Craig Bellamy's son Aaron makes major revelation about Melbourne Storm succession plan

Once Sunday's grand final comes to a close attention will once again shift to Craig Bellamy's coaching future. The Melbourne coach will lead his Melbourne troops for a 10th NRL grand final this weekend and assistant coach and son Aaron doesn't believe it will be his last.

Now in his 22nd season at the Storm, the 65-year-old threatens annually to walk away as head coach, even this week flagging he won’t be coaching as a 70-year-old. But Aaron still doesn't see his father giving it up anytime soon. "I can't imagine him doing anything else - he loves footy," the 38-year-old told AAP.

"I don't talk to him about it as it's his decision to make but he still has so much passion for it, I can't see him retiring anytime soon because he'd be bored." However, in an eye-opening revelation, Aaron opened up on his own coaching aspirations and how it is his dream to lead an NRL side.

Aaron, who has been an assistant coach at Melbourne since 2016 but involved in the Storm set-up for much longer, said he would love to take over from his dad or get a head coaching role elsewhere in the future. He, Marc Brentnall and former Storm player Ryan Hinchcliffe are all assistant coaches under Bellamy, and the trio will be in contention to take over from Bellamy when he gives it away.

The Storm have no firm succession plan in place for when Bellamy finally does call time on his coaching career and the club were unable to keep assistant coaches like Jason Ryles, who will steer Parramatta next season. And now there appears to be a chance that another Bellamy could lead Melbourne in the future, although Aaron admits he's not quite ready to take the reins just yet.

"Of course, I would like to be a head coach but not any time soon," Aaron said. "I'm still learning a lot about the game, from Craig, from other coaches at the Storm so I'm not ready for that just yet."

When will Craig Bellamy retire?

The million-dollar question is when will Bellamy call time on his incredible coaching career. Bellamy - who has been weighing up retiring 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. But as part of his current five-year deal, he can transition into another role at the club if he wishes to step away from coaching, meaning it becomes a year-by-year proposition about whether he will stop or continue.

Melbourne's football manager Frank Ponissi has been Bellamy's right-hand man for 15 years and says the coach still is as hungry as ever to succeed so he has no idea when he will be ready to give it away. "He's so driven to be successful," Ponissi said of Bellamy.

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"He's got great work ethic and has got a great connection with the players and you can rattle off a long list of coaching qualities, but I think that even though he's been coaching for 22 years with sustained success, he just hasn't lost his desire and his energy to be successful. Every week, every game, he's not dropped off that intensity whatsoever, so I think that would have to be his greatest strength."

Bellamy won the Dally M coach of the year for the seventh time this week and has taken the team to 21 finals, with 2010's salary cap punishment the only miss. While his NRL winning percentage sits at an incredible 70 per cent.

The 65-year-old is undoubtedly one of if not the greatest coaches in NRL history but flagged earlier this month that he will call time before he is 70. That means he would have a maximum of four seasons left in charge of Melbourne, although realistically it could come sooner than that.

with AAP