSW. Daley's appointment as Blues coach has been a controversial one, with many questioning whether he's been out of the coaching game for too long.
His decision to bring in Bellamy to help with remedy that, but neither man has had much success at State of Origin level in the past. Daley famously helped NSW break Queensland's streak of eight series wins in a row in 2014, but only ended up with six wins from 15 games in charge. Bellamy fared even worse, winning just two games out of nine from 2008 to 2010.
Daley said last December about teaming up with Bellamy: "I've a great relationship with Craig over a number of years. (It) started out as a player (at Canberra) and obviously we keep in touch.
"I was looking for some guidance. I was looking for someone, if I ever got an opportunity again, to help me and I thought he would be the best possible person to do that. Craig will help the coaches and be part of the coaching group, and I'm pretty excited to have him involved.
"And if I'm excited, I think the players will be extremely excited to get to work with someone like Craig. You don't have to talk about what he's achieved in the game. He's passionate about NSW and he wants to be a part of it, which is exciting for us.
"Knowing Craig the way I do, the way he operates, the way he goes about building structures in a footy team, the way he interacts with coaches, the way he interacts with players…I think that's a bonus for us. Both of us have that passion and desire to be successful."
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Fans had some brutal reactions on Saturday as the Storm lost with Daley in the box. Bellamy's side had 46 play-the-balls in the Dragons' 20m zone but their sole try was scored by Ryan Papenhuyzen just before half-time. "We had a couple of chances that we could have and should have taken - and we paid the price for it," Bellamy said.
If Laurie Daley is just there to watch players he's looking at for NSWInstead of hanging around the shedsI preferred when Madge was just in the crowd looming over everyoneHad a bit more dare I say 'Aura'
— Ethan (@ethxn26) March 29, 2025
When you let Laurie Daley in the coaches box, bad things happen. #nrldragonsstorm
— JJ Jones (@JJ_JonesWT) March 29, 2025
the storm lost the moment they let laurie daley into the coaches box
— abby | aang lovebot (@lowkeyabby) March 29, 2025
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