Bellamy impressed with Titans in NRL

Melbourne NRL coach Craig Bellamy has plenty of material for his players ahead of their round-two home game against Gold Coast.

Coach Craig Bellamy.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is trying to eradicate inconsistency from his team this season. (AAP)

Gold Coast's strong start to the NRL season is perfect for Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy as he tries to eradicate last year's inconsistency.

The Storm will start favourites on Sunday when they host the Titans at AAMI Park.

But Melbourne were scratchy early in their season-opening 18-16 win on Monday night over St George Illawarra.

By contrast, the Titans defied expectations with a 30-12 walloping of Newcastle.

And Gold Coast have a solid record at AAMI Park.

So Bellamy has plenty of material for his players as they try to turn their first-up fighting win into a 2-0 season start.

"After some of our ups and downs of last year with our inconsistency, there's no place for that (complacency)," he said.

"If you're going to get complacent against the Titans and, the way they're playing at the moment, you're going to get hurt there."

Bellamy says predictions Gold Coast are in for a tough season are off the mark.

"It was pretty impressive really - they put a fair few points on Newcastle.

"They're a very energetic team, a very enthusiastic team and I think all the critics that wrote them off early in the year would be probably looking to take their words back.

"They're going along really well - they should be really proud."

Bellamy has vivid memories of what the Titans are capable of at the Storm's home.

"I remember a couple of years ago here, Greg (Bird) kicked a penalty goal a fair way out to win the game.

"They always give us a tough struggle here."

Bellamy has mixed feelings about round one - pleased they found a way to win, but noting the Storm must improve.

"We showed a fair bit of grit and a fair bit of fight, but there are some things we just need to clean up a little bit, finesse-wise probably.

"Having said that, it is round one and we always expected that."

In particular, Bellamy said they must eliminate defensive lapses.

"I wasn't disappointed with our defence overall ... I just thought the first couple of (Dragons) tries were quite soft - we could have, should have stopped them."


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Source: AAP


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