'He's passionate about NSW': How Daley lured Bellamy back to Blues

Craig Bellamy will help select the Blues team and work with the NSW coaching staff after Laurie Daley convinced the Storm mentor to return to the State of Origin arena for another shot at beating Queensland.

Daley, who played alongside Bellamy in Canberra’s 1990 premiership team, contacted the coaching guru after deciding to put his hand up for a second stint as Blues coach but only told NSWRL officials of his coup when offered the job.

The pair had worked together with the Indigenous All Stars in 2013 but Bellamy rejected an approach from Daley to assist him in Origin during his previous five-year tenure as NSW coach.

Bellamy also coached NSW from 2008 to 2010 without success and has wanted another chance to be involved but has never been able to find the time because of his NRL coaching commitments.

“I didn’t really have to put the sell on,” Daley said.

“When you want to try and create a centre of excellence or a high performance unit you start with the best and work your way down.

“All he can do is just say no, so I rang him out of the blue and he said ‘give me some time’. I left him alone for a week and called him back.

"He said, ‘I'm interested’. Then we discussed what type of role it would be if I was to be appointed.

“Both of us have that passion and desire to be successful and 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 he is going to be a real asset for us.

“We are going to be on top of our game with him being around.”

Daley will sit in the Melbourne coach’s box in the lead up to next year’s series and with the Storm having byes the weekend before Origin I on May 28 and Origin II on June 18, Bellamy will be able to spend time in Blues camp.

He will also be heavily involved in team selections and sit alongside Daley in the NSW coach’s box for all three Origins.

“Craig will help the coaches, he'll also be a part of the group and I'm pretty excited to have him involved, so I think if I'm excited that the players will be extremely excited to get to work with someone like Craig,” Daley said.

“You only have to look at what he's achieved in the game and he's passionate about New South Wales, he wants to be a part of it, which is exciting for us, and no doubt with him being there with us we’ll all learn.

“I'll be with Craig throughout the year, in certain games, just sitting in the box and learning, and seeing how he goes about processing things in games so we just don't turn up on the night expecting that connection to be there

“I'll work closely with him throughout the year, so we’ll run things past him. He's a great mentor. he's someone that's got a huge amount of experience in the game and he's someone that we can all learn a lot from.”

With Michael Maguire standing down from the role after this year’s series win to take on the Broncos coaching job, Daley decided to seek another chance to coach the Blues.

He ended Queensland’s eight-year domination in 2014 but was unable to mastermind another series win during his five years in charge from 2013 to 2017.

However, Daley insists he is now better prepared for the job after his previous coaching experience, which includes 10 years as Indigenous All Stars coach, as well having Bellamy’s knowledge to draw on.

“I’ve had a great relationship with Craig over a number of years, it started out as a player and then obviously we keep in touch,” Daley said.

“I was looking for some guidance, I was looking for someone who - if I ever got an opportunity again - could help me and I thought that he would be the best possible person to do that.

“No one knew. I only mentioned Craig when it got down to the nitty gritty because I said to him, ‘I wouldn’t use you up’.

“It wasn't part of the pitch [for the job], but obviously once I got into the nitty gritty of it, I discussed it and fIagged it with the NSWRL.”

During his stint as Blues coach, Bellamy found it hard to coach against his big-name Storm player in the Queensland team – Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Greg Inglis.

However, Daley believes he won’t have any such problems this time, despite Harry Grant, Cameron Munster and Xavier Coates being key players for the Maroons, while Slater is now the coach.

“It is a slightly differently role for him this time around and he will be more about us rather than strategy on the opposition,” Daley said.

“It’s more about us as a coaching group, how we are working, why you strategise that way, how you are talking to the players, what messages you are trying to deliver.

“On the team side of things, it will be about what he likes in players and helping to select the team will be part of his responsibility as well, so it will be more focused on NSW.”

Bellamy’s right-hand man, Storm GM of football Frank Ponissi will continue in his role as team performance manager, while former Melbourne players Matt King and Brett White will remain as assistant coaches.

Former All Blacks leadership manager Gilbert Enoka is another member of Maguire’s staff who will stay on under Daley.