It’s all about the process, especially at this time of year.

Rugby league is a game of intensity and passion. For players involved in the finals it is easy to be distracted by the emotion and fanfare. However at the Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy sets out a simple path for players to follow and stay focussed.

Craig is very process orientated as opposed to results orientated. It is all about doing the little things well.

Everyone has their job to do. Different position, different job.

So, whether your part of the outside backs or the ruck forwards or the edge forwards, you have specific roles. And Craig makes it very clear what those roles are.

If everyone’s performing their roles well then you’re going to have success. So, the focus is not on the result, but the process – individuals and groups of individuals doing the job that has been allocated to them.

‘The process’ is a trademark of Craig and the Melbourne Storm and a major reason why the club has continued success.

It is the reason why, despite a number of very good players moving on after last year’s premiership win, we are still in a strong position a year later.

Whenever you win a grand final you are in greater danger of losing players because rival clubs want premiership winners in their team, players who know what it takes to win the title.

So, at the end of the 2017 season we lost players of the calibre of Cooper Cronk, Jordan McLean, Tohu Harris and Slade Griffin.

These are obviously all quality players and a big part of the reason why we won the crown in 2017.

Jordan has already played rep football and would have been selected for Origin this year if he had not had a serious ankle injury. He will play a lot more rep footy. The same with Tohu.

He has already played plenty of rep football for New Zealand. And of course Cooper … a great player with over 15 years experience in the top grade.

With him gone you lose a lot of leadership and I guess direction on the field and all that experience.

But when you lose those players ‘the process’ brings out the best in the next wave coming through. An example is the trio of Brodie Croft, Jahrome Hughes and Ryley Jacks.

Yes, we lost something special when players exited in 2017, but, as we have seen this year, the new faces bring different strengths to the team.

Obviously Brodie’s got a really good running game.

He’s really fast player and also has a good kicking game. Ryley Jacks is a really composed player.

He’s very good at getting the boys around the park in terms of field position and Jahrome’s a really instinctive player – he plays what he sees.

So these guys have all got different attributes and elements that they bring to the team.

Obviously Cooper has quality characteristics in his game as well as great leadership. So, yes you lose, but you also gain.

What also happens when you lose key players, is that players who are already in the squad mature and grow in confidence.

Two classic examples of this for the Storm in 2018 are Christian Welch and Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

They have certainly come on a lot and both are a bigger voice in our team. Nelson had a good year last year, but he’s taken it to another level again in 2018 and is also now a Kiwi rep player. The same for Christian.

He has played well in the past, but he’s played a bit more of a starting role at times during this year.

When somebody like a Jordan McLean moves on, there is an opportunity for another player to grab that chance and fill the void.

That’s what Nelson and Christian have done and the good news for the Storm is that they are still developing and improving as they mature.

Another reason why the Storm is still in the finals race is the quality of the depth in the squad – it has really been tested this season. The premiership race is never about just your top 17.

It is all about having quality right through your squad. It is about all of those players doing their specific job whenever called upon.