May 5th, 2019

May 5th, 2019

A botched final play sparked an argument among Melbourne Storm players that began with superstars Cameron Munster and Cameron Smith, Sharks captain Paul Gallen says.

Cronulla beat Melbourne 20-18 on Friday night, in a match that left Storm coach Craig Bellamy threatening to drop players.

Frustrations boiled over, according to Gallen, when Melbourne blew their last chance to force a victory, with a communication breakdown between Munster and Smith.

“The last play of the game, I was concerned. There was a penalty given away; I don’t know why we gave a penalty away 20 metres out from our tryline, but we did," Gallen said on the Sunday Footy Show.

"They came down and tapped the ball, passed the ball to Munster and I was in front of Munster; not one-on-one, but I was like, ‘What’s he gonna do here?’ And he almost just took a hit-up.

"I just grabbed him and held on to the ball and I heard … Munster started arguing. Munster went straight back at Cam Smith, they all started arguing amongst each other.

"They obviously never got their call right, which you don’t see from the Melbourne Storm. They are the best in the competition from set starts. Thankfully they ruined that one, anyway!”

Cameron Munster and Cameron Smith during the Sharks clash. (AAP)

While on-field blow-ups are standard fare among teammates, especially playmakers, Gallen's account adds to the picture that Melbourne are far from peak form.

Bellamy called the Storm's second-half performance "crap" and questioned his side's mental toughness, saying he was prepared to find new players if things did not improve.

Rugby league Immortal Wally Lewis said that Bellamy did not make idle threats and Melbourne players needed to be on red alert.

"You don't hear that coming out of Craig Bellamy's mouth too often at all," Lewis said.

"Obviously he's asked his players to perform in a certain way and that wasn't the case. I'd be very surprised if he didn't put those actions into place, because that's what's made him such a good coach.

"The players have always known exactly what he wanted and come up with it. Now, their heads are all on the chopping block. One more [poor performance], and they'll all be in second division."

NRL Highlights: Sharks v Storm - Round 8

While Cronulla's win was an upset, given they are missing a raft of players through injury, Gallen said that he was confident; he did not believe that Melbourne had been in great form despite their lofty ladder position.

"Honestly, I was more confident going into this game than I was going into the Brisbane game [against a lower-ranked team]," he said.

"Melbourne haven't been going as good as people think. There was a few weeks ago when the Warriors, I thought, almost had them.

"They were beaten by the Roosters and last week against the Bulldogs, they got a penalty they shouldn't have got, and I thought they shouldn't have won that game either.

"They're a great team, do't get me wrong, but I was really confident going into that game and how we were going to play, knowing we always turn up against the Melbourne Storm. I was pretty confident we could get the job done, or it was going to be really tight."