Craig Bellamy's staggering admission about Penrith amid grim NRL reality check for Storm

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has delivered his side a telling warning about three-time defending champions Penrith after the Storm's scrappy 28-16 win over South Sydney on Thursday night. Bellamy's side officially ended the Rabbitohs' slim NRL finals hopes and cemented top spot on the ladder, but the veteran Storm mentor was far from content and insisted his men would be blown off the park if they put in a similar performance against Penrith next week.

There were many positive signs for the ladder-leading Storm, with fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen looking back near his best after another injury-affected season. And towering forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona had his best game of the year after playing 68 minutes on an edge for Melbourne, who led 26-4 early in the second half.

Bellamy was not impressed with how his side let the Rabbitohs back into the contest though, with the home team scoring two tries to one in the second forty to give themselves a chance. The Storm had dominated the ruck and rolled through the middle of the Bunnies' defence off the back of quick play-the-balls, before their game went out the window and became littered with errors. And Bellamy warned if it happened in next week's showdown against Penrith then things could get very ugly for the Storm.

Craig Bellamy drops truth bomb on Storm players

"If we do that next week, the bloke up in the scoreboard is going to be busy on one side," a frank Bellamy admitted after the game. "And it won't be our side. We're just lacking some consistency at the moment, and it continued again tonight." The Storm were without the likes of stars Christian Welch, Eli Katoa and Xavier Coates, but they've proven time and again this season how good the depth is at the club.

However, Bellamy accused his troops of "looking for shortcuts and easy ways to do things" against the Rabbitohs and said it would simply not fly in what shapes as a potential grand final preview next week against Penrith. “I’m not sure what to think to be honest … There was some good patches but there wasn’t enough,” Bellamy added. “When we had that lead, we needed to put the foot down but we didn’t. To me, we started looking for shortcuts and easy ways to do things. That doesn’t usually work and didn’t tonight. We’re lacking that consistency for 80 minutes.”

Victory over the Rabbitohs gives the Storm a four-point lead over the Panthers, who could cut the deficit back to two with a win over strugglers Parramatta on Friday night. That would set the stage for a showdown in Penrith that could decide the minor premiership, although Bellamy insists it's not something the Storm have discussed just yet.

“No. I can honestly say that during the week the Penrith game was never mentioned,” the Storm coach said. “We’re always like that though. We take each game as it comes and don’t get too far ahead of ourselves. “But it wasn’t great practice for what will be facing next week either.”

Dally M Medal favourite Jahrome Hughes had another strong game for Bellamy's Storm, with the halfback having a hand in two of his side's four tries. Papenhuyzen was also excellent after the injury dramas that have plagued him in recent years, with the superstar Melbourne fullback backing up to score a try after a defence-splitting run from Tyran Wishart inside his own half.

Ryan Papenhuyzen shows flashes of brilliant best for Storm

The 2020 Clive Churchill Medallist's best was yet to come though, with Papenhuyzen taking a ball on his own 30-metre line and splitting the Rabbitohs' defence of Richie Kennar and Jacob Gagai. The electric No.1 sprinted downfield before putting winger Grant Anderson over after - making up for an earlier intercept pass he threw that allowed Souths rookie Fletcher Myers to score a length-of-the-field try.

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"I'm not quite sure if he was at top pace," Bellamy said about Papenhuyzen. "With all due respect, he's had a lot of bad injuries and he's never going to be at that pace because they've all been leg injuries so he's not going to have that pace that he had four or five years ago. With his footy smarts and his experience, that makes up for it. It was nice to see him striding out again, and hopefully he can continue on that line."

The loss means Souths are now out of the finals race and have a month to show some fight before Wayne Bennett's return as coach next season. The Bunnies could be expected to keep sidelined fullback Latrell Mitchell in cotton wool though, rather than risk him doing further damage to a Lisfranc foot injury when the club has nothing but pride left to play for. "Every time we put a Souths jersey on, we represent something bigger than ourselves, and we want to represent that never-say-die attitude," captain Cameron Murray said after the Storm loss. "We want to fight to the end. That's what we stand for."

with AAP