The Melbourne Storm have been rocked by a series of brutal injuries in their season opener, appearing to lose George Jennings and Christian Welch to season-ending injuries, and hooker Brandon Smith for a month.
Losing Smith to a suspected broken hand in the opening minutes was bad enough, but Jennings joined him on the sidelines shortly after with a serious knee injury.
But the worst news came right at the end of the game, when Origin prop Christian Welch hit the deck with a non-contact injury.
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The club’s captain was stepping forward off the defensive line when he collapsed in pain.
The Storm confirmed after the game that Welch’s injury was suspected to be a ruptured achilles, while Bellamy said post-match that Jennings was suspected to have torn his ACL.
The timing of Welch’s injury couldn’t have been much worse, with Melbourne having done enough to secure a win over the Wests Tigers thanks to some late heroics from the likes of Jahrome Hughes and Xavier Coates.
“We should be jumping out of our skins, but we feel so down for the two guys that have got them serious injuries,” coach Craig Bellamy said afterwards – while confirming that both men would miss the season.
“He’s missed two full seasons with ACLs, so it’s a really tough one for him” Bellamy said of his captain.
“There was no one around him … and all of a sudden, it must have went. You don’t know what to say to them but as I said, we’ll support them all we can.”
Welch during the off-season re-signed with the Storm on a three-year contract extension.
The underdogs led 14-6 early in the second half, but the Storm, with a team of 15 for most of the contest, were able to find another gear.
Given the situation, Bellamy was delighted with the courage shown by his players.
“To be quite honest, I can’t remember an effort as brave as that,” he said.
“If you have the look at the stats in the first half, we should have been 20 behind.”
They will welcome back Chris Lewis, Harry Grant, and Cameron Munster from suspensions next week, and will likely see Jesse Bromwich return from a COVID scare – but that’s scant consolation after the loss of several key players.
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