Andrew Johns reveals scrupulous Craig Bellamy 'test' all potential Storm recruits must pass

The Melbourne Storm under Craig Bellamy's leadership has been the NRL benchmark for more than a decade. Bellamy has brought through some of the best talent in modern rugby league from Cameron Smith to Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk and manages to get the full potential out of almost every player that comes to the club.

On Sunday Bellamy's men are tasked with stopping the Panthers from claiming a fourth straight premiership. The Storm's star-studded spine of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant will combine for the first time in a grand final and will look to replicate the success of the great Melbourne outfits before them.

It is a marvel that each Storm team seems to have bottomless talent waiting in the wings for a chance, with Sua Faalogo, Tyran Wishart and Jonah Pezet the latest crop ready to take any chance given to them. And NRL legend Andrew Johns has lifted the lid on exactly how Bellamy continues to find hidden gems, polish them and turn them into diamonds, noting it comes from Bellamy and football boss Frank Ponissi's attention to detail and unique recruitment policy. "They go back to the school, they will phone the principals, school teachers, they go to junior coaches, people in the area where they grew up - and if one or two people say 'he's a bit of a dick', they don't sign them," Johns said on Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour.

"If they get a young guy and bring them down, (Bellamy) takes them to a cafe. If they don't say please or thankyou - he doesn't care how good you are, you're not a part of it. They recruit on character and then they educate them. It's an amazing model the way they build the club down there."

The other thing that makes Bellamy stand out from his peers is his drive for success. Ponissi - who has been Bellamy's right-hand man for 15 years - says the coach's work ethic is second to none and his hunger for success hasn't diminished at all over the years despite winning a handful of premierships at the Storm.

"He's so driven to be successful," Ponissi said of Bellamy. "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, another feather in the cap of the legendary coach. He has taken the Storm to 21 finals in 22 years, with 2010's salary cap punishment the only time Melbourne hasn't played finals footy under Bellamy's leadership.

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Frank Ponissi says Craig Bellamy isn't a 'one-man band'

But Ponissi says the strong Melbourne Storm culture hasn't just been built solely by him and Bellamy, crediting the work of the club's assistant coaches. Aaron Bellamy (Craig's son), Marc Brentnall and former Storm player Ryan Hinchcliffe are all currently working as assistant coaches under Bellamy. And Ponissi believes they are the unsung heroes of the Storm's 2024 as he proclaimed Bellamy was no "one-man band".

"One thing that does not get the credit that deserved is the people around him - he's got a wonderful coaching staff that have been with him for a long time," he said. "Craig allows people to do their job and he's certainly not a one-man band, that's for sure, he gives people trust to do their job, and he backs them and makes them accountable as well."

with AAP