Melbourne's staggering bid for Josh Addo-Carr return comes to light
Details have emerged about a bid from the Melbourne Storm to get Josh-Addo Carr back to the club for the remainder of the NRL season, which was knocked back by the Bulldogs.
The Storm have been decimated by injuries and are in free-fall after their fourth successive loss at the weekend at the hands of South Sydney.
'DISGRACE': Wests Tigers take bombshell action after NRL 'robbery'
'REALLY UPSET': NRL fans gutted over devastating Kalyn Ponga blow
The loss to Souths followed defeats to Manly, Cronulla and Canberra, with Ryan Papenhuyzen, Christian Welch, Reimis Smith, Tepai Moeroa, George Jennings and Xavier Coates all sidelined because of injury.
The Storm are desperate to add an extra outside back as they bid to strengthen their roster before the NRL's transfer deadline on August 1.
And on Sunday night it emerged that the Storm had been knocked back by the Bulldogs after an inquiry about Addo-Carr.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Storm officials approached the Bulldogs about the possibility of Addo-Carr returning to Melbourne for the rest of the season - given the Bulldogs are out of finals contention.
The try-scoring winger, who left the Storm to sign for the Bulldogs before the 2022 season, would have then returned to Canterbury in 2023 under the proposal.
However Bulldogs boss Phil Gould reportedly told the Storm that Addo-Carr was too important to the club’s fanbase to allow him to make the move.
Addo-Carr scored his sixth career hat-trick in the Bulldogs' 36-26 win over the Titans on Sunday and has now scored 14 tries for the season - equal third-most in the competition behind Alex Johnston (21) and Corey Oates (16).
Melbourne Storm desperate to add an outside back
Reports have also emerged that Melbourne have made plays for Tigers stars Adam Doueihi and Daine Laurie, as well as Titans young gun Jayden Campbell.
The Warriors have already knocked back in inquiry from the Storm about Reece Walsh, who was benched for the New Zealand side's clash with the Raiders.
The Storm tried to lure the 20-year-old for the rest of the season given he has already signed a three-year deal with Brisbane for next year.
Not since 2015 - the same year they last lost four consecutive games - have Melbourne been as low as fifth on the table so late in the season.
After travelling to Auckland to take on the Warriors next Friday, the Storm then face the Gold Coast before aiming to tackle fellow finals contenders Penrith, Brisbane, the Sydney Roosters and Parramatta prior to the finals.
With such a tough road ahead of them, Craig Bellamy delivered a blunt reminder to his players that this mess was on them to fix.
"I wouldn't say I relish it, but (my attitude) is, 'it is what it is'," Bellamy said.
"It's no use hoping something's going to happen, you've got to make it happen through hard work.
"We are probably at the crossroads. We have got to decide whether we're going to turn left or turn right and, with all due respect, the players will make that decision."
In some welcome news for Storm fans, high-flying winger Coates has returned to training.
After suffering a serious ankle injury back in early June, Coates was included in the captain's run last week and will be back in the line-up before the finals.
"He will probably be another two or three weeks, he's only just started running," Bellamy said.
"He looks OK with his running but the physio obviously doesn't want to take any chances."
with AAP
Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.