'That's ridiculous': Craig Bellamy hammers referees' sin-bin calls

Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has labelled calls for NRL referees to sin-bin players more frequently as 'ridiculous'.

NRL referees boss Jared Maxwell said he would have been fine with Storm forward Felise Kaufusi being sent from the ground for his high shot on Parramatta's Ryan Matterson during round two last weekend.

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Maxwell said similar of Manly prop Sean Keppie's high hit on Rabbitohs half-back Adam Reynolds.

However Bellamy was having none of that suggestion, arguing the referees should be empowered to make decisions based solely on what they see in front of them.

The three-time NRL premiership winning coach said each call needed to be judged by the referees on its own merits.

“All depends what the situation is,” Bellamy told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“You have to take what the circumstance is, the referees are trained to do that and they have to be the ones to make a decision.

“It’s depending on the incident or accident or whatever you want to call it, you just don’t want him to say you have to use the sin bin more, that’s ridiculous.

“I think the referees are pretty well up on what they use the sin bin for and what they don’t.”

Bellamy also took the opportunity to fire a shot across the bows of veteran NRL reporter Paul Kent, who suggested on Fox League earlier in the week that Kaufusi should have been banned for up to eight weeks.

The 61-year-old labelled Kent's suggestion 'ridiculous'.

Injury woes afflicting Melbourne Storm

Gun Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen will miss their NRL grand final rematch against Penrith while two other Storm stars will be sidelined for longer than expected.

Papenhuyzen was ruled out of the the round three clash at Panthers Stadium on Thursday night due to a neck injury sustained in last week's loss to Parramatta.

He is expected to miss one game, his absence a huge blow for the Storm with coach Craig Bellamy rating him as their best player in the opening matches of the season.

The Storm had hoped to have co-captain Dale Finucane (calf) and hooker Harry Grant (knee) back next round but Bellamy revealed on Wednesday that their recovery had been slower than expected.

"They (Finucane and Grant) are taking longer than we'd like and longer than what was first expected - they will probably be another two or three weeks away," Bellamy said.

Melbourne's other injured Origin representative, centre Brenko Lee, has overcome his hamstring injury to have his first run of the season in the Queensland Cup.

The Storm were hopeful Papenhuyzen could recover to take on the Panthers, who haven't conceded a point in their two matches, but on Wednesday announced he wouldn't make the trip north.

The Clive Churchill Medallist has been in blistering form, with 424-run metres despite the loss to Parramatta being played in heavy rain.

Papenhuyzen tops the competition for runs, with 45, and kick-return metres.

With AAP

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