Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy is already dealing with a growing injury crisis after last night’s costly opening round win over the Tigers, and won’t rule out courting rival players to address the issue.
In the comeback win over the Tigers, which saw the Storm stretched at times in defence by an improved Wests team, the Storm lost Brandon Smith, George Jennings and Christian Welch to serious injuries, with Welch suffering a confirmed ruptured Achilles.
The devastating news will force Melbourne to dig deep into their depth chart to cover the losses, although club officials won’t rule out raiding other teams for players that might be given permission to leave their contracts early.
Recent reports had linked the Storm with Dragons star Tariq Sims, who was told by the Red V in September he could speak to rival clubs.
READ MORE: Aussie prodigy makes shock F1 move
READ MORE: Storm young gun in strife for ‘ugly’ tackle
READ MORE: WWE star confirms broken neck
READ MORE: Storm win but face injury crisis
Sims didn’t play in the Dragons’ Round 1 victory over the Warriors because coach Anthony Griffin said he wasn’t ready due to a calf problem.
The Storm finds itself in an unenviable position with a growing casualty ward and still missing Tui Kamikamica, stood down indefinitely due to an off-field incident and Jordan Grant and Tom Eisenhuth out with calf issues.
Furthermore, they’ll lose the Bromwich brothers, Felise Kaufusi and Smith to other clubs at the end of the year.
Although, they will get some troops back this week, with Harry Grant and Cameron Munster to both return.
When asked whether the Storm was a potential destination for Sims, Bellamy responded “not at the moment” but refused to rule out a play for the NSW forward in the future.
“We’ll have a bit of interest in a few players,” Bellamy said.
“We’ve lost players… we’re not scraping the bottom of the barrel, but we’re getting towards that.
“We’re probably going to have to pull two or three players into the squad if the two tonight are as serious as our medical team think they are… we’re going to have to find some extra players from somewhere.”
The premiership winning coach might be waiting for Sims’ contract to expire but he may be forced to act quick given the lengthy period that Welch is expected to be sidelined.
Sims has made more than 100 appearances for the Dragons since joining in 2016 and has played State of Origin for NSW during his time at the club.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!