Coaching supremo Craig Bellamy has chosen love over money by signing a new three-year deal with NRL premiers Melbourne that will keep him at the club until the end of 2016.
Bellamy, who was already contracted until the end of 2013, said he couldn’t leave the players and club he had grown so attached to in his 10 years at the helm.
He said he knocked back “very attractive” offers to stay with the Storm, with the Dragons one club that heavily courted the premiership winner.
“I feel like a bit of a fan I suppose. This is my club,” said Bellamy.
“The emotional attachment is very strong, especially with the players.
“I really enjoy working with the players here, they’re really important to me, not only as coach but as a person.
“I found that attachment too hard to break to be quite honest.”
Bellamy said he wasn’t sure whether this new deal would see him to the end of his coaching career as a one-club coach.
The 53-year-old felt he didn’t need to prove himself at another club and there were still challenges at the Storm.
“I know a lot of people would have thought it would have been a bigger challenge for me to go and that I’ve achieved all I can here but I don’t see that at all.
“There’s still plenty we want to achieve as a group.”
Securing Bellamy’s future was believed to be central to the plans of a foreign consortium, which is surveying the club’s books with the intention of buying it from News Ltd.
His decision to stay could also be pivotal in the plans of captain Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, who were believed to have clauses in their contracts should the coach leave.
Bellamy said he tried to push those thoughts aside when making the decision.
“It’s not that I love the colour purple or the emblem, but I love the people in this organisation.
“That’s important to me.”
After making his decision on Sunday night, the coach told his players of his decision just ahead of their Monday flight to England for the World Club Challenge clash against Super League club Leeds on February 22.