This is what bugs me most tbh. Why can't we set up structures like Storm? Are our spine players (apart from ARey) just too young and dumb or what?
I've mentioned this before on here, but a few seasons ago I was introduced to Harry Grant, and had a chat with him about the game and particularly the Storm's methods. He just said that Bellamy gives them all their job to do and that's what they aim for.
So frustrating being a Bronx supporter these days.
I would imagine a lot of what Bellamy does is teaching the players as well though and why they are needing to do something and then the structure is setting them up to achieve those somethings... quick ptbs, wrestling, momentum, etc. storm players know they are absolutely vital to success on the field.
Everyone in the storm appears to know where, and more importantly, why they need to be somewhere... which saves the halves time, because they don't need to tell them and direct them... the halves also don't need to be looking around at their team mates, because they will all be exactly where they need to be.
Listening to Cronk he just talks about Bellamy achieving these things through repetition... endlessly running the same play until every player is exactly where they need to be... however I don't think it can just be endless repetition, because it's impossible to teach and rehearse every single thing that might occur on the field... so the players need to read and react. Wishart has been on the wing this year, it's not like the whole team have been endlessly repeating plays with him on the wing and then doing it again with Anderson on the wing instead... Wishart, Anderson, Katoa, Blore, etc. just know what the winger is meant to be doing on a play or in the structure and they fulfil that to the best of their ability.
Also if you rehearse a play to death and your role is to just run a decoy, then that's not really how the storm play, because all their players are an option in attack. You can see times where a decoy runs it and their only intent is to get through the line without an obstruction... that would be rehearsed... but if the half wants to go 'off script' it seems that storm players are always ready to receive the ball.. they're always ready to be an option.
All the rehearsing means the structure becomes muscle memory and the playmakers can be watching the ruck, defence, etc. and just be looking for triggers to react to... and then the storm just seem to turn ALL of their players into "playmakers", because they all seem to read and react when a trigger pops up on the field.
I remember Tino going on a run of tries in his last year at the storm... and it was basically just him identifying a ptb inside the 10m and lining himself up to get 1v1 on a defender or a stretched part of the goal line defence, and from there a normal hitup was basically scoring him a try because of his size. He scored 6 tries in 9 games to close out that year and it was so simple because he understood he was an attacking threat close to the line... if the defense didn't respect him (trigger) then crash ball try... if the defence condenses (trigger) then Tino still runs a hard line, but Harry can go out the back where Hughes and co have a stretched panicking defensive line in front of them... Egan does this really well to start warriors backline movements.
It's all just fundamentals to their goal line attack... you can't just pass the ball from hooker with no threats, because the defence just slides with the ball or know exactly where the ball is going. It's why long accurate service from dummy half is super dangerous now, because a close threat has to be respected, but a quick long pass on the money then has the backline against a stretched defence before they can get out and shut it down.
Storm forwards know the ptb inside 10m is a trigger, Harry knows it's a trigger and Harry knows that Tino (or someone) will be at first receiver running a crash line for him.... just look at Wishart's try against us early in the year when he ran over Riki and Baker. The ptb was there and he knew a crash line was needed... he put himself there as a threat and was expecting that the ball could come his way, even though he's a halfback running a crash line ... he didn't just run a soft as **** decoy for the sake of it either, which is what Haas does a lot suggesting it's just rehearsed. Sidenote: It is a travesty that Haas is not a serious threat every time we're close to the line, but he rarely ever scores. Tino has 21 tries to Haas' 10 and from 20 less games... how is that possible. Imagine what Bellamy would do with a Haas.
I'm not sure if those are structures or footy smarts... or both, but storm players know the playbook back to front and they are very aware of what's happening on the field and what it means, so they know where they're meant to be, but more importantly why they're meant to be somewhere.
I'm not sure that's all just a role that Bellamy gives them, but there would be a whole lot of teaching that Bellamy does to his players and then the roles are probably simple based on his fundamentals for style of play (quick ptbs, control the ruck, linespeed, etc.), but all the other things end up being muscle memory to them from repetition, which leaves them more time to be looking for the triggers to read and react to.
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